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Posted: 11/23/2015 3:19:40 PM EDT
[#1]
Easily done with basic hand tools.
Your local auto parts store will have rental tools for anything you don't have (fan clutch removal tool, etc) Save yourself a couple hundred bucks and do it yourself; it's a simple job Spend what you saved on ammo |
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Posted: 11/23/2015 3:28:17 PM EDT
[#2]
I'm surprised a shop will do it for $300.
I hate changing water pumps. I do it myself anyway. <shrug> |
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Posted: 11/23/2015 4:30:47 PM EDT
[#3]
it is a 60 dollar pump from autozone.
on a bad day with just hand tools, I can pretty much rip the front of the motor off in an hour. a water pump R and R might take 3 hours if you waste some time. The hardest part, depending on year and engine will be getting the fan off. if you have the tools and time, I would save the 200 bucks. |
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Posted: 11/23/2015 4:33:33 PM EDT
[#4]
Just did one yesterday, no problems. Go slow, use google and YouTube, and be not afraid!
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Posted: 11/23/2015 4:48:11 PM EDT
[#5]
Depends on how much free time you have and how cold it is.
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Posted: 11/23/2015 4:51:05 PM EDT
[#6]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Depends on how much free time you have and how cold it is. I don't mind busted knuckles, I expect it when working on my truck. But really cold hands is a deal killer as I get older. If the pump died in the middle of winter, I'd probably pay to have it done. (My truck won't fit in my garage.) |
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Posted: 11/23/2015 4:53:25 PM EDT
[#7]
Quote HistoryQuoted: it is a 60 dollar pump from autozone. on a bad day with just hand tools, I can pretty much rip the front of the motor off in an hour. a water pump R and R might take 3 hours if you waste some time. The hardest part, depending on year and engine will be getting the fan off. if you have the tools and time, I would save the 200 bucks. |
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Posted: 11/23/2015 9:41:12 PM EDT
[#8]
You will have fun removing the cooling fan.
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Posted: 11/24/2015 12:31:47 AM EDT
[#9]
as stated...in my garage on that rig? I'd do it depending on work issues...
$300 is not bad...On some rigs, if they pull enough crap, timing belt might as well be done too...SOME cars... |
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Posted: 11/24/2015 12:43:44 AM EDT
[#10]
I've got two fucking carburetors to rebuild tomorrow.. I wish it was a water pump..
Good luck |
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Posted: 11/24/2015 6:12:03 AM EDT
[#11]
4 cylinder, V6, or V8? I know the 4cyl and V6 have a decent amount of room up front (once the fan is gone), but things get a little tighter with the V8.
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Posted: 11/24/2015 6:22:05 AM EDT
[#12]
Water pump are easy to change in general. Some cars make it a pain to get to, but trucks generally have plenty of room. I've done it on your Dakota's big brother, a Ram. I think the Dakota would be a snap to change.
Find out what size wrench you need for the fan. It WILL be a large size that you don't have. On the Ram, it was 36mm. Buy a whatever size open end wrench from Harbor Freight or somewhere for cheap and have it handy before you start taking stuff apart. Get a manual. $20 from Autozone or Amazon. It will tell you step by step how to do it. |
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Posted: 11/24/2015 7:07:37 AM EDT
[#13]
Being a little older vehicle it should be pretty simple, and I'd say go for it!
A tip: (may not apply to you, I'm not familiar with dodge gas engine) If you can and it's applicable to your vehicle, either get some all-thread or cut the heads off bolts to make 2 studs to slide the pump on and hold the gaskets while you put the other bolts in, then remove the studs and put those bolts in. This makes it much easier |
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Posted: 11/24/2015 11:06:38 AM EDT
[#14]
What size motor?
