3G Durango Owner's Roll Call - Show us your 3G Durango
Registered User
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 17
Likes: 0
Greeting everyone...
I've been away from the forums for awhile since selling my '99 Durango SLT. Then it was a few years with an '06 Ram 2500 quad cab, then a few more years with a, '09 Grand Cherokee Limited. Both awesome rides. While it's hard to beat a WK2 with QD II, we really needed the 3rd row for those beach & surf fishing trips, but what to get. Honestly I came real close to getting either a Tahoe or Suburban but my son helped talk me into the '13 Durango Citadel. Also, until they design in a folding flat 3rd row, the chevy/GMC are a pain in the butt IMHO. Bottom line, my main off road action is light trails and beach buggy and the Durango's real 2 speed transfer case will do the job just fine. I kinda wish I could run 18" rims to get a bit more side wall, but I under stand the D really benefits from 20" rims to keep the front brakes cool from the extra weight of a 5.7 Hemi.
So, i started doing my home work on looking for a demo '13 while the '14 model is rolling out. There is still great selection on 2013 Durangos and dealers are getting more aggressive with the "program" discounts. My final deal was a loaded Citadel with 5K demo miles (MSRP $49,270), with $9300 off the MSRP and they gave me $24k for my '09 Jeep Grand Cherokee, so that's basically like getting $12K off the sticker. I had another dealer willing to give me same discount and $25k for my Jeep but that was a Maximum Steel and I really wanted another white ride.
In true Durango club form, I'm already off and running with upgrades and I only took delivery on Thursday.
1st upgrade ... get rid of those 265/50R20 Fortera HL. Don't get me wrong. The Fortera are a pretty good highway touring tires. However this D3 is going to see some minor off road action on the beach and the camping/fishing/kayaking trails. So, I have a local tire dealer who will take my stock tires and give me a $150 credit toward (4) Firestone Destination A/T 275/55R20 magic slippers. I had these A/Ts on my Ram 2500 and loved them. I had Wrangler Silent Armors on my Jeep and I almost went with those but the Destination A/Ts will be a little more road friendly without giving up too much light off road capability. Maybe I could have squeezed some 275/60R20 tires on the D3, but not interested. I get the tires on Monday and will post pics soon.
2nd upgrade ... removed the plastic lower front cowl. Clearance instantly went from 7.5" to 9.5" so I won't be plowing sand as easily. I'm not trimming off the "tabs" in case I want to put the cowl back on and you really don't see the tabs unless you get down and look. Pics soon.
3rd upgrade ... I tweaked my overland style safari rack to mount on the Durango roof rack. I must say, the stock roof rack is a very cool design and pretty solid. The foundation should be just fine to load up with a couple of sit on top kayaks and beach gear. I'll get some pics of this up soon also.
There is something else I want to do to support the safari rack ...
4th upgrade (planned) ... front recovery hooks. 1st thing I have to say to Dodge/Chrysler is ... REALLY?!?! Almost $400 for the mopar recovery hook parts and 2+ hours of dealer ship shop time for the install? Arrrgggghhhh! I'm gonna have to think about this one for awhile. For that much I can get a front hitch installed with all of the flexibility a front hitch offers. Although, I had a front hitch on my '99 D and it does hang kinda low on the D3 also. About half of the 2" receiver ends up in the front lower cowl area. Do I really need the front hooks? Well I do need to have some way to tie down the front end of the rack slung kayaks. I'll have to see what 3rd party tow hook options there are or other ways to provide some front end tie down capability.
Well... It's been a long time since the '99 D. However, with just a few hundred miles on the new D3, I'm having Deja'Vu all over again. The kids really like the Durango as well and they loved the jeep. But now they have DVD entertainment and room to spread out.
I'd also like to say... while the new 8 speed tranny is very smooth, the 6 speed is terrific with the 5.7 Hemi. I drove a '14 D with the V6 and V8, as well as the the '14 JGC V6, and honestly it's the V6 that really benefits from the new 8 speed. I'm kinda glad I was able to save some serious $$$ on this '13 and won't be "beta testing" a new chrysler transmission.
So, it's good to be back, and I look forward to catching up on the forums.
...
