I am going to go test drive a 98 Durango 5.2L 160M on the clock new front susp parts. He is asking 2500. Sound ok? What should I be aware of when I drive it? Thanks in advance, Greg
FFGREG32@aol.com

Transmission,rear end bearings on my 98. 2500.00 is not bad,its about what a dealer would give on a trade in.Like anything else.. stay up on the maint. and there pretty reliable,D

The big thing to always look for is the blown intake plenum gasket. Causes pinging, oil usage and poor mileage. The best way to check it is to shut the engine off and hold the throttle body wide open and look down into it with a flashlight. If you see a little puddle of oil the gasket is blown. We offer a repair kit (#7714) for it if you end up needing one. Other than getting about 13 mpg they are pretty decent trucks.
Good Luck & Merry Christmas!
Kevin @ Hughes

My '99 that I bought new and took pretty good care of is getting pretty rusty in the quarters above the rear wheels. I have noticed that the tailgates tend to go around the bottom as well.

It's been good to us for 85K and counting miles.

Like was said above, watch out for the front ends. Get the dealer to replace the ball joints if they are loose.

In 00 the 5.2 was replaced with the 4.7. They also got a new trans at that time. I havn't had any problems with mine in the two years I've owned it. I've gotten a best of 18mpg with my 4.7 however it's usually in the mid 15's.

You may also want to ask questions about the heater core, fairly cheap part but major pain to replace.

The only problem Ive had with my 01 4.7 was the crank sensor. Other than that, I beat the hell out of it and it only has 91K on it. Drives like a dream....for a truck anyway

We had a 98 for almost ten years. They were not the ones recalled for the front end, that came on later models.
I think the only real issue we had, not induced by my mods, was the A/C evaporator. I just performed regular maintenance, the driveline was awesome. Towed heavy boats, car trailers etc, no problems.
Oh, I did have the darndest time finding a tail gate leak that was filling the jack compartment every time it rained. I fought that a long time, it turned out to be the tailgate washer res hose had come off of the bottle inside.
Good luck!

I think Chrysler had a recall on the upper ball joints on the early Durangos and Dakotas. There were several front end failures that made the national news. Those were Durangos still under warranty that had failures. My 01 Dakota had a recall on the upper ball joints. Chrysler replaced the entire upper control arm when I took it in.

Ball joints were recalled on the 99 or 00 modles, not the 98. I have had my 98 since new and it has 135K on it now.

I just redid my entire front end but it really only needed one bearing hub, an upper balljoint and idler arm.

I have replaced...

Starter
Alternator
Water pump
Heater core
Tailgate - rust
Front bumper - rust

Engine and trans are still going strong, I'm good about 3000 mile oil changes and yearly trans fluid changes.

My evaporator is now leaking and its as big a pain in the [Edited by Moparts - Keep it clean] to change as the heater core, if you need to do one I suggest doing the other.

Listen for a howl from the rear end and if the air is not working it could be that evil evaoporator. You said the front end was done but find out exactly what was changed, at that mileage I'd change the hubs. $2500 is not bad if the body is in decent shape.

My 01 durango has had these two problems:

1) heater resistor went out (Every dodge I have has had this stupid resistor fail!)

2) Transmission sensor went out, wouldn't downshift to 1st anymore.