For all you Dakota guys...which years from 2000-2007 has the better engine-tranny combo in the V6?Thanks in advance!
Dodge Dakota which years/engine/tranny are best?
- Thread starter Greaser
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Based on Consumer Reports, the engine in all those years looks pretty consistent, same with the Tranny, nothing out of the ordinary that I can see. My 99 V6 still runs great with 157k and original Tranny.
No Dakota expert, but I would say any manual trans version is OK.
For an auto trans IMO I would go '04+ as I think the 42RLE trans mated to the 3.7's might hold up best, at least if not doing a lot of towing. It's relatively small physical size still makes me wonder what lots of towing would do to it.
It does however deliver nice, nearly seamless shifts unless at WOT or during an abrupt throttle change, much smoother overall than a S-10 or Ranger of similar vintage IMO.
For an auto trans IMO I would go '04+ as I think the 42RLE trans mated to the 3.7's might hold up best, at least if not doing a lot of towing. It's relatively small physical size still makes me wonder what lots of towing would do to it.
It does however deliver nice, nearly seamless shifts unless at WOT or during an abrupt throttle change, much smoother overall than a S-10 or Ranger of similar vintage IMO.
My 18 year old son is looking at either a Ranger or Dakota.He doesn't need a V8.
The 2001 on up Dakota with 4.7L V8 and 45RFE transmission are great combo's!The only problem is people that run Dino in them tend to experience oil consumption issues from about 120,000 miles on up. They put the rings way to high on the piston just like GM has done to try to improve emissions.Everyone I now that has run M1 in their engines have had no such oil consuption issues at all not even when driving on the Autobahn in Germany so that is about it. Check all 45RFE's transmissions for weeping on the rear seal. If you get one that weeps a bit install Redline C+ ATF and it will get rid of the weeping and improve cold shift performance. Prior to 2001 I think they had some wiring issues in the main bus where they mad splices at the factory from 2001 on that was changed. If he can afford it get one with the H.O. 4.7 it has a bit more performance. These engines are great design with very strong bottom end they are almost as good as Toyota's 4.7 with regard to great UOA the only real weak link in these is their high piston rings. TRW makes after market pistons that fix this. Their are after market cam shafts and intakes for this engine and their used to be some really good chip modification and I am not talking weak hyper chip type stuff I am talking about removing the feul shut off, making new fuel maps available to the engine and better timing options and shift points that would take super charging and different cam shafts and intakes into account. I am not sure if all of this is still available now that the HEMI has all the attention.
I was disapointed not to see them do more with the 4.7 it had so much potional for more perforamnce and it would have made a nice V12 or V12
I was disapointed not to see them do more with the 4.7 it had so much potional for more perforamnce and it would have made a nice V12 or V12
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