[Semaj]

Just wanted to share my adventure in rebuilding my 4.7 that's in a 2000 Durango SLT. I'm in the process of removing the engine at the moment.

Little bit about it:
All factory original, pretty much. I've done a brake upgrade on it right along with suspension and a trailer brake system. I've rebuilt the power steering pump and alternator, regular tune ups, and have done the whole cooling system. We bought it back in 2011 with 160 thousand miles for $2,300. Now, in 2016, it has 265 thousand. The engine started smoking at about the 210 thousand mark and been pumping it full of oil stabilizer since. It now is going through about a quart of oil a week and, with saving money up for the last few months, it's time for a rebuild.

I signed up awhile ago but haven't been on the forum much. I just wanted to start a little thread about my trials and errors as this is my first 4.7 ever. I do really like the cam set up since the "rocker arms" have a roller bearing, seems pretty efficient in my opinion. What I haven't like about it is that I think they may have done a better job with how the engine is packaged in there. But, it's coming out.

I'll try and keep posted on the way.

Thanks everyone.

 

[Semaj]

The beginning. I tried attaching to original post but there was a hiccup somewhere in the mix.

 

[Semaj]

I am well on my way. I finally had the time to pull the engine out on the 9th and been breaking it down this morning. Everything looks good considering how many miles were on it and all the engine oil that it was burning; make it that much cheaper to rebuild.

 

[Semaj]

The engine is torn apart and waiting to be dropped off to our local machine shop. Everything has been looking great, but, properly worn. We could have easily gone another, however many miles. With that being said, the rings were defiantly worn. #4 had the best resistance out of all 8 with 5 and 7 basically falling out. But, everything looks great. If anyone has been watching this thread, I will post pictures in a bit.

 

[Semaj]

I got the block and crank back from the machine shop last week. It was $200 for decking, cross hatching, line honed, polished crank, and hot tanked. I did pick up the heads too but they are in some need of work. The shop slapped me with an almost $800 estimate to rebuild them and I kindly took them back after paying $180 for their service. I have the heads torn down while I am trying to figure out which direction to go. I will post some pictures later this week.

 

[TazRango]

:waiting:

 

[Semaj]

I been so busy and there was other little miscellanis stuff that I had to get. The rest of the stuff will be here Friday and I have a full day set aside on Sunday to put everything together. I will have pictures to share.

 

[ajjacobs]

sounds like things are going well.. Post those pics! We love pics!

AJ

 

[turbojoe62]

I been so busy and there was other little miscellanis stuff that I had to get. The rest of the stuff will be here Friday and I have a full day set aside on Sunday to put everything together. I will have pictures to share.

What stuff did you get? What brands, prices etc?
Oh yeah pictures too

 

[Semaj]

Here it is as of Sunday evening. The block was in really good shape right along with the crank. The machining on the block was hot tank, cylinder rehone, crank polished, and a line hone was done. It came out to about $200 and I was able to pick it up within a few days and having the new pistons installed onto the rods was another $50. I wanted to bore it out some but since we are not doing anything performance with it I decided that $180 spent doing that could go somewhere else. Standard bore, standard rings, standard pistons, standard mains, and standard rod bearings. I have roughly $200 into the heads and I am working on them now. We are sitting at about $850 in rebuild parts and some paint. I get discounts at 2 of our local parts stores so prices may vary for other folks doing the same thing. I could have had a discount on machining too but I didn't know till after the fact.

 

[Semaj]

As of last night. The drivers side would be on too but I lost a valve keeper during my efforts of keeping the valve train organized; a little annoying.

 

[Semaj]

This was it last night. I put it in today and started bolting up the transmission. That's when I noticed that I forgot the damn flexplate lol. I picked the valve cover paint because it, I thought, was going match the color of the rig. I spent $8 on the paint and I sure wasn't going to waste it.

 

[RacerX]

Looks good! Just got thru r&r of the heads on my son's 2000 Dakota 4.7 for overheating. I know what you're going thru. This one lasted 56k miles before popping the head gaskets this time.

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk

 

[Semaj]

I been back to being busy again. This 100+ degree weather being on equipment and asphalt while wearing pants and steel toe boots as been kicking the crap out of me this week. My car needed a new thermostat so I did that this evening and will be getting back onto the Durango tomorrow after I butcher some chickens in the morning. I'm defiantly going to wish my shop had air conditioning lol.

 

[Semaj]

I did everything else this weekend besides touching the Durango. I did just finish getting the engine in place and bolted the mounts. I am going to be on this hard tomorrow after work and hopefully will have it fired up before dark.

 

[Semaj]

IT'S ALIVE! I will have an updated photo soon.