98-02 durango

anyone own one or no alot about them beside the balljoints are they good vehicles . there tow ratting is 5000. would it get destroyed towing 45 miles to the track regularly.

My Wife has a 99 with a 318 4 wheel drive,.... it's a strong little bugger, but the front hub assemblies are a little weak,...
However when she was driving home on the freeway after work one day the front driveshaft's constant velocity joint was going out without warning, spun eccentrically and blew up the transfer case,... actually broke the case into two pieces. It was not in 4WD, I had drove the car the day before and there was no vibration, no warning,... nothing.

Up here they aren't going for much money lately,.....

what would you guys rather buy a dodge durango or ford expedition

My daughter has had both and much prefers the Ford to the Dodge although hers is a Ford Explorer.

I have a 97 Dakota 4X4 318 5 speed that I got in 98.. It has hauled many heavy boats and generally been beat to death.. It's still kicking at 188K.. I have replaced ball joints twice and I had to replace the steering shaft( with a GM Unit) The brakes work well but are pathetic( 9 inch on rear)..And you can't keep refrigerant in an old Dodge.. I currently use a Suburban to pull the car trailer, I like it better than the Dodge.

I see lots of people towing with the SUV's, personally don't think I'd try my diesel powered toter pickup for any of them.... It sits low, it's heavy, and makes tons of power..... Also gets around 13 mpg towing a 28' enclosed trailer.... Don't really think a top heavy Durango would make an ideal towing rig.... For me there's nothing worse then an underpowered tow rig with a drivetrain not specifically designed for towing, sitting on the side of the road with broken parts is just no fun.....

thank god car is still streetable lol. i tow about 45 miles to the track.my 85 dodge dose the job but cant be considered a vehicle. i need more seats!

car and trailer weigh 4800 pounds and i only want to spend 4-6 g for a good family driver and tow.were im from a chevy and disel are impossible to find for the budget

I bought my F-450 when it was 6 years old as a rebuilder, paid about $6K for it, put on new fender, hood, bumper, grille.... That was 5 years and about 30,000 (trouble free)miles ago.... Only bad thing about it is that it tows so dang nice all my friends keep stealing it, takes a bit of work to keep track of where it is when I need to use it!!!!:LOL::LOL::LOL: I bought it down at a car auction in Sioux City, Ia.... It's 2 wheel drive, so nobody wanted it... Only race in the summer, works great for me!!! Would really like to replace it with an equal sized Dodge with the Cummins!!!! Maybe this summer...Have to see how things go..



PS---If you know somebody with a dealer's license, go to some of the auctions with him..... Trucks are dirt cheap around here right now......

If I was doing more towing I'd jump on a dually right now...They are giving them away!!

I have been thinking about getting rid of my Ranger and getting a newer F-250 Diesel with the 7.3L so I can tow a car trailer.. I just don't trust driving the old Chevy long distance

we ended up buying a 00 5.2 4+4 durango. with no tow package the hitch is no big deal but an aftermarket trans cooler?.

I realize you already made the purchase but here's my 2 cents. I had bought a couple old suburbans for a fleet I was managing. I got 99s with the last old throttle body 350s. They would tow real good and both averaged over 19 mpg over an extended period.
Right now the SUV market is really in the toilet so you can get some real good deals.

I would put a big after market trans cooler on there... the trans is one of the weak links of the truck.

I used to pull an old heavy home made POS of a car trailer with no brakes with a 3500 pound car on it with an old 65 Dodge A100 van nosed pick up with a 225 slant six engine.. Later replaced with a regular dodge van with the same drivetain.. We didn't think anything od it back then... Now we need duallys and trailer brakes:eek: Funny how things have changed.

theres no room for a trans cooler ecept behind the bumper in front of the condensor i heard about tran's problems and ball joint's. the wife liked it and got a decent deal. my 85 dodge w100 has 318 and tows decent. its just gettin tired. suburbuns and tahoes are sweet just couldt find anything decent. anyway the after market cooler should run threw the radiator to the cooler and back right?