An Update on Our Dodge Dakota

[stevem]

in the last 24 hours we travelled 1800 km(1200 miles) in our new to us 2008 dodge dakota towing our 2600(dry) travel trailer

the truck has a v6, auto, 2 wd and the light duty trailer package(wished it was the heavier package but it isnt)

i added some stuff(7 pin, brake controller, tranny cooler) and left for the east coast

flat towing was easy, 105-110 kph in towing mode, braking and handling was great, acceleration good not great. around town it has plenty of power.

there are some long steep hills in new brunswick and southern quebec, longest and steepest was 8 percent for 5 km!! i did that in second gear(manually selected) at 90 kph with engine reving at 4000 rpm with power to spare, tractor trailers were doing half that. a major head wind for a couple of hours called for a stop and nap rather than fight it. heavy crosswinds with semi's passing us had little effect on the trailer, not pleasant but gut wrenching either

lots of bumpy sections even in 100 kph areas kept the suspension busy but again not gut wrenching, the truck handled it very well and comfortably, braking was easy and quick when needed

v8 vs v6?, cant answer that question, but the v6 did a great job, we even had the air on all the time. criuse controll on most of time except on the long upgrades. fuel mileage i'll figure out later but initial estimates are good

all in all, a very relaxing long distance tow, way better than the same trip last year with the windstar(same trailer)

[carl.net]

Glad to hear your Dakota did you well. I also pull with one and have been quite happy.

[HappyCOCamper]

I tow our Flagstaff T12RB pop-up hard side with a 2002 Dakota Quad Cab 4WD 4.7L V8 up 12,000 ft passes here in Colorado. My only complaint is that the rear sags. I just ordered Hellwig 815 load assist springs and hope that will do the trick. This is my third Dakota 89 short bed w/ 3.9 v6, 94 club cab with 5.2 v8 & tow package (I miss this one) and now my 2002.

[carl.net]

Originally Posted by HappyCOCamper

I tow our Flagstaff T12RB pop-up hard side with a 2002 Dakota Quad Cab 4WD 4.7L V8 up 12,000 ft passes here in Colorado. My only complaint is that the rear sags

Without my Reese hitch my rear end sits on the axle. With the Reese the entire truck squats two inches.

[Rsgtivr6]

Originally Posted by stevem

there are some long steep hills in new brunswick and southern quebec, longest and steepest was 8 percent for 5 km!! i did that in second gear(manually selected) at 90 kph with engine reving at 4000 rpm with power to spare, tractor trailers were doing half that.

Just drove those hills about a month ago with our TT. They are pretty good ones. Good to hear it went through them well!

[lindy]

With my 08 Dakota I put Monroe overload shocks (W/Springs) on the rear and with the Equilizer hitch I only drop the back about 1" and the front 3/4". I have the 4.7 V-8 with the heavy tow package and dropping the trans 1 gear I can pull most hills at 60mph @ 4000RPMs with power to spare towing my TT scaled at 6540lbs.

[carl.net]

Originally Posted by lindy

With my 08 Dakota I put Monroe overload shocks (W/Springs) on the rear

This has got to be the best idea for a Dakota, that tows, I have heard yet! I went to the Monroe site and could not find the overload shocks for a 2007 but did find the Monroe 58650 Sensa-Trac Load Adjusting Shock Absorber. Is that the same one you used?

[lindy]

carl.net; put them on 3 years ago and don't really remember the exact name of the monroe shock. Suffice to say there is a spring that runs all the way from the top, to the bottom of the shock, and it takes a lot to compress it into place (like a hyd floor jack). I ordered them thru the local NAPA store.

[carl.net]

Very cool. It is probably the same shock just some marketing guy needed to justify his position... Grin. I will have them on before my next tow. I read that if you jack up the vehicle, attach the top of the shock 1st and then use a floor jack to compress the shock into place it is only reasonably difficult. Was I being fed a load of manure and the $100 to get them installed is well worth the aggravation and scraped knuckles???

[lindy]

I found the worst part was getting the upper bolt unbolted. It has sort of a cup like bracket under it and gets full of dirt etc, that and the nut has a tab on it because you can't get a wrench on it due to it's location. You end up getting a lot of sand in your eyes. Yes jack the truck up and place jack stands under the frame, then a floor/hyd jack works good to compress the shock. $100 for install is about right being as it'll take about an hour minumum.