So I bought a 2005 Durango Limited, Hemi, DVD, 4x4 (AWD, 4 Lock, 4 lo) with just over 90K on the odometer. Before this I owned a Toyota Land Cruiser with locking differentials front and back and my daily driver was a Honda accord.

I sold the Toyota because it was blowing blue smoke all over the place and to fix it would cost roughly $7,000 (someone else doing the work). Even a used (100K miles) engine was over $5000. So after I sold it I shopped around for what I might be able to get for $7000 instead. I looked for quite a while and then one day, while looking on craigslist, I saw this Durango for a pretty low price. Long story short $9500 later I was the owner of a Durango and no longer an owner of a Honda.

I was sort of disappointed to find that the front diff isn't strong enough to handle a front locker but I probably won't see many trails that would require it; a rear locker is in the plans though. I also hope to get something to pull/tow on in the front; maybe one of those tow hitches that mount to the front. Then I could put whatever I wanted in the receiver; tow hook, machine gun, rocket launcher, winch, wife.

I have a HAM radio license so this spring I hope to get that all hooked up on it and get it ready for hunting/camping/fishing/etcetera.

I'm glad to not have two vehicles to maintain. Well it was actually three; I work on my wife's car also. Plus, seems as though parts will be more available and cheaper than the Toyota. Shoot, I could probably get a whole donor vehicle with a good engine and tranny for $2K or less. I couldn't get a blown engine for my Toyota for less that $1K and rebuild parts were in the $3K range.

Anyway...I don't have any pics yet because it's dirty and I haven't remembered to take one. I'll post some soon.

So far I'm enjoying this vehicle more than any of my other vehicles. It's got the leather and creature comforts of a high end Honda but the power, sound of a V8. I put 32.6" tires on it and apparently the previous owner cranked the Tbars (leveled it somehow). I think the 4x4 system will be enough for me and I don't hear too many horror stories.

So I recently switched to synthetic oil and my fuel mileage went up about 1 mpg. Well, it's actually about 2 mpg because I bought new tires which brought it down 1 mpg and warming it up due to cold weather brought it down about 1 mpg also. When I switched to synthetic the mpg jumped back up to the level before the new tires and cold weather.

Just thought I'd let you all know how it went for me. Your mileage may vary.

Also, I used to use the Lucas fuel treatment (gold liquid) in my Honda and I saw significant mpg increase (like 3 to 5 mpg) in the Honda. So I tried it in the Durango and does not seem to do anything. Might save you some money there but again, your mileage may vary.

I live at 6000 ft elevation.

I'm getting ready to do the spark plugs so maybe those will help also. Be nice if I could find a gently used cold air intake; word has it that helps a lot.

 

The 5.7L is a great engine and mine ran great with 75,000 miles on it until I traded it in.
FF

 

a friend of mine (met when I bought the durango) is the dodge dealer service manager. I asked him how often he gets the durango's in and what's common problems. He said he usually doesn't see them unless they have over 200k miles and even then it's usually for bigger (non do it yourself) scheduled maintenance.

I'm sure there are things that will break but his answer gives me hope that it is as close to as reliable as a Toyota or Honda claim to be; assuming one believes the hype in the first place.

I hope more traffic happens on this site like 4 wheeling pics and sharing of available mods. Plus the wisdom and experience of longer durango owners being shared and not just horror stories.

 

Here's a quote from another thready that I'd like to investigate. "Not factory, but you can get them for the Dana 35, which is the same thing as the 205mm front diff." A better recommendation is "helical-gear-type limited-slip differential".

 

It's been a while since I posted. Since my last post I have replaced some things, fixed some things and learned some things about the Durango.

Replaced
----------
Cowl
Battery
Shocks, stabilizer links and bushings
Front bumper with a custom made 4x4 bumper
New General AT2 Grabbers 265/75/17 (32.6")
New WeatherTech floor mats
Running boards off
Ball Joints upper, lower
Steering links and bushings
Shocks
Gaskets on diff covers and synthetic fluid
Lokka rear locker
Stock muffler with loud American Thunder type muffler
Power Steering flushed


Fixed
------
Crankshaft Position Sensor
Parasitic battery draw (is the radio so it will be replaced)
Small rust spots on body and under roof rack mounts
Painted roof rack
A/C Not blowing cold
Fuel tank filler overflow (via warranty at Dodge)
Master window switch
Matching Spare Rim
Tie Rods
Dot 4 Brake Fluid upgrade
Transfer Case Shift Motor
Leaking passenger side exhaust manifold


Planning
----------
Intake Manifold Gasket upgrade (if available)
Water Pump
Taking floor molding off to clean and de-rust
Some new door mouldings
Cold Air Intake
Rock Sliders


Will post a pic soon

 

About 6 months ago my master window switch decided I did not need to be able to raise the passenger windows any longer. I could put them down but not up. I thought for sure, since “parts are cheaper on U.S. Vehicles” that I could get a replacement part pretty cheap. The dealer quoted over $400 for the master switch unit!! I found used parts for as little as $60 but, it’s used, and the problem could reappear. Since then I have been trying different ways to fix the problem without buying a new/different unit.

