I have a 91 Dakota. 4x4 with the off road package. and 318 c.i. motor. The power train is in great shape (engine, transfer case, transmission, and rear end). So I figure I'll make a bit of a project out of it.
I've aquired a 340 c.i. engine for it, which I will be building to put into the truck. The engine will be gear driven, and carbouration will be a stock type of setup. (I plan on using the truck for plowing in the winter, so chokeless performance carb is out of the question).
Anyway, as many of you already know, 1 st gear on this rear end has extremely LOW gearing. Great for towing and off roading. My worries (and this is more of a question), is the stock gearing too low for the tourque of a performance 340 engine? I'm really not looking to smoke the tires every time the light turns green..... and they like to break free already with the 318 that's in her.

 

PICTURES!!

haha, sorry. Pictures would be sweet!

My advice is just get some big aggressive mudders for the thing [8D] They will help out a lot in the deep snow and if you have some 31's or bigger on the truck i dont think you would need to worry about swap out the gears

 

yea, i would second getting big snow tires... especially if you're going to plow snow with it. keep in mind the front end on dakotas are pretty mushy to begin with so adding a 340 and then a snow plow will probably tear it up pretty bad if you leave it stock. you may run into problems if the 340 is carbed since your current 318 is all electronically controlled fuel injection. if you want to keep the stock tires... just change the ring gears to 3.21, that would help with not breaking the tires loose.

 

Sounds like you need a locker for the rear end. They are cheep and easy to install. You can also get a locker for the front. The front axle is strong as long as it is properly set right. You will be alright with a 340 power with these axles. I have a high horsepower 5.9 and I abuse the sh*t out of it offroad. Like I said as long as it is setcorrectly your good. You should get the good mudder tires, but first thing you need is a locker. Not even the best tires can compair to the trackion a locker can give. And both are unstopable.

 

Do you mean locker as in locking differential? Because it's already got one if you are.
As far as pictures go.... I'll start a "build" thread when I actually start the build. The truck will be painted like the General Lee. I've got a guy working on a push bumper and roll bars for me already, and I'm pretty sure I'll be going with a high rise intake manifold and a shaker hood. I'm not yet sure if I'll put headers on it, or go the easy route and put ram horn style exhaust manifolds on it. (Not sure if they make those for Dodge's. I had a set on my old S-10 Blazer with the interceptor engine that I had in it.)
As far as the front end being mushy goes.... this truck used to be a Ministry of Natural Resources truck, therefore, it's job was running through the bush. It's a pretty solid truck as it is. Haven't spent much time looking at any "upgrades" that were done to it. All I know for sure, is that I put my 500 lb snowmobile in the back and the rear end doesn't drop an inch.... so I'm sure the front end has been done too.

 

Ha ha thats bad

 

Ya i do meen a locking diff. Did you install it? Because from factory only came with limited slip differantals. They are not full lockers.
Sounds like when your done with it, It will be a sweat truck! Keep us posted.