Ok I am new to this forum I have a question for you guys...I owned a 2nd gen Dakota I bought it new in 2003 ,it was a 2003 club cab 4.7 liter 4x4 sport. It ran very good from day one later put on a magnaflow exhaust and deleted the clutch fan and installed k and n..
The performance was always great and it was fun to drive more then enough power.I traded up to a 3rd gen 2005 slt four door 4x4 with 4.7 liter. They both had same gears 3.55. The 05 has no pickup compared to the 03. Horsepower is suppose to be the same tire height is the same.
Is there any reason anyone can think that it could have so much less power other then that it runs great idles perfect no codes.
The only difference I can really see is the exhaust seems more restrictive and the sound is almost non existant. My 03 even when stock had a little rumble...Any suggestions would be great.....Jim

 

Welcome to the forum. 05's are a different beast. Redesigned and much heavier than the 2nd gens. Plus the quad cab is even more weight. Get yourself a superchips tuner. That gave the best bang for the buck, imo. I had the efan, magnaflow exhaust, 180 tstat and CAI, none of those made as much difference as the superchips did. You could also look into regearing to 4.10's but thats expensive.

 

Thanks Jkeaton i will look into that did not realize they were that much heavier.
I would like to level it also as it sits a little low for me, I will have to post pics it is a sharp looking truck...Jim

 

my 05 gets up and goes, but has some motor work and nitrous installed, I too had the 3.55, went with the 4.10 and wow what a difference, and all the money you tend to spend on upgrades, for the money, the gears are far the best, welcome to the forum and good luck, my truck just turned 130000 miles and I still beat it every day

 

It's all about the transmission man. The Superchips is the way to go because it makes it a whole new beast.
I also plan on going to 4.10's front and rear gears and maybe even 4.56 actually, since I tow a good bit. The transmission gearing for these is a bit worse than the old ones.

 

sounds like me 196xxx still runnin strong with a lead foot everyday.

best mod that you can do is tune you truck and i would start off with the superchips that way you get an idea of what the tuning will do for you. i have :

F&B 73mm TB
Efan delete kit
gibson headers
true dual exhaust
magnaflow cats
cutouts x pipe
airraid cheapo intake with k&n filter
PCV air/oil seperator
3inch BeCool aluminum radiator
stage 3 sharadon valve body
Superchips custom trans tune and performance mode set as a stock file, and a Hemifever custom tune stacked on top

i promise you i will blow right past your 03. Gears and a tune is going to wake you dakota up the most, and is the best bang for your buck.

if you need more focus on your transmission, remember the 05 does decrese the throttle by almost 50% at each shift, mopar calls "torque management"

 

I'm selling a superchips cortex 3950 which I had on my 06. Definitely gave the most improvement on my truck out of cai, headers, cat back exhaust, efan.

 

How much do you want for your superchips? How does it work do you have to program it to your tune? Also the efan kit do they have one just for the dakota?Thanks Jim

 

You could always do what I do and adjust your shift points with a big stick coming out of the floor....

 

Superchips comes with canned tunes. Tow tune is the best, imo. You can also purchase a separate transmmission tuning package. but the one with the tow tune is really good. The efan is made from different parts. Most use a chevy hhr fan assy and a derali (spell) controller. You the search function for efans. There are a bunch of write ups on it. Blown probably had the best one.