There has never been a 5.7L V8 HEMI option available to the general public for the Dodge Dakota platform, period. If any exist out there then they were one-off experimental trucks, or someone did an aftermarket conversion. I have never seen or heard of a Hemi Dakota at any time or place, I have spoken to dozens of Daimler-Chrysler execs and engineers over the past 4 years at SEMA/etc. and they say that they have absolutely no interest in putting the engine in that platform because it does not fit properly between the frame rails. I find it extremely hard to believe that some random guy sitting out in Oklahoma has a 5.7L HEMI V8 in it from the factory when absolutely nobody else in the rest of the Dodge Truck world has one.

 

I agree with SinSity. I have talked with many people about it too. And it is exactly what you said, the motor is to big to fit right. And then many people say what about the durango isnt that the same thing? No it isnt the front ends are different in many ways. I know you can order some weird stuff from the factory but this is not one of those. I have heard it my self out of a couple chrysler reps at SEMA too, it is just not worth the time to engineer the front end of the dakota to put a Hemi in it.

 

Maybe fella who bought it had incorrect info from seller on from factory, but I don't know why you guys still have to try and say it doesn't exist, when I have told you I have seen it with my own eyes. I simply just have to refer to my signature phrase down below. There is at least one Dak rollin around out there with the hemi in it. Would you say it is impossible to have a 350 big block in a Chevy s-10 pickup, because again I would have to say I've seen it. As a matter of fact I helped him put it in, but granted, yes it did take some modifications to do it. As for the hemi, it looked stalk to me.

 

Stock is the word.

And if somebody spent the money ($5k+) to put a 5.7 into a dakota, the guy who bought it got a deal, especially since the 5.7 was pretty much brand new in 02 - the Rams were still coming from the factory with the 360 in 02, were they not? The 5.9 was an option in 02 for the Dakota, but if you saw a 5.7 then you saw something rare.

I've gotta say though, that the 5.9's true power isn't really shown until you tow something with it. Towing a ~4000 lb race car on a ~2000 lb flatbed trailer I was actually able to keep it in OD for a great deal of the 200 miles, kicking it out only for fairly steep hills. It's got enough torque to pull without even trying to downshift. Of course that was at 70mph where it was turning about 2000 rpms, when the limit dropped down to 60 I had to keep it out of OD more, and I got much worse economy. The entire trip while towing I got 9mpg, which is better than when I was towing with my Ram. Thanks for that low rpm torque, something you don't really get with the smaller engines.

 

My 2 cents. Warren Truck Assembly plant did not build a Dakota with a 5.7L engine ever. That is where all Dakota's were built. But yes, the 5.7L engine fits. In a lab over here in DCX they built an engineering vehicle to test the fit. You only have about a ¼ inch between the exhaust manifolds and the inner fenders. Again there is only one reason they are not going to build it in production. They say it would hurt the sales of the Ram truck. But this is comming from the same VP's that said two door cars don't sell. Don't get me started!