Re: Toyota V8; was Re: Re: 1998 Dakota R/T

From: Bruce Aaron Hefner (gt9742a@prism.gatech.edu)
Date: Thu Oct 09 1997 - 14:54:26 EDT


>
> >You're right about the size of the 5th wheel, I was thinking of the big
> >boys, and I have no doubt a Dakota could handle the one your talking
> >about, but I still doubt a Toyota could handle it. I forgot about
> >the Lexxus but there's a big difference between a V8 in a car and one for
> >a truck, if you take the engine straight out of a Lexxus and put it in a
> >truck it isn't going to pull shit, because it is designed more for speed
> >and doesn't have the low-end torque needed in a truck, and it will take a
> >while for them to work the kinks out when they modify the engine to put in
> >a truck. There's also the thing that pulling a trailer usually is the
> >easy part, it is stopping it and controlling it that are the hard part,
> >and I still contend that even though A Dak would pull it fine, A ram with
> >it's bigger size (And brakes) would be able to do those 2 things better.
> >
> >Bruce
>
> Sure, there's a big difference between putting a V8 in a car and in a truck.
> That's why the engines won't be identical. The point is that they do have
> some experience with V8s. It is pure speculation on your part that it will
> take them a while to work out the kinks when they modify the engine. You
> don't know that. I know it's resonable to expect a few problems along the
> way. But then again, the same could be said about the '97 Dakotas. So far
> no big problems, but it's a totally new design. I don't think you're giving
> Toyota a fair chance. Also, Car and Driver or Motortrend (don't remember
> which) did a comparison of a 4x4 Dakota 5.2 and a 4x4 Ram 5.2 and the Dakota
> had a slightly higher tow rating than the Ram. So, just because the Ram is
> bigger doesn't mean it's necessary better for towing. I think you're just
> trying to speculate about too many things and you don't have any facts to
> support you.
>
> Andy
>
>

Yes, the '97 Dakotas haven't had any major problems as of yet, but their
changes were mainly cosmetic, their is not a whole lot of difference
between pre-'97 and '97 Dakota engines, they have a little more power, but
their still the same basic engines. With the Toyotas your talking about a
pretty siginicant change in the engine to get it to work, I'm aslo going
on the fact of all the problems toyotas been having with their T-100's,
didn't yo see the post from th lemon page with all the problems, if they
had that many problems with a new body design, why wouldn't they have
problems with a new engine design. As far as the Dak Vs. Ram I know the
tow ratings are close I wasn't speaking of that, if you read closely you
would see that I said I believed that by beeing heavier and having bigger
brakes they would be able to CONTROL and STOP the trailer better, not pull
it better, not to mention the Ram has a Wider wheel track and longer
wheelbase, which would add to it's ability to control the trailer

Bruce



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:07:54 EDT