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BCDakota
Dodge Dakota
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6/13/2004
15:52:20
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 Subject: V6 Towing Capability
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What are you towing with your V6?
How much weight are you towing and how does your truck perform?
What mods have you made to help your truck?
Last but not least, how often are you towing with your V6?
How does having a bodylift limit you carrying any kind of weight such as a small camper?
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Kristien Seabloom
Dodge Dakota
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6/13/2004
18:30:09
| RE: V6 Towing Capability
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I tow a 3,000 lbs boat with my 96 4x4 V6 Auto. I have a little trouble on mild grades at hwy speed, usually have to kick off the Overdrive then it will pull along without any problem. The Auto sucks though, standard I would think is way better. I have a home brew kit, K&N filter relocated IAT, Autolite Plugs, Dynomax muffler. My tires are also slightly larger than stock 30x9.5R15, but less than the Gen III stock 31's. Hope this helps.
Kristien
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frebius
Dodge Dakota
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6/13/2004
19:11:57
| RE: V6 Towing Capability
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Just a bit of advise... wether you like your truck or not don't try and haul a skid steer it's a bad idea.
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Katee
Dodge Dakota
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6/13/2004
20:01:01
| RE: V6 Towing Capability
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I haul about 1600 lbs of water in the back of my 90
Dakota 6 cylinder. . . over 6 miles of washboard dirt
road and up a steep hill....does just fine.
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Tek
Dodge Dakota
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6/13/2004
22:55:09
| RE: V6 Towing Capability
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I've towed a 20ft boat (no idea on the weight) before with my 96' 3.9L manual with a stock engine with little to no problems. Like Kristien said, I have to drop a gear to accelerate on grades but other than that, it pulls great. Did I mention I have a class 3 hitch though?
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Nanook
Dodge Dakota
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6/13/2004
23:44:49
| RE: V6 Towing Capability
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I have towed a 22ft trailer. It was a travel lite with aluminum frame, empty it weighed 2970lbs. We had water, food and a butt load of clothes loaded up(those clothes and other items sure did add up quick). I had myself (180lbs) my wife (126lbs) and my kids (125lbs combined) I towed it from California all the way to Mississippi. The heat hurt bad as I had to turn the AC off most of the time, for power and trying to conserve fuel. It pulled fairly good as long as there was no wind hitting the front of the trailer. I could cruise at 55mph easily, sometimes i would look down and be doing 80mph, generally I stayed at 55mph. However, when I was coming back through Cali I had my foot to the floor in 4th gear going down hill and all she could muster was 55mph. It was around Indio and the wind was really bad. I have 3.92 gears which is an important option if you are towing. An extreme air intake and a gibson exhaust are my only performance mods. When we drove to Seattle we fixed my towing woes by buying my wife a Chevy Tahoe. It had no problems
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93Dak
Dodge Dakota
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6/14/2004
09:07:21
| RE: V6 Towing Capability
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I have a 93 Dakota 4x4 extended cab, 3.9 automatic with 160,000 miles. I tow a jetski and with the trailer it weighs 1000 lbs. I have quite a bit of trouble with it when trying to run at highway speeds with the A/C on. It will shift in and out of overdrive all day long to keep up. I can run it out of overdrive and that seems to work OK.
I'm planning to buy a boat that weighs 3000 lbs with the trailer next week. I believe that I'll be buying a Durango with a 5.9 this week. :)
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P2gee
Dodge Dakota
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6/14/2004
10:22:51
|  RE: V6 Towing Capability
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It is HIGHLY advisable when towing signifigant weight with a automatic Dakota to leave the transmission out of overdrive. A check of the owners manual will confirm this also. I have had several customers with trashed OD's and all admitted to hauling trailers, boats and such. Shifting in and out of OD on the grades is a death nell for the tranny.
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swilliamson
Dodge Dakota
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6/14/2004
13:29:54
| RE: V6 Towing Capability
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While the owners manual says to turn off OD when the transmission is hunting between OD and drive, I don't believe there is anything that says to tow only with OD off. I could be mistaken, but I have searched my manual for that statement a couple of times.
