4.7l woes and rant

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I have a 3.7 in 1500 truck 180,000 miles no trouble,but a 2003 durango, with a 4.7 ,at 118000 bit the dust on vacation. I went to a local junkyard to get a used head, owner said there's 16 durango's in a row ,none wrecked either transmission or engines bad,I pulled heads off 5 different ones,all were junk, had to go to local autoparts store he had rebuilt for $400 each or new ones for $450,went with the new,also the nylon guilds for timing chain were heavily worn ,so I replaced them as well.
 
I'm one of those 4.7 "good luck" guys I guess. I've had two over the years (one an '05 4.7 HO) and both haven't given many engine or transmission troubles until just recently. If I could figure out how to install a 4.7 HO in my old Barracuda I would as I like them that much. Plus, it would be different!

My '00 Dakota just had one of the automatic secondary timing chain tensioners fails. This engine is at 192k and I'm not easy on my vehicles. Did the work myself with a new Cloyes set.

Here's a few tricks for holding the cam chains on the center gear... I wrapped a #64 rubber band around each chain and slid it up where it sort of held the chain on the gear. Then, stretch one wrap of the rubber band from around the chain up and on to the chain on the gear itself. This keeps tension/pressure on the chain against the full circumference of the gear so it won't move on you. Make sure your two dark links line up with the corresponding window in the gear before proceeding to the other cam chain. Do this for both cam chains before trying to install the primary chain and gears in to position. As you slide the crank gear and center gear in to position, slowly feed both cam chains up through the heads. Once you got them in far enough, I used small bungie cords to pull the cam chains up and keep tension on them. Now, reach in with an exacto knife and cut the rear (passenger side) rubber band (be sure not to drop it or the exacto if doing it with the oil pan installed!) and install your cam gear and chain on that side. Repeat for driver's side.

Here's a visual aid in what I'm trying to say. Imagine the inner tube as the chain and the white lid as the center timing gear. (sorry, already disposed of the old parts) Note how I put he rubber band on the "chain" and then stretched a single wrap up around the "gear". This will keep the chains in alignment as the rear (passenger side) chain is impossible to see if it's still alignment once installed on the engine.

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I have had a few 4.7's and have had good luck with them besides the super annoying exhaust manifold bolts breaking. The only thing I hate about them is the crank trigger goes in the block instead of bolting on to the block. They get all rusted in there and break off if you go to change it...MAJOR PIA!!!
 
Furious65 said:
I'm one of those 4.7 "good luck" guys I guess. I've had two over the years (one an '05 4.7 HO) and both haven't given many engine or transmission troubles until just recently. If I could figure out how to install a 4.7 HO in my old Barracuda I would as I like them that much. Plus, it would be different!

My '00 Dakota just had one of the automatic secondary timing chain tensioners fails. This engine is at 192k and I'm not easy on my vehicles. Did the work myself with a new Cloyes set.

Here's a few tricks for holding the cam chains on the center gear... I wrapped a #64 rubber band around each chain and slid it up where it sort of held the chain on the gear. Then, stretch one wrap of the rubber band from around the chain up and on to the chain on the gear itself. This keeps tension/pressure on the chain against the full circumference of the gear so it won't move on you. Make sure your two dark links line up with the corresponding window in the gear before proceeding to the other cam chain. Do this for both cam chains before trying to install the primary chain and gears in to position. As you slide the crank gear and center gear in to position, slowly feed both cam chains up through the heads. Once you got them in far enough, I used small bungie cords to pull the cam chains up and keep tension on them. Now, reach in with an exacto knife and cut the rear (passenger side) rubber band (be sure not to drop it or the exacto if doing it with the oil pan installed!) and install your cam gear and chain on that side. Repeat for driver's side.

