Best bet...definitely get a set of higher quality shocks (I like the KYB
MonoMAX shocks) and upgrade the swaybars with a front and rear set off
of a '98-99 R/T (solid bars...none of this hollow crap on the newer
ones). You'll be pleasantly surprised on how well they handle.
- Bernd
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net
[mailto:owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net] On Behalf Of andy levy
Sent: Sunday, July 27, 2003 11:18 AM
To: dakota-truck-moderator@bent.twistedbits.net
Subject: Re: DML: Design flaws or just things I am noticing since this
is my first
james.zito@ps.ge.com wrote:
> OK have been mostly lurking for a while but I guess it's time to ask
> some questions.
>
> Vehicle 2003 Dakota Club Cab 2WD V-6, purchased in Jan has almost 11k
> on the clock.
> 2. The truck handles very badly when traversing lumpy roads. It
nearly
> went sideways when I took the 287 exit of 95 south. The bumps seem
to
> override my steering input. This is the only vehicle I have driven
> that has this behavior.
The factory shocks are, to be blunt, crap. No, that's nto right. They
sully the good name of crap. Replace them. Anything, I mean *anything*
will be better.
Also make sure your tire pressures are correct. Remember you have no
weight over the rear axle and it's designed to handle a load in the bed,
so you need to run the rears a few PSI lower than the fronts. On my
club cab, I ran 35 in front and 30 in the rear during the summer.
Handling was much improved over 35 all around. Experiment some.
> iii. The mileage is terrible. Best tank of gas was 20 mpg doing 80
> on cruise control on the NJ turnpike. Generally getting 16-17 mpg
> lately has dropped to about 15mpg. Is this just because the truck is
> set up to operate about 500 rpm under the torque peak? Or is the
> engine just that underpowered for the weight of the truck.
GenIII are heavy, very heavy, for their size. A GenII spec'd out
identically comes in a few hundred pounds lighter. 20 MPG sounds about
right for you, Josh Battles pulls 21 in his V6 at 90 MPH and he's
lowered (which helps a lot). An automatic transmission saps more power
than a stick, so if you've got an auto, you've lost some more mileage
there. Also, I found on my '99 that cruise control actually *hurt* my
gas mileage as much as 10%. If you've got a steady foot, you can do
much better than the computer.
Might also want to check the condition of your spark plugs, cap & rotor,
and other fuel/ignition items. Run a bottle of Techron through the
system and make sure the air filter is clean. Also, unless you have
mods that require higher octane gas or have pinging, use 87 octane.
Higher gets you no benefits and reduces mileage.
-- -andyhttp://home.twcny.rr.com/andylevy/dakota - andy-dml@levyclan.us -------------------------------------------- "Whatever Adam does, do the opposite and you'll be fine" -Bob Tom --------------------------------------------
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