Personally I think about 3000 lbs is the max you would want to tow with the V6, less that for mountain towing. I tow a 2000 lb popup camper and it has no problems, although it will down shift going up grades. I turn off the OD if when pulling grades so it won't continue to shift in and out of OD. I have towed my dads 21 foot 4000 lb boat a couple of times and it was ok for the short distances to and from the lake, but it is not something I would want to do on a routine basis.
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BCDakota
Dodge Dakota
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6/14/2004
17:48:46
| RE: V6 Towing Capability
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Thanx for all the feedback guys. I still have one question left unanswered though. How does running a bodylift limit me carrying any type of weight, ie a camper, in the back of my Dakota 4x4.
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mopar_man
Dodge Dakota
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6/14/2004
18:17:56
| RE: V6 Towing Capability
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Has anyone pulled a 2 horse trailer with two horses?I am thinking about buying one but don't know if the v-6 can handle it.
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LAD9DER
Dodge Dakota
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6/15/2004
03:03:30
| RE: V6 Towing Capability
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Mopar Man -
Yeah I have done it - It is possible but I wouldn't reccomend doing it on a frequent basis. I set my 99 3.9 (4x4 w/ the 31's and 3.96 rear)up with electric brakes which you will almost certainly need if you want to stop in the same county. I mainly used it as an emergency towing vehicle when we went to show's and such. We towed the 4 horse with the farm owners F350, but occasionally we would need to bring more horses or some would have to leave early etc. It does great with 1 horse but 2 are close to the limit. My truck was rated at 5500 lbs towing from the factory, good luck with that. A newer aluminum trailer would help though. The one we had was older and very heavy. Definetly keep the overdrive OFF whenever you are towing.
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BCDakota
Dodge Dakota
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6/16/2004
19:04:04
| RE: V6 Towing Capability
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I am still wondering if hauling a small camper can be done with a 3" bodylift installed?
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blue balls
Dodge Dakota
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6/18/2004
13:49:56
| RE: V6 Towing Capability
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BCDakota, Yes. The loss with a body lift is the wind resistance. I would buy a good brake controller. PAy attention to what the tranny and gauges are doing. Most off all towing/driving/mudding depends on the driver.
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Mr.Mopar
Dodge Dakota
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6/19/2004
21:43:37
| RE: V6 Towing Capability
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I tow a 18 ft. holiday trailer that is 2750 lbs dry and then add about 800 lbs when you pack it up. It pulls like you know its there but I leave it out of overdrive and I have 3.55 gears. On the flats, its great, but up the hills it works hard and drops down a gear. I have a good tranny cooler which helps a lot. The only mods I have is the crank sensor mod and an ACCELL cool Blue high flow filter with the front elbow taken off the factory air box. I also have a Helix throttle body spacer. I am thinking of relocating the IAT also but am not sure if that will help. Wouldn't you have to do something with the coolant sensor also because it will still tell the ECM that the engine is up to operating temp.
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Drew
Dodge Dakota
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4/14/2016
11:24:30
| RE: V6 Towing Capability
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I have an '02 Dakota, 3.9 V6, and we're pulling a Gulf Stream Vista Cruiser travel trailer that weighs about 2,600 lbs dry. Loaded up with my wife and myself in the truck we're probably pushing about 3,200 lbs, give or take. Depends on how much beer I bring. :)
On a flat highway we can do 65mph no problem and obviously faster downhill. Greater than 65 is not recommended but we've hit 75. Apparently trailer tires are not designed for those speeds. Up slight to moderate grades we drop to about 45-50mph. Obviously down from there if the grade is steeper.
Pulled it up into the Blue Ridge Mountains (Boone via 421) last year and it was a slow go on the last, very steep grade. Second gear, about 25-30mph. That takes some getting used to but never push it.
The truck will pull, just need patience and hazard lights. Usually get about 9-10mpg on trip with a lot of hills, but mostly average 12-13 highway when towing. Normally my highway mpg is 17-18. No, not very good, but it's an old timer.
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