Durango as Expedition Vehicles.....?

ghcoe

Adventurer
I find the complete lack of aftermarket 4x4 parts for Durs and Daks strange. I see them all over when I run to the grocery store and I don't live in a big town. Considering they share a lot of parts with jeeps (diffs, T-case, trans) and are one of the few compact trucks/truck based SUV's that you can get a v8 in there should be so much more support.
.....One could make a killing just making skids and selling them online.....

I agree. I was surprised to see little support when I started to look around for cool stuff.

The lift I did was simple stuff off the auto store shelf for the rear and simple twisting of the torsion bar on the front. Cheap, only $45.00. Took 4 hours to do the back and 20 minutes for the front. I can say that the lift improved the ride by quite a bit. I should have done the lift years ago just for the better ride!

With just the lift I think it should do just fine for where I go. I would like to install a winch at some point. I am looking at a front hitch mount for that, which would also supply front recovery loops at the same time. Brush guards are available too. So maybe.....

Only lift available that I could find for the 2000+ Durango's was the spring/torsion and a 3' body lift.
 

Herbie

Rendezvous Conspirator
Why not? I have one so it was time to weigh the pros and cons.

First the pros.

-9.25 rear axle

-

One con on the 9.25 Chrysler axle: No selectable lockers. There's the lunchbox lockers like Powertrax No-Slip, and the Detroit locker, but nothing from ARB, etc. in a manually-controllable form.

I only know this because I found that the Durango rear axle would probably fit under my Astro van - hoping to find an easy-fit option that would allow me to fit such a locker.
 

ghcoe

Adventurer
Luckily this one has a LSD in the back. Not as good as a selectable, but better than open.
 

ghcoe

Adventurer
I had a old roof rack that I had on my Grand Cherokee. I sold the Cherokee, but kept the rack. I had to make new mounts to get it to fit right. Then I took the Durango out to see what flex it had. Could not find any great places so this is what I wound up with. Front suspension was resting on the upper rubber bumper on the passenger side. The driver side still had about 1/2" of travel left before bottom bumper contact. Rear seems to flex pretty good. That is with the rear sway bar still attached.
 

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ExplorerTom

Explorer
I find the complete lack of aftermarket 4x4 parts for Durs and Daks strange. I see them all over when I run to the grocery store and I don't live in a big town.

Ford sold more Explorers than Dodge sold Durangos and the Explorer has a very limited aftermarket as well.

Time to either learn to fabricate or make friends with a fabricator (or at least find one).
 

WheresYourColorado

Skidplate Scratcher
T.A.G made bumpers for Daks and Durs that had winch mounts and D-ring points. The company had mixed reviews. I say had because they seem to have gone out of business within the last few months.
 

bucktruckota

New member
Winchready makes bumpers for dak/rangos. I could deal with lack of lift, if I had skids underneath. Can't even find factory skids to use as a template.
 

kojackJKU

Autism Family Travellers!
I had a 98 dakota with 318. I loved that truck. I should have kept it. I had it lifted a couple of inchs with 32's It went everywhere. The thing with overlanding etc, you don't need all the **** everyone says you need. A little clearance, and what not, you can go have a ball in the back country. ON your durango, I would swap to a beefier ball joint on front, mine lunched a couple every off road trip....Other than that it was damn near bulletproof.
 

xjman88

Adventurer
My 92 Dak takes me where I need to go. Of course w 3 in lift, 31s and
a rear limited slip along w full skid plates I can't complain. But I say modify it to what works for you and enjoy.
 

rayra

Expedition Leader
seems like a fine solution to me, as it sort of parallels what I'm doing with my Suburban (and its planned uses). It's like a smaller brother. Durango should work fine for two + dog or young kid.
Looks good with that lift, too.
As was already said, use it and upgrade whatever breaks.
 

ghcoe

Adventurer
I have a trip coming up this weekend. I will post some pictures when we get back. Should be better than the in town pictures already posted.

I did get my Hi lift and shovel on the rack this last weekend. I will be surfing the junk yards for skid plates and drivers side large mirror. I read some did come with plastic skids for the gas tank.
 

ghcoe

Adventurer
Well I went to the junk yard to find some battery hold down parts. Found the parts I needed after looking at most of the Durangos in the yard. Just on a whim I went ahead and looked at the last Durango on the list and what did it have? Not only did it have the larger mirrors, but also a metal gas tank skid plate. The yard had cut one of the supports to drain the gas tank, but a welder can fix that. I could not remember what mirror I needed so that will have to wait. The skid plate came home with me though. Only cost me $6.00 because it was damaged, yes.......!

A couple of shots of the roof rack with fixings.

Last trip was canceled due to illness in the family so no in field pictures yet. Trip planned for next weekend though so maybe.
 

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CCPAJeeper

Observer
great score on the skid plate!! I have a third Gen 2500, my sons each have second gen 1500s. We love the trucks. I agree with all the thoughts, keep your Durango, figure out mods as you go and have fun with it. It is cool to have a bit of a unique vehicle.
 

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