Hello all,

I have a 99 Durango 4x4 with a 5.2 that's in dire need of a rebuild. I was planning on pulling the motor beginning of October to do basically a budget bottom end refresh but hurricane harvey hit and changed plans a bit. The tired 5.2 is still under the hood and we now own a 23 foot camper that we eventually plan to tow behind the Durango once the house is rebuilt. I towed the camper home with the Durango and it struggled mightily, the poor thing struggles pulling my utility trailer on home depot runs. It's just worn out. The camper's dry weight is only 3800lbs so it's well within the capacity of a healthy durango. The problem I'm having is the only thing I ever towed with my truck when it was healthy was my little 16 foot fishing boat which was no problemo. Having no experience with a healthy 5.2 towing my camper I don't know if a stock rebuild would be to my liking. The Durango is like a member of the family after all it's carried us through so I don't mind spending a few bucks on it if I have to and obviously now is the time to attend to the motor. It seems to me that the cam in my truck is basically a broomstick and I've debated an upgrade many times. Sadly with it requiring a tune as well the cost starts creeping up fast. Doing a cam, heads and a tune pretty much triples my budget over the simple refresh I had planned. The intake and exhaust will be free flowing regardless. I know it's a vague question but what should I do? Will I hate stock and end up with the motor opened back up in no time? Doing things twice is bad practice.

I don't know the history of the trans but I had it open to adjust the bands a few month ago and it was clean inside and has never given me a problem. I suspect it's had a rebuild at some point. The truck has 3.55s but if the junkyard fairy ever blesses me with a '03 w/ 3.92s that'll change. If not 4.10s. Tires are 32s. All the towing will be done around sea level and there's no hills within a 100 miles of me. I will be towing the camper down the beach which may require a bit more hp than a standard tow down the road but the sand around here isn't very soft compared to other places. When not towing the truck is my daily driver and while gas mileage would be neat, I've learned to live without it.

Any advice is appreciated

Thanks
Travis

 

Might want to skip rebuilding the 5.2, and find a 5.9 to refresh, and install. I would almost bet that you are going to need to replace the heads anyway, as the stock units are very prone to cracking. (thin deck castings.) There are a couple companies out there that make 'computer friendly' cams..... they are better than stock, but, not by much. (enough of an improvement to justify the cost? Don't know.....) Another alternative would be just going with the Harland Sharp 1.7 ratio full roller rockers.... they are good for 10hp/tq just by themselves.

How much of a budget did you have in mind? Unfortunately, horsepower isn't cheap.....

 

The axle gears also make a big difference in towing capacity. My '01 came with a 5.9 motor, 3.92 gears, and 7,300lb towing ability. I tow 5,800lbs a few times a year since buying the truck new. My trans gave out before the motor, prob due to the 2041 mile tow from NY to NM with 6,500lbs, so had that pumped up on the rebuild.

 

Budget wise to do the bottom end refresh I had in mind I was looking at $650, assuming I didn't find anything unexpected. There's a reman shop in Houston that sells 5.2s for $1400, I have no clue what they do about the heads and honestly I'd rather do it myself anyway. To do a proper rebuild with a decent cam and new heads minimum $2000. Then there's the matter of if I'm going to go whole hog why not get a 360, which leads to a 46re, which leads to .... Trying not to send the snowball down the hill if I don't need to. I remember the truck running quite well 3 and a half years ago when it had proper compression and kept the oil in the pan. However I never towed anything bigger than my little boat with it so no clue how it would have handled my camper.

 

Currently have the 44RE? Yeah, I can see how the bigger motor would prompt you to want to upgrade that as well..... Maybe do the 360 first, and then when the trans blows up, upgrade then? (I think a trans cooler would be a good idea in any event.....)

Could also long-block it..... couple places have 300 horse 360's for around 2 grand.......