Hi everyone,

I am new to the forums and have been trying to do some Dak research without joining any forums as of yet but finally broke down.

Well here is the back story:

I work for a home building company and regularly pull a 12x6 open flat single axle trailer w/o a trailer breaking system, loaded with a Grasshopper zero turn and a tiny Honda push mower. Or a 20x8 enclosed dual axle Haulmark non V-nose trailer with trailer brakes, usually loaded with furniture for moving out model houses. If I am not pulling a trailer I do tend to use the bed as well.

In the past I have used a 99 F350 SRW Crew Cab Short Box with a 7.3 and that was obviously more than adequate for the task at hand. I then had to switch to an 03 Ram 1500 Crew Cab Short Box Laramie 5.7 and that seems to get the job done quite well too.

The Ram was great but it was a loaner and I now have to get a "new to me" used truck and am not looking to break the bank. I have been looking at Dakotas as I have always liked them. However I am not sure if it will be able to handle the every day abuse of work truck/tow vehicle.

I am able to get a good deal on a 99 Regular Cab Short Box 5.2 with 4x4. I know for any Dakota I would probably have to go with leaf helpers and/or coil overs as well as the whole tranny cooler and tow package and maybe even bigger breaks. My question though is would the aforementioned Dakota be a good tugger or at the bare minimum would I have to go the Quad Cab route?

Thanks for any info,
Nik

 

Dont get a quad cab dakota for towing, they suck, anything with the 4.7 imo sucks. Only had problems with my 01 4.7, my 99 5.2 towed a 6300lb 26' TT pretty good, hard on hills but lived to tell the tale. With the 20x8 trailer just lock out OD most of the time at the sight of a hill, you will have to honestly test it and see how it handles the wind resistance the most. Just a warning I only got 7mpg when towing the TT but I also just hole the pedal to the floor most of the time when towing. This truck was all stock.

For legal tow ratings, I am not 100% sure but I believe its 7000 max for a RT 5.9 nv4500 2x4. A 5.2 44re 4x4 I think had a max of 6500 I believe.

 

IMO you should be fine with what you're looking at. Definitely use the O/D-off button though, and put a trailer brake controller on it for the enclosed trailer.

 

I'm going to have to also agree with these guys, even though I myself have yet to tow near the limits of my 01' 4.7L dakota. My parents had 4.7L 2000 durango, we towed a camper that was near the vehicles tow capacity. Hills were a concern, we got up them, just not fast

Does this mean my 4.7L is going to suck since it isn't stock, I doubt it, when I get it regeared it'll probably be able to tow 7,000 lbs without much trouble. The advantage you have is the 5.2 could turn out over 300 hp and well over that in torque without internal modifications. The 4.7 would cost alot to have it turn out 300 hp.

 

I have an '03 QC with the 4.7, 10 bolt rear end and a 3.92 gear, it pulls GREAT. I have had 9200 pounds behind it and it did just fine without the assistance of trailer brakes too. Everything on my truck is stock except for the mentioned mods in my sig which don't really mean much for extra power. This truck of mine has a class IV towing package from the factory also. Whoever ordered this truck, ordered for towing and it does it with the best of them.

 

If you are not going to go the route of the 5.2, I'm going to offer my two cents on the 4.7L. Mainly because this and the 5.7L Hemi, are the two engines I have grown up with and ever worked on. The 4.7 despite its advancements over the 3.9/5.2/5.9 magnums, is still at heart a V8. If something is wrong with it, you can tell and if you are knowledgeable about engines normally you can self diagnose it without any trouble and be correct. The early 4.7s 01-02 you either got a good engine or a problem one. If you are test driving the trucks you can tell in heart beat, the engine either is perfect or has problems (sometimes it could be failure of doing maintenance). If you have a good one, the engine will last you forever.

On to truck choices, have you looked at an extended cab with a 1800 lbs cargo capacity. These trucks have a 9.25 rear axle, which for the Dakota is our heavy duty axle (these are from Ram 1500). You get the extra cab space, same bed space as a regular cab, longer wheel base (same wheel base as a QC model), but is lighter then the QC.

As for helping with load management, I stand by my shock absorbs: Monroe Load-Adjusting shock absorbers. I've had these on for a month now, my rear rides more stiff like a truck but when it comes to towing, these make the ride and handling smooth. I will admit I have towed no where near what you have though.

I hope that helps

 

Ive used my 98 5.2 ext. cab to tow a 4000-5000lb~ boat&trailer through washington/BC mostly on an incline/decline. It did great. Took a lot longer to come to a stop & got horrible gas mileage. Diesels aren't practical for a lot of people, but if youre towing on a daily basis it might just be the right choice for you.

 

I have towed a pretty good bit with my CC 4.7 and it has plenty of power and torque to haul stuff but it can get a little squirrely if you don't have the trailers loaded right. The brakes have good clamping power but the truck is noticeably lighter than a full size. Make sure you have a tranny cooler and a good hitch setup and possibly some helper springs from hellwig or similar.

 

Thanks for all the info and responses guys. Very informative.

Darknight: If I understand correctly you're saying that there is an 1800 lbs cargo capacity Dakota but only in an ex-cab version? What years exactly do they range from?

Also as far as regearing goes I don't know much. From what I have read if you have a 4wd model you have to get both the front and back gears redone. How does one go about doing this however, do I have to go to a salvage yard or is this a common change?

 

Basically from what I've heard is the extended cab came with a 1500 or 1800 cargo capacity option. The 1,500 lbs has the 8.25 rear axle (These things are supposedly out of jeeps) which as many here will probably back me up on it is a POS. Then there is the 1,800 lbs option, which has the 9.25 rear axle (these come from the ram 1500 truck). I'm not entirely sure the years but I know that my '01 has this axle. I don't know if the regular has this option, I've heard the ext cab does tho.

Yes you need to change out both diff gears for 4wd. I got a quote for my truck and it was like 1200 for the whole thing, 700 was just the gears.