Just bout an older travel trailer to be able to travel to various locations and not have to worry about finding housing for only 2 to 6 month long job assignments. Need to figure out what I need to do to get the D all set up for towing it around safely and (hopefully) comfortably.

It's a 99 Durango, 5.2, 4x4, 44RE tranny. Looks to be a 3.55 axle ratio.

Door pillar sticker tells me:
GVWR - 6400 lbs
GAWR (front) - 3400
GAWR (rear) - 3850

Curb weight I saw listed on some site I can't remember was 4,689.

Camper is an old 23 foot Coachmen Cadet. Sticker is missing so I can't tell you the "official" weight ratings. NADA lists "weight" as 3150, but doesn't specify what that is. Dry weight, GVWR, or what.... Axles are rated at 2750 each.

My assumption is that the 3150 is the dry weight, and I'll figure 1200 lbs cargo. For simplicity sake let's say gross trailer weight around 4500 lbs. Using the 10 to 15 percent rule of thumb, gives a tongue weight anywhere from 450 to 675 lbs.

Yes, I know a trip to the scales is in my future.

I know when it in 98 the Durango was heavily marketed for its "best in class" towing at around 7500 lbs, but that was obviously referring to the 5.9. I haven't been able to figure out what the towing capicity of a Durango equipped like mine is. Getting that info out of Chrysler has been like pulling teeth.

As is the D tows the trailer fine as far as power goes. There's more rear end squat than I'm comfortable with. When braking on gravel I can REALLY tell that there's a good amount of weight being taken off of the front tires. So a weight distributing hitch is definitely on the shopping list. No idea where to go to get one, though. I know I can get one online, but I'd like to purchase locally so I can have it installed. Most of my tools are in a storage unit back home at the moment, and from what I've read about the installation, I don't have a badass enough torque wrench anyway.

Electric brakes on the trailer work, but all the wires got clipped at some point, so I'll need to rewire those and put in a brake controller.

D needs new tires anyway, so I was thinking about switching from the 31x10.5R15's that are on it now to the 235x75R15's specified on the door pillar. The thinking is that the slightly smaller tire would give me a slight torque boost.

I've done plenty of towing in the past, but my approach was always "If I have the right size hitch ball, hook it up and go". As in, towing a 7500 lb boat behind a V6 GMC S-10 Jimmy.

I'm now older, wiser, and will be on the road with this combo a LOT, so I want to get things set up properly.

Since I've never given towing much thought, I'm not really sure how to go about getting it all set up "right". I'd love to hear any advice out there from people who have experience towing with the older Durangos.

Or am I just going to end up on the side of the road with a dead tranny after a few thousand miles?

In the future I want to upgrade both the tow vehicle and the camper, but neither is possible at the moment. This IS the rig I'll be going with, and I pretty much have to do this travelling. So, while telling me to go buy a new mini Freightliner may well be excellent advice, it isn't terribly helpful at present.

At the very least, how many miles can I expect to get before the tranny craps out? LOL....

 

as long as all the maintance is kept up with you should be fine towing with it as long as you tow smart, watch your speed, dont follow too close (the brakes are the weak spot on these trucks when talking towing).

as for changing tire sizes, sure might help some, however it will also most likely screw up the speedometer and trip meter so keep that in mind.

as for towing you should be good to around 5000 lbs, if you swap the rear gear ratio to a 3.92 you can get 5900

 

Speedo is already whacko enough that I just go by the gps even for 3 block trips to the store, so no biggy there.

I know the tire swap won't make much difference, but since it needs new shoes I figure why not take it if it's there?

Between my 98 and now this 99, I've been driving the 1st gen durangos enough to know that brakes will definitely have to be paid attention to. They're doing "ok" at the moment, but I'm definitely looking forward to having 2 more axles of braking sharing the load.

After what my 98 did to me the tranny is a huge fear. I'm planning to change fluid, filters, adjust bands. Anything else I should do to get all the life possible out of the tranny?

What should I look or to see if it has the towing package? The hitch appears to be a factory install, but the trailer wiring looks aftermarket to me. I'm pretty sure I spotted tranny cooler lines under there before. But I can't find a brake controller plug under the dash. Or does the gear ratio tell me all I need to know there?

And air bags? What will they gain me? I've never even considered them before, but in looking around the net it seems like a lot of people install them.

The travelling I'll be doing isn't optional, and cash on hand for any kind of major repair just isn't there right now, so I really want to get the D as prepared as possible before I hit the road.

Oh, and if I swap the rear gears to 3.92 do I have to do the front diff too?

 

as for the tranny, you pretty much nailed it with everything you can do, that and take it easy,

gear ratio is independant of tow pcakage or not

however the tow package included
class IV hitch reciever
7 pin wiring harness (this includes trailer brake wiring all the way to the dash, the plug in for the controller is part of this package)
auxillary transmission cooler (you should be able to see this by the radiator)
6x9 power, heated, folding tow mirrors
750cca battery (in 01+ they also got a 160amp alternator, im not sure if the 98-00 got it or not)

 

Hmm...

Class IV hitch, check.
7 pin harness. Had a 6 pin when I got it. Could have been swapped out over the years, though.
Tranny cooler. Pretty sure those are cooler lines I see coming out of the tranny, but cant spot anything by the radiator. I see the radiator and the condensor. But then I couldn't see it on my 98 either, and I know for certain it had the cooler.
Power heated mirrors, check.
Not sure what the stock battery would have been. Came with 117 amp alternator, though.

Heh, so I'm still not sure. I've been told, though, that it actually makes a difference on towing capacity, so I'm trying to pin it down.

 

Oh, and overdrive off, right?

'Cuz, ya know, my MPG has been way too high anyway...

 

yes keep overdrive off when towing, to me it sounds like you have the tow package, but if thats the case you should have a trailer brake controller plug

 

Any recommendations on where to pick up a decent tranny temp guage?

 

Adams driveline in Henderson, NV Sunset and Boulder Hwy for axles. Transmission coolers are different, swapped in one off another truck and was not the same size. I am getting my transmission rebuilt and plan to do a deeper pan that helps as well disapate heat.

 

Yeah, I'm strongly considering going with a larger tranny cooler.

I'm finding somewhat confusing info on the factory coolers. It sounds like ALL of the Durangos had tranny cooling, but with differences. Stock configuration was tranny cooling integrated into the radiator, while the towing package added a seperate cooler sandwiched between the condensor and radiator.

Either way, with my concerns about the tranny, I'm thinking it would make sense to go with the largest aftermarket cooler I can find, and stick it all the way out in the front of the cooling "stack". A/C is shot anyway, so I don't mind blocking the condensor.

Also, I really like this pan: http://www.etrailer.com/Transmission...id=19991029096

Extra capacity, plus some additional cooling. Just have to see if I can find one for the 44RE.


EDIT: Just found some info and pics on the factory cooler. Even the auxiliary one in the tow package looks pretty tiny, so I'm strongly leaning toward getting the biggest aftermarket cooler I can find. Not having much knowledge about them, this brings up another question. Is it possible to go too big? I know that overcooling isn't a concern, but I'm wondering if too large of a cooler might bring up issues as far as hindering airflow to the radiator and giving me engine temp issues. Or maybe I'm just overthinking it.