I've had this pickup for over 2 years now, and almost 40k miles, an I'm proud to say that over half of those moles were earned on trips!
My thoughts:
1. The engine is spectacular, both in available power and returning great fuel economy for an 8500 lb vehicle.
2. The 68RFE transmission isnt very smooth shifting when not pulling a load, but is great when off road / towing.
3. The exhaust brake has been wonderful since I figured out how to dial in the settings to my current needs. When travelling twisty mountain roads, the "auto" exhaust brake setting works well in conjunction with the tow haul tranny setting. If things get really steep, the exhaust brake is set to "on" while leaving the tow / haul mode on.
4. The "auto locking" rear diff is controlled by the traction control system, which is disengaged when in 4Lo. What genius engineer figured that one out? Luckily, the tremendous amount of torque right off idle helps out in the twisty stuff.
5. The long wheelbase and 4 corner coil spring setup takes a little getting used to. It outperforms leaf springs in every way, but doesnt have that same "planted" feel.
6. I can see why AEV chose to use spacers and the stock suspension coils instead of trying to figure out new coils. Dodge really did their homework on the coils, so much that they offer a wide array of stock coil options depending on trim package. The shocks? Not so much. Cheap crap, but I dont hate it enough to throw $400 worth of Bilsteins at it before I'm sure on whether I move to the AEV 3" lift and 37s. Still waffling
7. The stock bumpers on the Tradesman are real steel and surprisingly stout. The front hitch arrangement will be permanent. No plans for a front winch bumper. The rear may need to be upgraded to one with an integrated hitch in order to make room for a 37" spare. Putting a 35" spare down there barely clears the rear track bar's travel path. A bumper with an integrated hitch would allow me to move the mount rearward an inch or so.
8. I really like having a stealthier build. Yeah, part of me still misses all the "nice truck, dude!" comments, but the rest of me likes that nobody thinks twice about my truck when they look at it, yet it still has it where it counts.
9. It is still feels really big on trails. I knew that this would be the case, but even after 2 years I still havent gotten used to it. It makes up for it on the dirt roads, though. I think the engineers at Dodge put a lot of work into making sure that their flagship work truck handles well on dirt roads. Arguably the best truck I've owned for this despite having the solid front axle. I've always been more of a soft roader anyways, though. The twisty stuff can be fun, but its a means to an end for me and I get frustrated when I can make faster progress on foot or mountain bike than in the truck, so it works out.
10. I am happy that I got a base model truck without much in the way on electronics (at least as few electronics as possible in a 2014 model). Not much to break, not much to fix.
11. DEF fluid. So I read lots of hypothetical scenarios and what ifs on various forums prior to purchasing the truck, and was a little worried. After owning it for over two years with only one non-performance impacting trouble code (which apparently everyone gets the first time the engine has to go through a regeneration cycle), I can say that its not a big deal at all, and that the DEF tank is so well protected by the transfer case cross member that it would take a stroke of bad luck that reached several standard deviations outside of normal limits in order to damage / puncture it.