Hey all just signed up for the site about 5 minutes ago lookin around tryna figure it out. I'm an 18 year old kid got a durango and I've read these forums before for info and you guys are awsome. I feel I've taught myself almost all I can about the car audio world or atleast all I care to know and now I'm moving on to upgrading under the hood of my durango and eventually lifting it and throwing on some 33 inch mudders. To start withe the basics what maintinance can I be doing to make sure this thing dosent fall apart on me and runs like a new truck again? Thanks and I'm excited to be apart of these forums!

 

You could start with the plugs wires cap and rotor. Your 5.9 will like the regular champion copper plugs. Make sure your cap and rotor have the copper contacts in them. I got mine from Napa. They also like a 180 degree thermostat. Stock is 195 but it Gave mine some strange overheating problems. Been fine since i went to the 180. You could do a Trans filter replacement. ONLY refill the trans with atf +4. Anything else and you will have issues, also i found out the hard way not to put additives in the transmission. Such as Lucas Trans fix. It doesn't like that stuff at all. That's the best i can think of off the top if my head. Is there a specific problem or were you just wanting general tune up advice?


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Welcome to the boards! Thought I'd start off by saying you're not the only young guy here, I'm 19 and have had my Durango since I was 16 (it's been in the family since it was pretty much new in 2000). There are a few other young guys on here too.

Anyway, new plugs (champion copper gapped to .040), new wires, cap, and rotor are good things to do for a quick tune up. Never hurts to change the diff fluid since it's likely been a long time since it was changed. Performance wise you might want to get a tuner to give yourself a few more hp and lb/ft. The diy cold/ram air intake is also another popular mod. The 5.2 and 5.9 engines also like the 180 degree thermostat. Replacing the stock clutch fan with a high cfm electric one will also reduce drag on the engine some.

Can't really think of anything more than that at the moment. If you have any questions, shoot away.

 

WOW this place is awsome so much info just thrown at me. I'm gunu like this place thanks for the input. And as far specific questions right now I don't really have any just what simple things right now can be done to start off. The trucks got a lot of miles on it so I wanna make sure it lasts me a while. its been in my family for a while too I had a really ugly 90 honda accord then got the durango about a year ago when they only offered a lousy 750 dollar trade in on it and we got 1000 for that ugly honda when we sold it to a friend. The durangos got a little under 208000 on it now

 

if your looking for a cheap easy lift the best thing to do is a torsion shakle lift. you can buy the shackles at autozone. and there lowering shackles for a chevy p.u. should give you a 2" to 2.5" lift in the rear. and your torsion bar lift. all you have to do is locate your torsion bar follow it to about mid chassi and locate the adjuster bolt. all you have to do is make 8 solid turns for a 2" lift in the front. dont go any higher because when your driving and you hit a pothole the tire wont go down and you will bottom out on your suspension. thats bad for it. so 8 turns and new shackles for the rear.
and when you do the rear shackles make sure you have a bottle jack to put inbetween the frame and the leaf springs because when you go to get the shackle bolts out the springs will make it harder to get em out and when you do finally get em out your leaf spring will spring up and possibly hurt you. also inorder to get the bolts out you may need an air chizzle or you will never get em out. especially if they look all rusted.
also unless you use wheel spacers 33" tires are not recomended they will rub ferociously. so 32" tires are your best bet. 32x12.5x15.
i have 31x10.5x15 good year wrangler authority's on mine with the lift and when im out mudding and going over some obsticles the tires still rubb a little.
and for extras that will help out performance. headers. cat back exhaust. new cat. o2 sensors. sct tuner. a larger throttle body. cold air intake.
so best of luck. and if you got any more questions dont be afraid to ask.
there are alot pro's on here with all the info you will ever need. and they got years of experience on these vehicles.
great ppl.

 

I run 31x10.5x15 mastercraft courser ct's. They have never rubbed at full lock even over bumps at stock height i had a friend with 33s and his rubbed against his frame. Wore every lug off of the inside of his tires lol. also No matter how they market it or how tempting they make it sound. Don't buy a throttle body spacer.


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that's weird that you had 31x10.5r15s rub, they were a factory size after all

 

my 31x10.5x15"s have 1" tread depth and huge nobbs on the side for off roading. look em up. good year wrangler authority. there awesome tires i mean awesome!!!! i have put about 8,000 miles on em and i have barely worn em in i still have almost full tread depth on em. there awesome in the mud!! and there quiet on the road unlike mostly all other offroad tires. and... and there highly rated for winter use, also unlike all other offroad mudding tires. there rated higher than the bf goodrich ta's!!! but yea the nobbs that stick out on the outside edge are what rubb on mine. but only when im going over something offroad when i got the wheel fully cocked.
if i could find these exact tires in a 32x12.5x15 i would buy em in a heart beat!!!!

 

damn i thought i was the youngest on here. being 21. "that_guy" i had no idea you were 19 llol.