Yeah, I'd say that was an issue

 

i fell in love with the durango's back in 95 . i was working in a shop in detroit that did prototypes. and there was a durango in the spray the booth it was being sent overseas and was right hand drive and a stick so it was interesting when i had to move it around. i was an 18 yr old kid at the time but i had wanted 1 ever since. our body is still in pretty good shape. the back door is rusted and the rockers both have holes starting. so i think we'll fix them and pick up another 5.9 to rebuild and change it out at some point. but i will be checking into an aftermarket oil pan for it. the stock one is just a stupid design that the drain hole is higher then the bottom of pan. i thought about cutting it out and rewelding it on the outside but since i was in a hurry i didn't.

 

I think many of us here feel the same. I bought my '01 R/T new on April 2nd, 2001, in Detroit (well, Warren, dealer on 9mi and Gratiot). I feel none of the designs after Gen1 looks as well at all. I also don't like that the rest all are 7" or so longer and 4" wider, with no real change in function or ability.

 

i agree we didn't like the new body style at all. we were kinda picky when we bought ours so it took us almost 6 months to find it searching the entire state. we wanted the 3rd row seating,cloth interior,the 5.9, no hitch so we knew the trans hadn't been abused. and so far other then the normal wear and tear things it has been a great truck. the cv on the front drive shaft went out. and there a company up here that makes the shaft with u joints at both ends so i went with it. and the water pump and fan clutch has gone bad twice. last year i was in the junk yard and found a durango with a fiberglass hood that looks like a rt challenger hood so i picked it up but havent gotten it painted yet to put it on.
were leaving tomorrow so i'm trying to switch the tire off the parts truck we bought and having a hell of a time. aparently 1 lug nut was striped and someone had tried chiseling it off to the point the stud is almost flat at the bottom of the hole in the rim. i've been trying the drill it out for hours and haven't gotten anywhere with it. at this point the rim is already junk so im thing to just drill a bunch of holes thru the rim around the nut to get it off.

 

well the truck is running great and getting 16-18 mpg were almost into florida now. next problem we've been fighting the steering wheel all the way. the steering is firm to turn the steering wheel but it doesn't ssem to be returning correctly and is extremely sensitive. it's hard to even keep the truck in the lane. does this sound like an alignment issue? or am i looking at maybe a rack going bad? we must look like drunk drivers because there is no keeping this thing strait and sine we'll be pulling a trailer home tomorrow it will be whiping around everytime we try to correct the steering.
thanjs
jason

 

It's hard to tell with steering, but it could certainly be an alignment issue. Not centering properly can be caused by a toe that is out.

 

i wasn't to find a shop that had time to get it in before getting back on the rd to head home. but after i got the trans out of the back it's steering normal. i had a np 540 and the bell houseing flywheel clutch ect. that i traded for the bed. i guess i didn't realize how heavy it was to affect the steering that much. 1 more stop at the dukes of hazzard muesum in gatlinburg tn then it's back home. best part is we went to summit racing in ga. and i got a deck lid for my 70 challenger for 40 bucks because 1 corner was bent which i can fix in 5 minutes.and we ended up with 2 short stepside beds instead of just 1 for no extra cost. so all in all it's been a great trip. gas mileage has dropped to 13-14 now that we have the trailer.

 

well she made it! 2900 miles only cost $307 in gas but we did have a minor problem late last night. about 150 miles from home i needed gas so we stopped and filled it up. then about 50 miles later i had the crusie set at 70 and every now and then the truck would kinda surge but the tach went up like the trans was slipping. this lasted about a second at a time. so we pulled off to check the trans fluid and it was about 8 oz low so i topped it off and i also put a thing of gas dry in the tank. after that it never did it again. i don't think it was the trans as the fluid was nice and red and did not smell burnt so i'm thinking bad gas.

 

nice to hear everything went well

 

I've had a love for these things since about the time they came out too. My grandpa had a Ram before they did, same body style/looks, and I loved how it looked, so when I saw my first Durango, I was drawn to it too. My dad ended up working at Dollar rent-a-car back around 01, and we rented a couple of these back when they were new to go up in the mountains, and I wanted one starting then.