In all fairness to my mechanic, he's working on my truck "on the side," as he is a full-time employee as a mechanic at the local Dodge dealer.

Also, since I just bought the truck, I wanted him to do a relatively in-depth once-over of the truck, identifying (possible) issues that we may have missed in our pre-purchase assessment. And we already know of a few things that need work.

So, he's able to work on it only evenings and weekends. I say "two weeks" as I'm giving him two full weekends to get done what needs to get done. He actually said he hoped to get it back to me by this weekend. But I'm preparing myself for a longer length of time...just so I'm really REALLY happy if and when it is returned early.

 

I had the same issue and it was the sensor in the rear diff. Truck would run fine but idle down and die upon coming to a stop. Would start right back up and idle fine. I have a standard so I could rev it just as I stopped and it would idle ok.

 

Ok...so my mechanic tells me that the no-idle problem was caused by a loose connection to the battery. Who knew??

Also, he can get 4 of the Goodyear Wrangler (not sure which model...thinking the SilentArmor or ArmorTrac) tires (235/75/R15) balanced, mounted and disposing of old tires for $370. So, can I get some input as to tire selection (these two possible options as well as others) and, if it's one of these two tires I go with, is that a decent price? Note that I won't be doing anything even remotely like off-roading: just trying to get up and down my gravel "driveway" in all kinds of weather.

Thanks....

 

definitely a fair price as long as they are new. That price sounds more like used, but they may be the box-store wranglers which are a softer, cheaper compound (read: wears faster). I just paid $380 for a pair of Firestone Destinations, $157 a tire, $26 mount and balance, $10 disposal fee, and I forget what the other $30 was.

 

Dakota's hate low voltage so it's not that big a surprise that a loose connection would cause the problems. Often they'll just stall out.

What do you plan to do with the truck for tires? Off-road?

On the tires, I couldn't WAIT to get rid of the OEM Wranglers. They were loud and wore out fast. I'm running my second set of Michelin LTX. The Wranglers lasted about 25k and were done. The first set of Michelin's lasted over 65k. They wear nice, are very quiet, and good in the weather and the occasional trail. I don't really off-road with the truck much.

 

I just took a set of wranglers of my Durango.... If the weather was anything but sunny they where horrible. I dunno how many slight inclines this winter i watched cars go up while i just slide there. I would lean towards a michelin or a cooper tires.

 

I realize you just recently put on those new Firestone Destinations A/T, but, do you like them? I'm leaning towards the Michelin LTX M/S2, but admit that the tread doesn't look aggressive enough for me. That is to say, I can say that getting up my road with snow on the ground WILL be a challenge, even in 4WD. These tires just don't look like they can do the job.

Thoughts?

 

I'm on my third set of destination AT's. Now granted I have a spool in the back end, I'm only 2WD. I've gotten out of mud holes I wouldn't take an ATV into. Almost got stuck once, but then I decked it....


(I can see somebody making that their signature line)

 

Anyone have experience with the BF Goodrich Rugged Terrain T/A tires?

 

We have the Destination A/T on my Dak and TB; both are DD 4x4 vehicles. Quiet, great traction in all conditions AND save several hundred if you can wait until January. Seems Firestone has an employee discount every year about that time. You get them at the employee price.