One problem related to oil pump has been reported for the 2001 Dodge Ram 1500. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Oil pump failure. Dodge will not honor oem warranty (vehicle at 29 months/29k miles), or extended warranty(7 year/100k mile); claiming neglect of maintenance - sludge in oil. Oil changes done regularly at 3-5k miles. Most recent oil change done 3 days/200 miles before oil pump failure, and oil was claimed to be "sludge".