First off a big Thank You to everyone who helped me out with my gremlin struck 02 Dakota...So, after trying to fix the problem with no resolve i grew a set of stones and went back to the dealership where they installed/flashed the new PCM.
After coming unglued on the general manager he agreed to bring my truck back in free of charge and diagnose the problem for me.
After having my Dakota for 3 days the service manager called me in for the bad news. He said after replacing every sensor including the new PCM, the problem was so deep in the electrical system they could not find it. They got it to where it would run for about an hour flawlessly then it would shut down for no apparent reason. They even installed another PCM and it keeps shutting down right around the 1hr mark.
Believe it or not he said they have ran across several Dakota/Rams that have done this and have never been able to fix it. They are leaving all the new parts on the truck and even had it towed home for me free of charge. The G.M. is kind of a gear head so he said to pull the 4.7 and the transmission because it has such low miles, sell them and transplant it with a good old 318/360 that is carburetored and mate it up with a 727 then...have fun! Has anyone here ever done a 4.7 to 318/727 swap?
Thanks Again everyone

 

What year is your Dak? If it's 98 or newer, (I think) just going carb is going to be a problem, as the computer runs the dash, among other things.

 

My Dakota is a 02 SLT Quadcab 2wd Automatic. I think the BCM runs all the cabin functions but i could be wrong.

 

My high school shop teacher told me just to stick a 5.7 Hemi in it Lol?

 

THAT would be FUN. Hellcrate?

 

It would definitely be a axle breaker Lol.
Id still be dealing with all the computer bs though so realistically I'll probably research the old school carburetored 318/360 swap with a 727.

 

You should really pay more attention to the interwebs.

https://www.facebook.com/hellcatdakota/

He works for Chrysler. Took the 392 out, stuck a hellcat in, kept the T56, is having traction problems in first and second gear.

 

Of course he does. It's a truck. No weight in the rear. Even huge, sticky meats in the back will only do so much.

 

Has anyone here ever done a "old school" carburetored small block swap in a gen 2 Dakota?

 

Biggest problem will be making the gauges work. That all operates on the data bus, and you aren't going to have the pcm there to feed the information.... Could go custom dash as well. All in all, I think it would be less trouble to fix what ya got.