Tow vehicle????????

[Eyehunter]

Anyone have any comments, Pro's or Con's on the Dodge Dakota with a 4.7 Magnum V8, 2WD verse's 4X4, Quad cab or Extended. Rated towing capacity is 4900 LBS. For now would be pulling a 16' with a 75HP. What about if I upgrade to a larger boat later an 18' with a 150HP. Price is an issue!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[perchjerker]

Thats plenty of truck for what you are talking about towing. I tow a C-liner Sportfish 1850 I/O with all the goodies with a 94 F150 300CID and you hardly know its there.

[TRinMT]

Get the 3.9 axle ratio and you will have plenty of truck to tow any boat you like.

Dakotas are nice units.

Enjoy,

Tom

[I-Hunter]

I've got a 93 Dakota with a 3.9 V6. Will haul my 16 foot lund and 60hp and my families goodies for a week all over the state. One suggestion is to have brakes on your trailer. My truck is a little light for triing to stop at highway speeds. Trailer brakes make a big difference.

[Wawajake]

I did some research on these in the past too and found a great internet site "dodgedakotas.com" it has various forums and owners write in, you will get first hand experience from them too and honest answers about limits of truck but they all love their trucks.
jake

[msuron]

I own a 95 Dakota with a 5.2 V8 Magnum. I pull a 4,400# 5th wheel with no problems (slows down uphill in the mountains). Have pulled it to Oregon, Montana (from Michigan) Pulling my little 14ft Sea Nymph is like pulling air! You will like a Dakota.

[Grey Wolf]

My partners's got the Dakota 4x4 extended cab with a 318 V8, I used to have a Ford F150 with 300 6 cyl. My Ford (I'm not trying to start anything either) would pull my 1000 pound boat, (add motor gas and everything else and you're near 2000) like it wasn't even there. Had no stopping issues, it was great. The Dakota had the motor to pull my boat, but stopping was another thing. That trailer did not have brakes. Then I got a 1300 pound boat, add everything in and you're in the neighborhood of 2300 pounds. His Dakota pulled my boat fine, this trailer had brakes, and the truck still had problems stopping, or going down steep ramps, the boat would control the truck. I've since got a 1700 pound boat only, add everything in and we're talking 2700-3000 pounds. My buddy wont' attempt to tow my new boat with his Dakota. It's one thing to have the motor and gearing to to a boat all day, but to me stopping is another thing.

[mwalleye]

I tow a 1775 Skeeter (3000#) with my 97 Dakota v6 no problem. I would although have trailer breaks on a rig of this weight. I do not and if I had to do over would. I have 46000 miles on my Dakota and I bet 42000 of them had the boat behind it. MPG 12 with the boat out of overdrive all the time, 19.5 mpg on the road no boat. This is ex cab 4 wheel drive. The 4 wheel comes in handy on a lot of ramps.

[Walleye Express]

Eyehunter.
Just towed for the first time in 3 years my 25 feet and 5 tons of Grady White fiberglass, I affectionately call Walleye Express 2. The ol'Z-85 Vortex 6000 Silverado 3/4 ton did one heck of a job, especially with that Tow/button engaged. Can anybody on the board tell me exactly what that button does. Seems it shifts at a higher RPM/Speed or something.

[PhogEye]

I have a 2002 Dakota Quad Cab 4x4 with the 4.7 and I pull a trailer & gear that weighs around 3200#. It does a great job. It also has the towing package which gets you radiator cooler, bigger battery & alternator. I would recommend that along with the 3.95 gearing. I have surge brakes on the trailer so stopping is not an issue. I defiantly recommend this truck.