Here's a visual aid in what I'm trying to say. Imagine the inner tube as the chain and the white lid as the center timing gear. (sorry, already disposed of the old parts) Note how I put he rubber band on the "chain" and then stretched a single wrap up around the "gear". This will keep the chains in alignment as the rear (passenger side) chain is impossible to see if it's still alignment once installed on the engine.
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Thanks for the tip! Yea im gonna watch more youtube videos on this engine, make sure i dont screw anything up!
 
plymouth67 said:
I have had a few 4.7's and have had good luck with them besides the super annoying exhaust manifold bolts breaking. The only thing I hate about them is the crank trigger goes in the block instead of bolting on to the block. They get all rusted in there and break off if you go to change it...MAJOR PIA!!!
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I got lucky on mine, all came out with ease! :D On the crank trigger must be a north eastern state thing or where they put alot of salt on the roads and gets up all up there and causes that because mine came out with ease, no problems!
 
schwinger said:
I got lucky on mine, all came out with ease! :D On the crank trigger must be a north eastern state thing or where they put alot of salt on the roads and gets up all up there and causes that because mine came out with ease, no problems!
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Agreed. I'm in NW Iowa and have worked on a few of these in Dakotas and Durangos. Nlocks were terribly rusty there.
 
I have a buddy that i went to auto school with back in AZ that lives in near Stillwater, Minnesota and hes a mechanic and does alot of side work. I visited him a couple of times and seeing the cars and the trucks he works on doing brake jobs and what not.. HOLY CRAP i cant believe the amount of rust on the cars he works on to where i can see it being a real pain in the *** to work on! Glad i live in California, besides the shitty politics hear.
 
schwinger said:
Thanks for the tip! Yea im gonna watch more youtube videos on this engine, make sure i dont screw anything up!
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You're welcome! I literally just did it a week ago so everything is still pretty fresh in my mind.

Here's the main vid I watched on it. These guys are kind of slow in getting to it but they do cover everything. However, their rubber band method didn't work for me at all so I made it better! :D

 
I've had luck with my 4.7s. first one, bought the ram new, sold it at 140k. later on bought a Dakota with 140k sold it with 220k. i picked up a spare, running, 4.7 just in case the Dakotas failed.

I hear these motor dont tolerate over heating very well. Valve seats fall out. Also, oil pressure switch fails leading people to believe its a catastrophic oil pressure issue.
 
I bought an 04 Dakota quad cab with a blowed up 4.7, to fix for a beat around truck for my wife. I couldn't find a local machine shop that would rework the heads, so I just hit the easy button and bought a remanufactured 4.7 from Powertrain Engines. They fix all of the stuff to make them last longer than Chrysler did. It has run like a top for the 29K miles I've put on it since I put it in the truck. Hasn't leaked or burnt a drop of oil.
I wish I was as happy with the 545RFE transmission. The hard parts in those transmissions are great, but the electronics SUCK! I've been fighting the thing going into limp mode for several months. It's had a new solenoid pack put in and new fluid and both filters, and it still randomly has fits of going into limp mode. If I could figure out a way to put an early 518 in it...I would! :BangHead:
 
RustyRatRod said:
Yeah, see? Some folks have GREAT luck with them. I've not seen "many" of those, but I have seen a few.
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I had a 01 Dak sport single cab 4.7 with the NV 3500 5 speed. Had issues with the transmission. Couldn't power slam into 2nd. Shifter housing was plastic junk, blew up the clutch master... the mill was ran hard and had over 280,000 on it when sold..
 
Mopar44134 said:
I hear these motor dont tolerate over heating very well. Valve seats fall out. Also, oil pressure switch fails leading people to believe its a catastrophic oil pressure issue.
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I heard about the overheating issue which i did overheat my engine climbing over a mountain towing a car, pulled over and let it cool, got over the mountain and went back to normal operating temp and still ran great!! I also replaced the thermostat on it to a 180, which doing research a lot of people in the dodge dakota forums recommend doing that!
 
