IMHO torque will be your friend. The Durangos are heavy, my '99 4WD tipped the scales at 5500#
As others have stated, a low-mile 5.9 is probably your best bang-for-the-buck, along with shortie headers and some of the other tweaks.
Question for the other board members -- how difficult would a 5.7 swap be?
Everything is different between a 5.2/5.9 and a 5.7. We did that swap on my son's ride (not a Durango). Wiring, computer, motor mounts, motor & trans, exhaust location, power steering pump, radiator and I'm sure I've missed something. The bottom line is, if you want a Hemi Durango, go buy one, you will be money ahead.
For the record, I wasn't impressed with the performance improvement of a 5.9 over a 5.2 either, bottom end was a bit more fun, but above 3,000, I didn't see much difference, and that was in a light truck. Gene
