Hi, i just picked up my first dakota. It's a 2000 4.7 5speed 4x4 club cab with dual exhaust and K&N FIPK, leveling kit, and 265/70/17 tires.
1) I've heard the 4.7 mated with the 5speed is a wicked littl setup. I'm going to be taking my pickup up to the local drag strip in Woodburn, OR and was wondering what times i might expect.
2) 1st gear seems extremely short, almost like a granny gear, so i take off in 2nd gear all the time. But in 5th gear at 60mph its only spinning 1900rpm. What are my ring and pinion gears? I've heard either 3.55 or 3.92. I'm wanting to re-gear my differientials to 4.10 or 4.56 to give me better accelleration, towing, and mileage around town.
3) If i find my gearing is spinning too high rpm's, my tires need replacing so i can get a little taller tires to compensate for everyday driving, but use my shorter tires for drag racing.
4) Are their any tuners or chips available for the 2nd gen 4.7's, and are they worth the money?

If anyone has any suggestions or opinion's please speak up.

 

Your ET's will probably be to low 16s to high 15s. Yes the 4.7 is a nice little motor, but a Dakota is heavy with the club cab, transfer case, and all the extra front end components.

What kind of wheels do you have on there that are 17 inch? The only rims that came stock on a dakota bigger than 16 were r/t's...

3:55's will give you exactly 2 grand at 70mph, so thats an easy way to tell. If you are at 22 or 23 you would have 3:92s which i would kill for. For the 4.7's torque 5th is a little too long for long hills and such, but is better on gas.

Superchips has a good handheld tuner if you're an auto, but many have said they don't make a huge impact if you're a manual, which you are. So depending on how much money you have it may, or may not be worth the $350 for a brand new (3865 I think it is). Or you can get the previous model (3715) which would do just as much w/o updates for around $200 these days.

And do not get a chip. Biggest waste of money.

If you had a RC/2wd 5 speed it def. would be a really fun little truck, but the extra weight kills. Still decent power, but nothing fast.

And of course since your're new we want pics of your truck.

Welcome and I hope this helped.

 

i have a 2000 QC dak with the 4.7 but its 2wd with the 4 speed auto. I took it down the strip and it ran consistant 16.1@83, with yours i would expect it to be close to that mabye a little slower seeing that you have 4wd

 

But his is only an ex. cab and its a 5 speed. So I think that puts you right around 16 like I thought.

 

Come up to PIR! I want to run my truck again Friday, lets race!

I've seen a stock QC 4.7 auto 4x4 run and it was SLOW, like 17.5 1/4 mile, a full second slower than my truck was (I just had a M1 manifold and exhaust at the time), this time I've got a couple more goodies and I'll be launching in 4x4

1st gear on the NV3500 is pretty short, it's 4:1, effectively it's a "tall" granny gear. It's really useful with any weight or stop and go traffic, I like it since I can just let the clutch out like a diesel with no throttle, but it is too low sometimes so for rolling stops I'll take off in 2nd. IMHO with a 5 speed, 3.55s are good because our OD isn't as deep as the autos so it helps with freeway mileage and lower gears will just make 1st that much more useless when racing, taking off in 2nd at the strip will be hard on your clutch.

If I had your truck, SCT with unlimited tunes would be my choice of tuner...

 

Where is the weight in the Dak? Like where could you lose some weight?

 

Tail gate and spare tire is the easy stuff but you'll have less traction off the line but not a problem for a 4x4
And remove any tools and stuff you're carrying around, after that it's interior gut time.

 

hey thanks for all of your great responses and information. From running previous vehicles at the drags, i was estimating aroud a 15.9-16.5 so it looks like i might be right on the money.
I will work on posting pictures.
When accellerating with the 5 speed, it seem like there is a big gap in 2nd and 3rd gear with the rpm's drop, so it looks like i'll be re-gearing for sure. Any prefference between 3.92 or 4.10?

Also as a response to the weight loss before heading to the drags... Spare tire and tailgate are great, just dont get a flat tire on the way up. Other great and easy ways to lose weigt would be to ditch the front passenger seat, and the rear bench seat and back pads. These may be little things, but they do add up. Also when you take the trip to the drag strip, try to calculate your fuel right so when you get there you've got around a 1/4 tank or less. With a 20 gallon fuel tank and 8lbs per gallon, every 1/4 tank equals about 40lbs which is huge.
And it looks like i might buy a good set of headers for the 4.7 instead of a tuner from what you guys have been saying...

 

yeah every little thing adds up dont keep to much fuel in the tank loose the a/c if you want, skid plates too. I no my truck has a full skid and it has to add some weight loose trailer hitch if you have one. As far as spare tire I took mine off back in feb and have been driving around with out it. if you fell like you would need it just throw it in your bed on the way up and take it out before you go.

 

so after going out and driving for a while, i've decided 1st gear is usable, 25mph at redline. So i am definitely going to re-gear. Now the only decision is whether to upgrade to 3.92 or 4.10. I'm leaning more towards the 4.10, any thoughts?
Also, any preferences on headers and y-pipes?

Thanks