I have a 2001 Dakota quadcab with the 4.7. I bought the truck new, and put 187,000 miles on it before it broke a timing chain. I special ordered the truck, so it has some hard to find options like 4-wheel anti-lock brakes. Other than the timing chain issue, the truck has been trouble free and is in excellent condition. My mechanic tell me that it is very expensive to replace a timing chain on the 4.7, and that with the high mileage, it would be better to just replace the engine with a rebuilt one. Total for that is $6800, which exceeds the value of the truck. I have located a wrecked 2006 Dakota with a low mileage drive train, and I am wondering if it would be possible to just replace the entire 2001 drivetrain with the 2006 engine and transmission. I know there were some changes between the 2nd gen and the 3rd gen Dakotas, so is this an easy swap or am I just heading for a disaster to try this swap? Any advice from anyone on what I should do next would be greatly appreciated.

 

what motor and tranny is in the 06? what tranny do you have?

 

$6800 is incredibly expensive fora rebuilt engine. I would look for a used engine with decent miles from a truck of your era (2001) and have him install that. It shouldn't take more than a day for the install I wouldn't think (figure 8 hours of labor), plus the cost of the engine which shouldn't exceed $1000. I think you'd be able to get out of it with an engine with less than 100,000 miles for less than $2000 total, easily.

 

you can get a new rebuilt engine for around $1500 or less, or a used engine for under $1000 and id shop around for installation. like Jason said, it shouldnt cost any more than $2000 when its done

 

thats a lil outragus for a rebuild.....id do some shopping around adn find a place that has one where you can go look at the engine or you trust the seller...

 

If you ask me...find a mechanic who wants to do the work and will take the time to do a good job and do it right...someone who says to replace a good eng. w/one that could be worse(you never know the history),is not someone I'd have work on my eng./truck!!!fix the eng. you've got,you know how it was taken care of,unless you've got valve damage,this is an interference eng.,then I'd find a good rebuilder and get a nicely freshened-up unit...