Looking to buy 2005 Dakota 4.7HO

Looking at a 2005 Dakota SLT Club Cab 4X4 4.7HO with 104K miles for a daily driver. Original owner selling and looks to be well kept. Is there any issues with these trucks and running gear ? looking for info Thanks

The early 4.7s had a lot of motor issues. People say the newer ones were OK, but I don't know what is considered as "newer". Seems the timing chain guides and heads are problematic. I've read Chrysler's goal was to have a motor that would be wore out by 150K miles and for most 4.7s it appears they have reached their goal. That said, I've seen a few still running great well past 200K, but not many.

Under powered and gas hogs have been reported other trade marks for the 4.7. But maybe the one your looking at is one of the really good ones....Gene

Thanks for the info Gene. I ended up buying the truck and will see if I got a good one or not. Owner had all paperwork from day ordered, recall work done and all maintenance, which was done per schedule at dealership. Truck has about every option that was available and then some. Looking into seeing what's available now to get some more HP. Maybe better y pipe and exhaust and a better tune

I don't think I would be wailing on that thing. Lots of trucks for sale with blown 4.7's. Lots of trucks scrapped for just that reason.

For the most part, you have purchased a fragile piece of equipment. If you have hope of it making it to the 150K miles, you would have a better chance of getting there by not abusing it. A 4.7 is not of the family of Mopars past. What ever you do, DO NOT let it overheat! One time will kill it.

My brother in law bought a Dakota with a 4.7 brand new. It got all the recommended service from our local Dodge dealership, and he has never abused his stuff. He got 60,000 miles out of the first 4.7. He bought another new Dakota with a 4.7 and got just over 75,000 from it. He no longer drives Dodge trucks. Gene

I bought a quad cab, 2WD, 2004 Dakota for my wife so she would stop beating up my diesel. Got it dirt cheap with a locked up 4.7. I bought a remanufactured 4.7 from Powertrain Engines, and have been very happy with it. The former engine had 200K on it before somebody overheated it and it went KABOOMYOW! It was good enough for a core though. We/she have been very happy with the little truck. It's not a ball of fire....but we use it a lot.

Around here you can buy a real nice Dakota with a blown 4.7 for around 800.00
My machinist says they are junk. Oiling problems, dropping valve seats and a piss pour timing chain tensioner design. He charges 4000.00 to rebuild one and make it right except for the tensioner. Nobody makes a better one.

Wow, don't know now if I should sell and get something else or take a gamble of getting some miles out of it. I've read many conflicting stories on 4.7 engines over the last couple days and it sure seems a 50/50 deal to make the 150k mile mark. Truck sure is a nice driver, very comfy and quiet but only gets about 11.5 mpg city driving. I guess that might be impacted from the AWD system ? is the AWD 4x4 drivetrain problematic also ? Have 2018 ford RCSB I'm installing whipple on and bought Dakota for work rig, hum....have to check into what remanufactured engines go for a worse case..... Thanks all for input

Pfft, I'd be more concerned about that complicated Ford than a 4.7 Dakota.

If it pukes, it just gives you a great reason to swap a 5.7 in.

Mine was $2799, and worth every penny! I couldn't find anyone to rebuild it locally. A lot of places said they'd do the machine work, but nobody wanted to fool with the Rubik's Cube timing chains! Powertrain was very easy to deal with, and they do a lot of upgrades to make the engines better than they wee from the factory. I checked with Jasper and Carolina Machine, and neither one acted like the cared whether I bought their engine or not. Everybody I dealt with at Powertrain bent over backwards to help me. I would buy from them again in a heartbeat! My 4.7 I got from them hasn't leaked or burnt the first drop of oil, nor has it made the first tick or noise. Keep them in mind if you ever need a motor.

https://www.powertrainproducts.net/DODGE-4-7-V8-ENGINE-99-06-DAKOTA-RAM-1500-GRD-CHK-p/1341.htm

Thanks JD, bookmarked the link. Looks like place to go if / when I need to replace. It is interesting reading up on sludge build up the 4.7's generate. When I looked at truck I pulled oil filler cap and noticed some build up on bottom side, but went through records showing proper timely oil changes, thought maybe it was type of oil used, owner said to have used mobil 1. Grizzly thought about 5.7 deal but those days are over and that ford is another story.... that 5.0 makes noises I've never heard from an engine before, makes my old solid lifter hemi's sound quiet. Funny thing is, truck runs very very low 14's not bad for a stock 4x4. Truck quality itself is terrible. The whipple and very safe daily driver tune high 11's. with cheap insurance.... Happy Holidays

For what it's worth, I got 230,000 out of my 03 2WD Dakota before a guy rear-ended it while parked in front of the house.

Lifters clattered like crazy for about 60-90 seconds on cold start every morning, but other than that I never had a major issue with it.

The water pump once puked on me on the way to work one morning, but luckily I got it pulled over and shut off FAST before it overheated...

Ya it is a crap shoot. Same with the early 5.7 Hemi. Know of some that made it well over 200K and others that either dropped a valve seat or burned a bearing before 100K.

the main problem with that 4.7 is the timing chain set up, replace it immediately if you buy the truck, it should be done as preventative maintenance at 100,000-150,000 miles, the trouble you will run into with that plan is that most shops are terrified to work on one, they are not that hard. The chains start slapping and most shops say the engine is blown up instead of doing the chains, tensioners and guides. The other issues that come up are valve seats and head gaskets going bad when overheated (don't overheat it and those will not be issues) and the rockers falling off when parked a long time (there are thingies you can get to put on that keep them from going anywhere when the "lifter" deflates that are very easy to install before you have an issue). They are not a good engine to drive and ignore like a 318 but the issues are not insurmountable.

I had an 03 Ram with one. Bought it with 35,000 on it in '06 and put another 150,000 on it over the next 6 or 7 years.

I think I replaced 1 water pump and 2 coils.

I ran 10w30 Mobil 1 that NEVER got changed on time and it got driven hard.

It developed the 4.7 cold rattle a couple years in but never got any worse.

It spent 3 or 4 years parked against the fence because of electrical issues that I was to lazy to fix before I finally sold it in 2019.

It fired up on the ancient E10 gas in the tank and ran just as well as the day I bought it.

Power was a little underwhelming and the fuel mileage was unspectacular but the truck weighed 5500 lbs.

It was stone axe reliable in my experience.

Kevin