Oh yes, especially when cold.

 

The biggest difference is displacing the load from the drivetrain to the electrical system. There's not much to make work, just buy an aftermarket fan kit built for your year model of Dakota, remove the old clutch fan hanging off the engine, install the new fan per the instructions. There's already a wiring harness plumbed to the area where the fan is, you just have to plug it in. From there, the ECU regulates turn on/shut off.

 

Mark 8 or taurus fan mod (remove clutch fan)
4.10's or deeper (with LSD, even better)

I can't afford the list the rest of what's on my truck :P

 

Well you could have a field day with it. At this point you could a few things:

1) Taller gears, with the 46RE tranny any gearing change 4.10 and above is great all around. So I second that
2) Electric fan swap, I even have a 4.7 where this is less of a gain yet I'm still planning on doing it. So I second that as well

Slightly more controversial upgrades (ones that members will debate):

3) Enlarging your throttle body, depending on the trucks purpose
4) Exhaust header upgrade, sounds better and can only help
5) Intake manifold, abridged version from my knowledge is you can always make them better

3-5 will help a lot more with upgrades versus just on their own

 

im replacing my water pump tomorrow and next payday I am getting an electric fan and pulling the clutch fan off. I run a 285/70/17'' tire right now but may end up going to a 305. do you think a 4.10 would be ok or should I got to 4.56? I pull a small camper and sometimes a big pontoon boat a lot.

 

I honestly dont think gears are worth it for the price especially if you are 4wd. Best mods you can do(for about half the price of gear swap) is tuner,throttle body and e fan. If you were going to make this a track truck then yeah gears would be worth it.

 

Does yours eat water pumps like mine does? I have 78k on the truck and we're on pump #3....

 

Ah well then, at that point 4.10 sounds like you will be driving an equivalent stock Dakota with a 3.55. So if you really are trying to look for performance again I'd go with 4.56. Street racing guys have them but with your tire size it'll be similar to a 4.10 or 4.00. ^Ramguy^ is right though, do everything else first because it cheaper and if you want more. The gearing will give you the satisfaction you want. After that you're looking at building the motor and forced induction, which is in the thousands.

 

Here's the whole list of what's on my truck. some more affordable than others (I'm a college kid, if that says anything)

1. V8 throttle body on V6 (V8 can go to a fastman)
2. Harland Sharp mopar 1.7 Rockers
3. SCT or other tuner
4. 4.10 gears (I have Nitro), as suggested, 4.56 will match your tires better
5. External trans cooler- mine is a 16 pass 10" fan under bed
6. Lincoln Mark 8 Fan (similar to Taurus fan)
7. 180 degree thermostat. Stock is a 195, don't go to 160, will throw a code
8. I have methanol injection to assist the aggressive SCT tune I have
9. MSD digital 6 ignition and HVC 6 coil (wont do any good on street- it's for racing)

Things I haven't got to yet:

10. Headers (none for 3.9/watch your emissions/catalytics)
11. K&N air filter
12. Modify intake to open up runners

 

If I had to select a few people here with experience and know how about the older designs, I'd suggest ^this guy^ as one of them. I'm a college kid as well, so we know how to get the most for our money. I'm more knowledgeable with 4.7s, I'm striving to advance the 4.7 to find a complete simple "kit" that will push 300hp without forced induction or major modifications. My foundations on 5.2 and 5.9 are more research and derivative based. But his list is very good, 5,8&9 are where you draw the line at with modifications if you want this vehicle to stay relatively normal. These are more racing modifications, 5 does help with preserving the tranny while towing, but it isn't considered necessary unless you're often at/exceeding the tranny's design/GVWR.

Also on a side note for future when talking about towing. Please provide not only the object being towed but the weight as well (trailer+load). It'll assist people like me in giving better advice.