JDMopar said:
I bought an 04 Dakota quad cab with a blowed up 4.7, to fix for a beat around truck for my wife. I couldn't find a local machine shop that would rework the heads, so I just hit the easy button and bought a remanufactured 4.7 from Powertrain Engines. They fix all of the stuff to make them last longer than Chrysler did. It has run like a top for the 29K miles I've put on it since I put it in the truck. Hasn't leaked or burnt a drop of oil.
I wish I was as happy with the 545RFE transmission. The hard parts in those transmissions are great, but the electronics SUCK! I've been fighting the thing going into limp mode for several months. It's had a new solenoid pack put in and new fluid and both filters, and it still randomly has fits of going into limp mode. If I could figure out a way to put an early 518 in it...I would! :BangHead:
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I really thought about doing that buying a reman engine from them which i heard they do a good job building and taking care of the issues these engines have but i went the cheaper route as well as wanted to get experience building these engines and I havent had any issues with my transmission, shifts great.
 
schwinger said:
I heard about the overheating issue which i did overheat my engine climbing over a mountain towing a car, pulled over and let it cool, got over the mountain and went back to normal operating temp and still ran great!! I also replaced the thermostat on it to a 180, which doing research a lot of people in the dodge dakota forums recommend doing that!
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My Ram had the 195° or whatever the Factory recommended. Way too hot for S FL. Went back to 180!°. No sweat lol
 
I'm not sure if this was mentioned but they also have a select fit main bearing in them, the tone wheel will have a letter in it (a, b or c). Typically you can measure the journal in 2 places 90 degrees of one another then check the chart. IIRC only the dealer can get the correct singles of bearings if they're not all the same size.

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Oh that’s another thing that tripped me out. Why the hell would they do that I don’t know. I watched some videos on that and they say double and triple check by taking measurements. Mine was CBBC but I miked the crank journals and the crank journals all measured 2.500 and I measured the new bearings I got that came in a re ring kit, installed them with no crank installed l, tighten the main saddle, did my measurements on all of them and all came out 2.502 so .002 for oil clearance should be good.
 
schwinger said:
Oh that’s another thing that tripped me out. Why the hell would they do that I don’t know. I watched some videos on that and they say double and triple check by taking measurements. Mine was CBBC but I miked the crank journals and the crank journals all measured 2.500 and I measured the new bearings I got that came in a re ring kit, installed them with no crank installed l, tighten the main saddle, did my measurements on all of them and all came out 2.502 so .002 for oil clearance should be good.
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Wow Man! The Mercedes is showing, I guess? What a pain in the rear! Looks like You're getting her Nailed Down Though! Keep up the Great Work, I had no Idea those things were that intense
 
Now the 07 Dak w/ a 3.7 I bought a week before Christmas, after my Jeep 4.0 got totalled, I AIN'T happy with... at all. And I know they are Sister Mills!
 
Ok just wanted to update people on this. Got the engine built which was a wonderful pain in the buxton lard *** but it’s finally finished! Painted it orange And installed it. Runs like a champ! Thank god it’s done! If I were to build another one of these I’d prepare myself more better and thanks for the tips also guys! Love this forum!!
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Wow Man! That's Killer! Great Job! The only other thing I read about them, is the factory oil holes in the pistons are a Lil small. You found, and Upgraded things I Never knew about with these mills! You Must Have the Patience of a Saint, cause that build looks like a heck of a Royal Pain in the Rear!
 
Thanks guys and yeah it took some patience which I’m getting better at with age! Just for anybody else that wants to build one of these engines definitely do your research on these and check everything!! don’t assume but that goes with any other engine build!
 
schwinger said:
Thanks guys and yeah it took some patience which I’m getting better at with age! Just for anybody else that wants to build one of these engines definitely do your research on these and check everything!! don’t assume but that goes with any other engine build!
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Definitely don't look like a weekend slam fest! And the Orange is Killer too! Lol
 
Hell no it ain’t lol unless you have everything laid out ready to go and are on crack cocaine as well as a **** load of monsters and red bulls standing by!!
 
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