Been thinking real seriously about the '08 trx4. My understanding is that the 08 was the only year that you can find full time 4x4, which sounds cool to me, also I understand the trx4 had a slightly tweaked gear ratio that enables faster acceleration. With this comes a question, though. Doesn't full time 4x4 take away from acceleration, since power is being split to all 4 wheels? Or does this end up being beneficial somehow? Any input would be great, thanks!

 

the main choices you have for gear ratio's are 3.55 (most commonly found), 3.92, and 3.21. from the factory. as for the full time 4x4. I've heard of some awd dakotas, but I have not seen any. You might be able to do a transfer case swap, if you do a lot research and check spine counts for input and output shafts, over all length and what not. just depends what you want and what you are willing to do.

 

In recent discussions, I think that we have determined that AWD was available in the 3rd Gen for most, if not all, years.

The beauty of all-wheel-drive is that, when properly designed and implemented, it send power to the axles/wheels that can handle it. And it happens without the driver having to do anything on the fly. If a wheel still has traction, it gets power, if it doesn't have traction, it doesn't get power. I don't know how efficient the Dakota system is, but my understanding is that my 2006 had the Mercedes Benz system (or parts thereof) and that is a pretty good system. My '08 is just 2wd/4wd High/4wd Low, so I don't currently have AWD.

With a truck, there are times that you need/want 4WD without the power cut to spinning wheels, hence, the switch settings.

Just my nickel's worth (we don't have the penny anymore).

 

What model do you have and how would you rate your acceleration? I drove an slt and was somewhat dismayed by the lag between punching the gas pedal and actually taking off.

 

I currently have an SLT '08 and I had a SLT '06 (in my sig pic). Both with 4WD of some sort, both with 4.7l V8 power. Both Crew Cabs, '06 with a hard tonneau cover, '08 with a cap.


Both get-up-and-get-gone when I push the loud pedal. It is a truck. It is not a muscle car. I can make the rear tires break loose on my '08 because it is 2wd/4wdH/4wdL configuration. '06 was AWD so I couldn't make black marks.