I've had my Dakota since October of last year, and never had the first real problem. I've just needed new tires after a couple months, and I just replaced the original brake pads and rotors last night. My dad, who's in jail for the next year, keeps urging me to trade in my truck and get a new one because his mechanic cell mate keeps telling him that they had nothing but problems with the 4.7 up until 2008. How true is this? Because I've been on the forum a couple months now and for the most part, I don't hear any complaining about the 4.7.

 

Motor wise, I dont think anyone has had any major issues with the 3.7L or 4.7L.
The biggest thing is just the Front end suspension parts

 

Yeah, that's the only problems I've ever heard of. That, and some people got sludge.

 

The 4.7 is actually one of Chrysler's best motors. The sludge you talking about is just from poor maintenance.

 

Ditto that. An engine is only as good as the maintenance performed on it. Only issue with the 4.7 I have heard about is dropping valves or something like that if you let them overheat. I believe Hammer had a Jeep with the 4.7 that did that. But it was from overheating.

 

I have had 2 Dakotas with the 4.7, a 2k and my current 2010. Even with CAIs and superchips on both, I have had no problems with them. With regular maintenance they seem to be pretty solid engines. A family friend who is a mechanic says they very rarely see these in for major issues, most of the time is for regular stuff like oil changes etc.

 

Yeah. My oil changes are regular and like i said, i just did my brakes. I try to keep my vehicles maintained. So i shouldn't expect any problems as long as it's maintained? Awesome, thanks guys.

 

I have an 05 that I bought new, with a few motor upgrades and a 125 shot of nitrous and at 140000 miles, it still breaks the tires loose when shifting from 1st to 2nd, and yes its an automatic, never an issue just with the frt suspension

 

Some people complained about clattering noises upon start up, i was one of them but had nothing done to fix it and its still running strong, read about one guy who had his engine rebuilt and he still had the problem..

 

I have an 01 Durango with the older 4.7 and a 08 Dakota with the newer 4.7. The Durango has survived 196,000 MILES of my Girlfriend diving it [drag strip starts, panic stops and 2 wheel corners] still has plenty of compression, and with me driving can still manage 18MPG on the highway. The 08 makes the same odd sounds as the 01...