I've been away from the forums for awhile since selling my '99 Durango SLT. Then it was a few years with an '06 Ram 2500 quad cab, then a few more years with a, '09 Grand Cherokee Limited. Both awesome rides. While it's hard to beat a WK2 with QD II, we really needed the 3rd row for those beach & surf fishing trips, but what to get. Honestly I came real close to getting either a Tahoe or Suburban but my son helped talk me into the '13 Durango Citadel. Also, until they design in a folding flat 3rd row, the chevy/GMC are a pain in the butt IMHO. Bottom line, my main off road action is light trails and beach buggy and the Durango's real 2 speed transfer case will do the job just fine. I kinda wish I could run 18" rims to get a bit more side wall, but I under stand the D really benefits from 20" rims to keep the front brakes cool from the extra weight of a 5.7 Hemi.
So, i started doing my home work on looking for a demo '13 while the '14 model is rolling out. There is still great selection on 2013 Durangos and dealers are getting more aggressive with the "program" discounts. My final deal was a loaded Citadel with 5K demo miles (MSRP $49,270), with $9300 off the MSRP and they gave me $24k for my '09 Jeep Grand Cherokee, so that's basically like getting $12K off the sticker. I had another dealer willing to give me same discount and $25k for my Jeep but that was a Maximum Steel and I really wanted another white ride.
In true Durango club form, I'm already off and running with upgrades and I only took delivery on Thursday.
1st upgrade ... get rid of those 265/50R20 Fortera HL. Don't get me wrong. The Fortera are a pretty good highway touring tires. However this D3 is going to see some minor off road action on the beach and the camping/fishing/kayaking trails. So, I have a local tire dealer who will take my stock tires and give me a $150 credit toward (4) Firestone Destination A/T 275/55R20 magic slippers. I had these A/Ts on my Ram 2500 and loved them. I had Wrangler Silent Armors on my Jeep and I almost went with those but the Destination A/Ts will be a little more road friendly without giving up too much light off road capability. Maybe I could have squeezed some 275/60R20 tires on the D3, but not interested. I get the tires on Monday and will post pics soon.
2nd upgrade ... removed the plastic lower front cowl. Clearance instantly went from 7.5" to 9.5" so I won't be plowing sand as easily. I'm not trimming off the "tabs" in case I want to put the cowl back on and you really don't see the tabs unless you get down and look. Pics soon.
3rd upgrade ... I tweaked my overland style safari rack to mount on the Durango roof rack. I must say, the stock roof rack is a very cool design and pretty solid. The foundation should be just fine to load up with a couple of sit on top kayaks and beach gear. I'll get some pics of this up soon also.
There is something else I want to do to support the safari rack ...
4th upgrade (planned) ... front recovery hooks. 1st thing I have to say to Dodge/Chrysler is ... REALLY?!?! Almost $400 for the mopar recovery hook parts and 2+ hours of dealer ship shop time for the install? Arrrgggghhhh! I'm gonna have to think about this one for awhile. For that much I can get a front hitch installed with all of the flexibility a front hitch offers. Although, I had a front hitch on my '99 D and it does hang kinda low on the D3 also. About half of the 2" receiver ends up in the front lower cowl area. Do I really need the front hooks? Well I do need to have some way to tie down the front end of the rack slung kayaks. I'll have to see what 3rd party tow hook options there are or other ways to provide some front end tie down capability.
Well... It's been a long time since the '99 D. However, with just a few hundred miles on the new D3, I'm having Deja'Vu all over again. The kids really like the Durango as well and they loved the jeep. But now they have DVD entertainment and room to spread out.
I'd also like to say... while the new 8 speed tranny is very smooth, the 6 speed is terrific with the 5.7 Hemi. I drove a '14 D with the V6 and V8, as well as the the '14 JGC V6, and honestly it's the V6 that really benefits from the new 8 speed. I'm kinda glad I was able to save some serious $$$ on this '13 and won't be "beta testing" a new chrysler transmission.
So, it's good to be back, and I look forward to catching up on the forums.
...
Amateur
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 25
Likes: 0
I almost don't feel worthy being here. Quite a few awesome looking Durangos and owners that are much more advanced with this stuff.
Just bought my 2013 R/T Blacktop. Put in a K&N CAI and have a hypertech interceptor on order. Soon I will have the exhaust changed up. Hope the image gets uploaded like I want it to.
Just bought my 2013 R/T Blacktop. Put in a K&N CAI and have a hypertech interceptor on order. Soon I will have the exhaust changed up. Hope the image gets uploaded like I want it to.
