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2marlinman
Dodge Dakota
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7/19/2005
14:58:17
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 Subject: Surprised me last week!
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I had to tell my story, about how my Dakota surprised me last week. I usually just read other posts and search the site for answers to my questions. This one I had to tell.
I have a 2003 Dakota 4x4 cc SXT package. My truck has the 3.9L V6, 3.92 rear end, stock 31.5" goodyears on stock 16" rims. The only mods I did were, trans oil cooler, class 3 hidden hitch, foglights, sport masters bed cover, custom air intake, relocate IAT sensor, and a 180 stat.
I went on vacation last week to a lake in the UP of Michigan. My dad and I decided to take our 32' trailer and our 22' boat. So he towed up the trailer and I towed up the boat. We live just north of Detroit and the trip was about 1100 miles round trip.
Our boat has a trailering weight of about 5300 lbs. and I was a little worried about how my truck would handle the weight. To my surprise the V6 did the task. Handling and stability on the freeway was great, I had no problem handling the boat. As far as power goes, it was tough, the 3.9L struggled but did the job. I had a hard time useing overdrive, but driving on level ground I could maintain 60-65 mph in overdrive, but as soon as I went uphill I had to use 3rd gear. There was only a few places I had to use 2nd gear to maintain 60 mph going up hill.
Overall I was pleased with the performance of the 3.9L towing 5300 lbs. I averaged about 10.5 mpg and the truck never went above 195 degrees running temp.
I have to hand it to dodge, the 3.9L may not be a rocket ship on the streets, but the 3.9L is one heck of a work horse.
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Maggadog
Dodge Dakota
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7/19/2005
22:51:02
| RE: Surprised me last week!
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I'm glad you had a safe trip. For future reference, many folks
who tow use 3rd gear all the time. Using overdrive is often not
recommended by any car maker, that I am aware of. Check your
owner's manual.
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dakkid
Dodge Dakota
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7/20/2005
00:21:39
| RE: Surprised me last week!
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yep, take it easy with them and they handle just fine. i towed about 2300 lbs of wood plus the weight of the trailer (only a 10ft) and although it would struggle to get up to speed, once there it was no problem. the only thing you have to really watch is the brakes and stopping. about the overdrive, it's usually recommended to take it off when towing, but if you get on a flat road and are just going to be cruising for a while, it won't really hurt it to put it back on.
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2marlinman
Dodge Dakota
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7/20/2005
00:50:28
| RE: Surprised me last week!
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yeh. I checked the owners manual and as far as I can see there was nothing saying that 3rd gear is required and you must not use overdrive. The manual says for heavy loads 3rd gear is recommended.
Most of the car companies used to say never use overdrive while towing in the past, but now days most just recommend 3rd gear.
I had no intention of using overdrive, but when I tried using it the truck had no problems maintaining speed on level ground.
I felt that it was pointless to have truck reving at 2800-3000 rpms when the truck did not need to.
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Deep Purple
*GenIII*
7/20/2005
06:51:33
| RE: Surprised me last week!
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Lose of power climbing a hill can be a sign of a plenum gasket failure. Check the board for the diagnostic and repair of this condition. Good luck.
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2marlinman
Dodge Dakota
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7/20/2005
22:41:39
| RE: Surprised me last week!
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Deep Purple
I don't think my truck has any problems with a plenum gasket. I think the loss of speed up hill was do to the dead weight hitched up to my dakota. I thought shifting into a lower gear for power while towing was normal.
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93dak
Dodge Dakota
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7/20/2005
23:56:36
| RE: Surprised me last week!
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The 3.9 is a very tough little motor. Beside the fact of it being a chopped 318, it will handle quite the load for its size but even more is one reliable motor!
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hawkmoon
Dodge Dakota
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7/21/2005
00:31:05
| RE: Surprised me last week!
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Power loss going up-hill with that much weight is definately normal, especially with a V6. I've always been impressed with the amount of power that dodge has squeezed out of these engines.
But I have a question 2marlinman, what is the advantage of the 180 stat vs the stock 195? I have seen several people mention that mod but haven't seen what it accomplishes specifically.
Thanks for any help!
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capoone
Dodge Dakota
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7/21/2005
01:06:00
| RE: Surprised me last week!
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I've got an older V6 dakota with a manual tranny. When I first
got it, I had to tow a friends Blazer on a dolly half way across the
state. I had no problems at all, and was actually suprised with
how much power it still had. Since then I've done a bunch of
mods to it, but it's been a while since I've had to pull a real
heavy load. One of these days...
hawkmoon, the 180 thermostat lets the radiator start cooling
the engine at a lower temperature. The stock is 195 I think. By
running a cooler engine, you get more power. However, it
doesn't burn as clean. It still wont make you fail an emissions
test, from what I've heard anyway. I've got one on right now and
I like it, you get more of an advantage from it if you've already
done other mods. The cooler autolite 3923 plugs are also a
good idea for pretty much the same reason.
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