The first thing I did was to disassemble the master unit and get inside the little micro-switches that are in there and cleaned the contacts. That worked for the front passenger window but not the rear passenger windows. I then tried swapping switches between rear doors to see if the behavior would change; no luck. I then half disassembled the master unit, plugged it in and then operated the micro-switches’ little button by hand; still no luck. I then took the little white cover off of the micro-switches and operated the copper spring by hand; THE SWITCH WORKS!

So, in my case the micro-switches were functional but after their little white cover was installed or if the master unit was reassembled the switches would not work. I took a closer look.

 

In the image the orange area is the spring, the red area is the conductor contact, the blue area is the tiny nub that operates the switch, the black is the cover of the micro-switch. The master unit has one micro-switch for up, one micro-switch for down FOR EACH passenger window (6 in all) plus a different kind of switch for the drivers window. The micro-switch engages when the blue plunger is depressed thus deforming the copper spring which shortens the spring on the right side of the brown support in the center. This causes the curved portion of the spring on the left side of the brown support in the center to compress and forces the switch contact down so that the red conductors meet and allows current to flow. (Note: the green contact patch is the fix).

When I looked close enough between front passenger micro-switches and the rear I noticed the contact patches were different thicknesses. I also noticed, when I put the white micro-switch cover on and operated the micro-switch by hand in the vehicle that some arcing was occurring. Arcing doesn’t usually occur if there is good contact between conductors so I thought maybe the contacts had eroded and become to thin to make good contact.

I took the spring out of the micro-switch by lifting the spring body over the brown support on the far right. I then cleaned the little contact on the spring. Once cleaned I added some solder flux and soldered one drop of solder onto the contact. The drop of solder was approximately 2mm in diameter; enough to cover the contact patch but nothing else. Then I filed the solder drop down until it was about 1mm in thickness.

I cleaned the flux off, re-installed the spring, reassembled the master unit and put it in the vehicle. IT WORKED! I repeated the fix for each of the micro-switches that were not working when the master unit was assembled. All of them work now!

I’m not sure how long it will last but at least I know the cause of the problem in the switch in my vehicle.

Edit
========= 11/1/2015 ============
So the solution described above only lasted 11 months. I could do it again and it'd probably work another year. But, I've already started on a new solution. I'll try to take some pics and post some good info.

 

Nice fix on the window switches. I had the same exact problem - passenger windows go down but not up. On mine, I sprayed the switches out with contact cleaner. It worked for a week then failed again. Replaced the entire switch with a used one from eBay ($50). I kept the old switch, so I might try your fix on it.

Mine got new fluids last week (103k miles). Mobil1 in the engine, Mobil1 in the differentials. Castrol Transmax ATF +IV in the transmission, transfer case, and power steering. Fresh Dot3 brake fluid. From the look of the old fluids, only the engine and transmission had been serviced by the PO. Truck feels like it gained 40hp with the new fluids. Hoping for a bump in mileage as well.

You might consider an AirAid M.I.T. (modular intake tube) instead of the usual K&N-type intake kit. It is considerably cheaper ($125 or so) and it retains the factory air box. Sounds more like a V8 and has a little more pep. I'm not a fan of oiled filters, so keeping the factory paper filter was a big plus in my book.

I'm considering a Spartan locker for the rear diff - low cost and simple install.

 

I hope it works out for you also.

I did see better mileage when I switched to synthetic fluids (in same places that you changed them). Only problem I had was that the fluid in the rear diff leaked out mysteriously. Well, there are no big leaks to speak of so I'm leaning toward "I made an enemy" somewhere and they found me.

Regardless, I'll probably need to have some expensive repairs done; I did fill it up and the noise went away. Been driving it for about 10 days now until my wife's car gets out of the body shop. After her car is back I'm taking mine in to have the diffs inspected. At that time, regardless the repairs that might need to be done I'm going to have them put in a Lokka locker. Pretty much the same as the spartan (I think) but cheaper.

If damage is in the front then I'll probably consider a true-trac. It'd be more expensive to do both but then it'd be done.

I was surprised that my whole family likes the Durango. Every other 4x4 I've had at least one person hated it. I think if this one broke I'd buy another and steal the parts off this one.

I'm reminded, yet again, I have no pic posted. Dangit!

 

Well, the Durango is under the knife. So far they've found that something is wrong in the rear diff; probably a pinion bearing. They are going to tear it apart tomorrow. It needs new ball joints but I already knew that. I'm having a few other things done and adding the Lokka auto locker in the rear is one of them.

Some people say they don't like the way the vehicle drives with a "lunch box locker" in the back and some say they don't notice it. So I'm hoping I will be with the non-noticing crowd. The lokka was inexpensive and free shipping: $250. So if I don't like it then I'm not out a lot of money.

Also having them check and replace the tie rods (inner and outer) if they need it "While they're in there doing stuff". And just for sanity I had them check the u-joints.

If the front diff needs work also then I might add an LSD to the front. The most recommended one is the helical gear type but those are somewhat spendy. If the front diff is fine then I might just leave it alone until something breaks and then add the LSD.

My wife says "It's cheaper than that new GMC Canyon". So I won't argue.