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#67 of 1696 FishTailing on wet roads by 1drewsky1 May 30, 2000 (11:48 pm)
Has anyone experienced bad fishtailing on wet roads? We have a 98 5.9L Durango that has my wife scared to drive because of recurring fishtailing and perceived control issues. Does the Durango have too much power for the weight with rear wheel drive? Also...does anyone know of tires that for the Durango that are best for wet (Oregon!!!) roads??? Thanks
#68 of 1696 gas poor! by justin40 May 31, 2000 (12:11 am)
anyone having problems with gas mileage,10mpg with the 4.7L 4WD city diving. Dealer said they unable to find anything wrong. Also said that the trip computer is very unrelible? any comments?
#69 of 1696 Answer to a few questions by mrboost May 31, 2000 (11:54 am)
Only Engine available for 2000 2WD is 5.2. Havent heard anything about 2001 models, drum brakes work fine. Rear discs only perform about 10% of braking. Actually the D is in the preferred group of SUV's regarding Safty. Real statistics bear this out. Please go thru previous posts, someone has a link listing the Insurance Industry's ratings and the D scores well. No problem with oil control in my 2000 with the 5.9. Converted it to Amsoil synthetic at 2300 miles and currently have 8000 miles. It has not used any oil in 5700 miles. Currently got 17.2 MPG on my latest tank over the holiday weekend driving mostly highway in the Mountains in NH. Dont have any problems with fishtailing on wet pavement on my 2000 with FT4WD(Selectrac) and 3.92 with LSD on stock Goodyears. Later
#70 of 1696 Fishtailing... by rcarboni May 31, 2000 (2:44 pm)
I also have a '98 5.9, and did experience fishtailing with the stock Goodyear tires. I have since replaced the tires with BF Goodrich All-Terrains, and have reduced the rear tire slippage almost completely. I would strongly recommend replacing the tires. The best tires on wet roads are Michelin or Yokohama according to many D owners. The 5.9 produces huge amounts of torque, so you may still break loose under heavier throttle. Recognize the limits and drive accordingly. You can also engage 4wd when slippage is evident as long as you don't experience binding in the driveline.
#71 of 1696 Other comments... by rcarboni May 31, 2000 (3:01 pm)
terry43, You DON'T want 2wd unless you live where there is no chance of precipitation, and even then I would recommend FT4WD for handling. The D is a heavy truck with the weight distributed to the front. As explained in the fishtailing post, these engines produce lots of torque, and don't handle very well with just the rear wheels driven. Rear disc brakes are always better when they are quality brakes, but most American manufacturers use low quality rotors and pads. If you want rear discs, have the drums converted with quality upgrades. It will cost you more, but consider that Dodge would only raise the vehicle price to give you rear disc, and you'd still have low quality brakes. Don't worry about crash tests - worry about what your insurance co. charges. That's the real safety indicator.
#72 of 1696 '01 Durango by phantom00 May 31, 2000 (7:09 pm)
Does anyone know when will the '01 Durango will be available for purchase? I am interested in buying a '00 Durango but if the '01 is going to be available soon then I don't mind waiting for another month or so. Thanks.
#73 of 1696 Many thanks by terry43 Jun 01, 2000 (3:43 pm)
Thanks for helping me through some of my questions. Jeeps and Explorers both have rear disc brakes. I know that drum brakes work fine but are more difficult to work on. The '97 F150 had drum brakes but were upgraded to discs in '98 or '99. I was just hoping that Durango would do the same. Do you really think that the Durango would have a traction problem with the 4.7 with rear wheel drive? I thought you could get the 5.9 in rear wheel drive. Wouldn't fishtailing be even worse with the 5.9 than the 4.7?
#74 of 1696 terry43 by rcarboni Jun 01, 2000 (4:42 pm)
I would really like to see rear disc brakes on the Durango, but if they are going to use the cheap rotors and pads that they are using now on the fronts, you're better off with the drums. The fronts squeal, groan, and grunt, and leave a coating of dust so thick it looks like the front rims are painted black. I bought high-performance, cross-drilled replacement rotors with better pads to fix the problem. Yes, I do think that you will have less handling in 2wd, even with the 4.7. However, I would suggest that you try a test drive with a 2wd 4.7 when the roads are slick, and make your own decision. Also, the tires make a big difference. As I said, I have eliminated much of the fishtailing problem by going to another brand.
#75 of 1696 by dwh6 Jun 01, 2000 (7:30 pm)
rcarboni: While I can't speak of how much better FT4WD handling is, I can definitely say that I have had absolutely no handling issues when my PT4WD 5.9L is in 2WD mode. Even on rain-soaked streets. In fact, the only time I've even heard the back tires slip in 2WD mode was when I was on some sort of loose surface, like rocks. I would imagine FT4WD would help somewhat in this situation, but not sure how much.
#76 of 1696 by dwh6 Jun 01, 2000 (7:35 pm)
justin40 (#62): I too had poor gas mileage early in my ownership experience. I was LUCKY to get 10 mpg average. After a few weeks I checked the tire pressure and found that the dealership must not have raised pressure to spec before delivering the truck to me. Each tire was set at a uniform 25 psi! As soon as I raised my pressure to 35 psi all around, the mileage jumped a full 4 mpg. About 7 months later now and I can get 16 mpg on the highway if lucky. Not great, but expected. BTW, I have a 2000 5.9, PT4WD.

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