Late last December I bought a new 08 Dakota crew cab 2WD. It has the 4.7 V8 engine with 3.92 gears. This is my first Dodge product. It seems to be a very solid truck, well made, fit and finish are very good. It drives very nice.
I do have a couple of major complaints. The Ford Ranger I had before had more power and got better gas mileage. I also liked the Ford transmission alot better. The first 3 gears in this Dodge are spaced quite far apart and the 4.7 just doesn't handle the huge rpm drop between gears well. Gearing like this would work well only for a large displacement torque monster. Acceleration is not smooth at all. It does ok in first gear then takes a while to recover from the huge rpm drop in second, same problem going to third. While I really like the 4.7. It's mid range and upper rpm power is really good it just doesn't have the low end grunt to deal with gears so widely spaced. Dodge also could have given it more stall speed in the converter. It stalls at 2000 rpm which is well below where the 4.7 starts making good torque. Bottom line is that this torque converter and trans are a poor match for the 4.7. A close ratio unit like what the Fords have with a 2500 stall would work a lot better.
A trip to the drag strip showed that it's 2 tenths slower than my Ranger was and this Dodge gets really crappy highway mileage. City mileage isn't too bad but on the highway the mileage does not improve much. I drive the speed limit just about all the time.
I have a CAI and a cat back exhaust too.
I am starting to regret this purchase. Just looking for input.

 

Your Ranger was a lot lighter, it's a smaller truck. The Dakota is riding on a fully boxed frame and shares a lot of driveline parts with the Rams. You pay for that capability and sturdiness with extra weight, thus the slightly slower strip time and mileage (not to mention the Ranger never came with a V8 to my knowledge). I have the 3.55 gears which should be worse than yours and mine has little trouble with the gear spacing with just a few minor mods so I can't help you there.

Your Ranger was a lot lighter, it's a smaller truck. The Dakota is riding on a fully boxed frame and shares a lot of driveline parts with the Rams. You pay for that capability and sturdiness with extra weight, thus the slightly slower strip time and mileage (not to mention the Ranger never came with a V8 to my knowledge). I have the 3.55 gears which should be worse than yours and mine has little trouble with the gear spacing with just a few minor mods so I can't help you there.

 

Getting some miles on the engine, the gas milage will improve just have to brake in the engine. . I drive a 3.7L V6 and the trans can shift pretty hard somtimes that just dodge trans for ya, I don't notice the jump from the trans as I let off the gas as it is about to shift, this smooths the shift and the truck doesn't feel like you're gonna brake somthing.

 

Quite a few things you can do to improve gas mileage. Beginning with letting it breathe better. That would also help HP.

 

He has an intake and cat back....anyways the 08 and up 4.7 was a redesign that went wrong imo. they show more power on paper but on the dyno they put out less then the non ho at the wheels. I work for Chrysler and we have had a lot of problems with this new 4.7, like head gaskets, ecu failures, and overheating. not sure what to tell you to do as you're going to loose money if you get rid of it. maybe try a hypertech programmer to help out with the shifting.

 

I have an 4x4 '08 4.7 Quad Cab and 3.55's with 18" wheels. I've added a Short Ram intake and 3" exhaust with a better Y-pipe.

When it was stock with very low mileage (0 - 5000 miles) the truck was a real dog. It just felt horribly slow. My 1997 5.2l Dakota was much more lively and fun than this truck. And it was making a lot less horsepower. It also rode way better.

I've got about 7800 miles on the 08' now and have since added a Hypertech. Me and a few others felt a definite difference in throttle response and power after adding it and some felt absolutely nothing at all. Unfortunately Hypertech decided due to past problems not to do anything with the transmission. So it still shifts the same way. But there is a difference in power and off idle response. It's nice and has actually made the truck a little more fun to drive. But it's still not the way I want it. Oh and I agree, the gear spacing on this trans could be a lot better.

One thing I notice is that with the new front end, any windy day puts a real damper on the power especially if the wind is head on. It really slows you down and feels like someone is putting the brakes on. Another thing is, the other day I was rotating the tires and man, these rims are freaking heavy. I had 17" rims on my 2004 Durango and they didn't feel near as heavy as these.

The power output on the '08 4.7l's just seems to be higher in the RPM's than previous trucks. I think that's how they were able to get 302HP out of it. The head, intake and TB change caused the HP to be higher up. So the engine needs to really wind out to make it's power. Once you pass 3000 RPM the power kicks in and it pushes you back in the seat and pulls pretty nice until 6000.

I feel that with the 4.10 gears, a BFI intake and a lighter rim and tire combo the truck should feel a lot better. And just maybe Superchips will be able to do something with the trans shifting once they come out with their Flashpaq.

Oh, and since adding the Hypertech I'm getting better gas mileage. If you drive it like a granpa and lug the engine everywhere the mileage will go down. If you wind it out everywhere, the mileage will go down. I've found that mine likes it right in the middle.

Just rambling. I'm still not quite happy with it, but it's getting there.

 

I'm not sure if programmers are out for the 08 yet, but intake, exhaust and gears certainly won't hurt. I put the 4.10s in and I love them. When I got my truck it was making 170 RWHP and now look at it. Like its been said before, great trucks are not bought they are built.

 

+ 1 blown, same here 170 rwhp at stock, now with the upgrades its a monster, would definitely build another

 

The Ranger is a smaller lighter truck that was designed for lighter applications. The Ford drivetrain in the Ranger is nothing like you will find in a beefy half-ton that the Dak' has. The Dodge Dakota is the most powerful truck available in the mid-size market, there is nothing out there in its class that will haul and tow as much. The only options are Toyota, Nissan and Ford since the Colorado does not even compare.I am happy with my Laramie 4-door 4X4, it does everything i need.I could have had a Ram for the price but i wanted to stay with a mid-size truck. The Dodge has impressed me very much.