Back on ‘04 when I was starting up a new business I needed a fairly reliable pickup. I settled on a ‘97 1500 RAM because I was able to figure out what was wrong with it. It had 81000 miles, one owner (who testified to it's worthiness)But in examining the truck I sussed out that it had a slow leak in the AC, a dying water pump, and a failing fuel pump. The fuel pump was the thing that probably made him want to dump it on an unsuspecting buyer for a decent down payment on a new truck. Beware!
Oh yeah, I ended up getting 5 years and 70000 miles out of the truck which I used to tow a 3000lb compresser and 1000 lbs of tools and gear in the bed.