I used to have a 4-door Dakota Sport 360 Magnum. I had to rebuild the transmission once kept it nice. It pisses me off that I sold it to my neighbor. He has never heard of let your vehicle warm up in the winter or ever. He starts it puts it in drive and goes in less than 10seconds. I babied it and always let it warm up at least 5-10 minutes. I definitely would have kept that if it came with a Cummins
I gotta know. what was the total cost of dropping the engine? I don't plan on doing too much more other than dropping the engine though. If I need to haul heavier than what the dakotas frame can handle I'll just use the 2500. I would like to do this for fuel mileage, longevity, reliability, and being able to haul without straining the 3.9l v6. It's a good engine and well proven but I still don't like straining it in the ozark mountains when hauling for the races in Neosho. Basically it would be a miniature 2500 that I have and I would hope to get 30mpg. The 2500 gets 17-18mpg so it seems possible.
The cost to drop in the engine ALONE is more than what the truck is worth. Not to mention if you are going to do it right you’d probably rebuild the engine completely before dropping it in. Plus you have to reinforce a lot of stuff. And add new suspension and transmission, etc. not counting the cosmetic mods, This would cost you between $10-15k depending on the parts you get, where you get them, and whether or not you do the work yourself I plan on doing a build like this. Not for the “fuel efficiency” But because I’ll have a truck that is essentially “new” and looks badass, and not like the other 10’s of thousands of dakotas on the road
I have my same year kota siting on 33s and 3 inches up and I'm willing to pay for mine to have that lift but every company from where I'm from said it can not be done
well I get 17 to 18 in a 2006 ram 2500 with the inline 6. so with the weight being almost half that of the ram and a 4 cylinder I wouldn't be surprised if it was over 30mpg.
I am going to make a hauling truck with a dakota but I want something small but packs a punch and I thought of this and my cousin thinks a diesel cannot fit in it
@@in-rust-we-trust2831 not including cosmetic mods, painting, and assuming he had a shop do it, which in this case, he did, the parts alone probably cost him almost 12k...... Worth it.
The second gens were the ones that were true midsized. could haul like a 1500 yet be maneuverable enough for city driving especially for parking in tight spaces or fitting in your garage. both the 1500 and 2nd gen dakotas are half tons while the little rangers and S-10s are quarter ton trucks. Got BL12 plates for the dakota and glad I did. had to haul a challenger with the hemi back home after a body shop messed up. My total weight was over 9000lbs and pulled up hills like a charm even with almost 300k miles on the original engine and transmission.
