Truck Questions

[crokett]

A friend of my parents is going abroad for long-term to permanent. She is transferring title to me for a mid 90's Dodge Dakota Sport. It has the longer bed, extended cab 4x4 V8. It has a lift kit installed but no hitch. I will use it for weekend driving to tow an 8' util trailer and occaisonal daily driver when one of the other cars is in the shop.

Questions...

nearest I've been able to tell is from the factory that model with that engine can tow 7100lbs. Would this have required a tow package with suspension, brake, tranny upgrades etc? Or would the brake, etc upgrades been typically done as part of the engine package? She says it has everything 'beefed up' (her words) but doesn't know much about cars - this was her son's truck, he was an Army Ranger. I'd get a class C hitch and looking at towing 5000lbs max.

With the lift kit, how much will towing be impaired? We are looking at it as a possible boat hauler in future. My dad has a 14' trailer, could I tow that for occasional larger jobs with the lift kit on?

[Tamarack]

The lift kit will adversely affect handling on corners/curves. If you are going to pull ANY trailer heavier than 1500 pounds, you need an electric brake controller in the truck and functioning electric brakes on the trailer.

Paul in Idaho
(Port of Entry Inspector for the Idaho Transportation Department for the last 20 years)

[JR]

I have a '94 Dakota w/V8. IIRC it has all the necessary "beefiness" for towing, bar the hitch itself. I'd certainly think with v8 and 4x4 the one in question would, too.

As far as the lift kit question, you can get the removable part (the one you actually mount the ball to) that drops down to the height you would need to keep the trailer level.

JR

[Russianwolf]

Davd, I think you are talking about a class 3 trailer hitch. Yeah that and a drop ball hitch will do ya as long as the drop (lift) isn't too big. Say 2 or 3 inches. More than that and it can put alot of stress on the hitch and it just ain't worth the trouble. Remember that if the lift is only two inches, a regular hitch should be fine. A 2" lifted dakota has about the same hitch height as a non-lifted ram.

The Dakota is a IFS truck that isn't usually wheeled heavily so I doubt it has too much of a lift.

What you'll need:

Class 3 reciever (2 inch receiver)
ball
drop hitch if lift is more than a couple inches, regular hitch if not.

I will warn you though, if it has the 5.2 or 4.7 v-8, take it easy. You could wear those engines out towing heavy loads. The 5.9 would be perfect but I don't know how many of those were put in dakota 4x4's.

[9johnny5]

David -

I owned a 1994 Dakota Sport Club Cab 2WD with the 5.2L (318 c.i.d.) V-8 from 1996-2003, and I towed a trailer with my daughter's Geo on it from Va Beach to Seattle. Take my advice: Make SURE you have an external transmission cooler installed. I didn't, and by the time I got settled in real good, I had to have my tranny rebuilt. Seems it overheated while I was coming across the mountains. $1700 later, there ya go.
IIRC, the limits imposed by the manufacturer takes into account all factors (suspension, brakes, etc) and defines the weight that can be safely towed using the vehicle with stock configuration.
Good advice given so far, use the Class III/IV hitch, ball hitch and drop, take it easy towing, and as far as I see, you'll have no problems.

johnny

[crokett]

Thanks for all the replies fellas. The tranny cooler was a good tip - that was the one I didn't think about. However it looks like the towing will be moot for a while. After thinking about it I decided that 99% of what I use the trailer for I can just use the truck.

So I will probably sell the trailer. Anything too big for the truck I'd do what I do now, which is to borrow my Dad's bigger truck and trailer.

[pierhogunn]

David, I believe this is a truck question, and therefore there is no right (or left) answer.