318 is a piece of cake. I have only replaced on a Chrysler V-6 (3.5L in an LHS?) and it was easy enough, but it necessitates a new timing belt and tensioner as the timing belt drives the water pump. Fucking Chrysler. When I did my 318, I used ultra gray on both sides of the gasket and on the bolt threads that go into the water jacket. No leaks. Some guys do well without rtv. YMMV |
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Posted: 11/24/2015 11:13:01 AM EDT
[#15]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Water pump are easy to change in general. Some cars make it a pain to get to, but trucks generally have plenty of room. I've done it on your Dakota's big brother, a Ram. I think the Dakota would be a snap to change. Find out what size wrench you need for the fan. It WILL be a large size that you don't have. On the Ram, it was 36mm. Buy a whatever size open end wrench from Harbor Freight or somewhere for cheap and have it handy before you start taking stuff apart. Get a manual. $20 from Autozone or Amazon. It will tell you step by step how to do it. LOL I love the logic on this site. $300 to walk away from a disabled truck, and get a functional truck back that night. No blood loss, no special tools, no aggrevation OR $20+ dollars for a paper manual, special tools or tool rental (and associated cost of running them down), gasket or gasket sealer, and at the very minimum 2 hours of your time and hassle, plus lost coolant, plus bleeding the system. So in a best case scenario, you gain $100-125 dollars, and that's counting your time and pain/aggrevation at $0. |
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Posted: 11/24/2015 3:48:44 PM EDT
[#16]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
LOL I love the logic on this site. $300 to walk away from a disabled truck, and get a functional truck back that night. No blood loss, no special tools, no aggrevation OR $20+ dollars for a paper manual, special tools or tool rental (and associated cost of running them down), gasket or gasket sealer, and at the very minimum 2 hours of your time and hassle, plus lost coolant, plus bleeding the system. So in a best case scenario, you gain $100-125 dollars, and that's counting your time and pain/aggrevation at $0. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Water pump are easy to change in general. Some cars make it a pain to get to, but trucks generally have plenty of room. I've done it on your Dakota's big brother, a Ram. I think the Dakota would be a snap to change. Find out what size wrench you need for the fan. It WILL be a large size that you don't have. On the Ram, it was 36mm. Buy a whatever size open end wrench from Harbor Freight or somewhere for cheap and have it handy before you start taking stuff apart. Get a manual. $20 from Autozone or Amazon. It will tell you step by step how to do it. LOL I love the logic on this site. $300 to walk away from a disabled truck, and get a functional truck back that night. No blood loss, no special tools, no aggrevation OR $20+ dollars for a paper manual, special tools or tool rental (and associated cost of running them down), gasket or gasket sealer, and at the very minimum 2 hours of your time and hassle, plus lost coolant, plus bleeding the system. So in a best case scenario, you gain $100-125 dollars, and that's counting your time and pain/aggrevation at $0. Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. I don't pay people to do things I can do myself, and I think it's odd when people do. |
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Posted: 11/27/2015 11:16:02 AM EDT
[#17]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. I don't pay people to do things I can do myself, and I think it's odd when people do. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Water pump are easy to change in general. Some cars make it a pain to get to, but trucks generally have plenty of room. I've done it on your Dakota's big brother, a Ram. I think the Dakota would be a snap to change. Find out what size wrench you need for the fan. It WILL be a large size that you don't have. On the Ram, it was 36mm. Buy a whatever size open end wrench from Harbor Freight or somewhere for cheap and have it handy before you start taking stuff apart. Get a manual. $20 from Autozone or Amazon. It will tell you step by step how to do it. LOL I love the logic on this site. $300 to walk away from a disabled truck, and get a functional truck back that night. No blood loss, no special tools, no aggrevation OR $20+ dollars for a paper manual, special tools or tool rental (and associated cost of running them down), gasket or gasket sealer, and at the very minimum 2 hours of your time and hassle, plus lost coolant, plus bleeding the system. So in a best case scenario, you gain $100-125 dollars, and that's counting your time and pain/aggrevation at $0. Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. I don't pay people to do things I can do myself, and I think it's odd when people do. This. I never pay a man to do something I'm capable of doing. |
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Posted: 11/27/2015 12:24:46 PM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
This. I never pay a man to do something I'm capable of doing. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Water pump are easy to change in general. Some cars make it a pain to get to, but trucks generally have plenty of room. I've done it on your Dakota's big brother, a Ram. I think the Dakota would be a snap to change. Find out what size wrench you need for the fan. It WILL be a large size that you don't have. On the Ram, it was 36mm. Buy a whatever size open end wrench from Harbor Freight or somewhere for cheap and have it handy before you start taking stuff apart. Get a manual. $20 from Autozone or Amazon. It will tell you step by step how to do it. LOL I love the logic on this site. $300 to walk away from a disabled truck, and get a functional truck back that night. No blood loss, no special tools, no aggrevation OR $20+ dollars for a paper manual, special tools or tool rental (and associated cost of running them down), gasket or gasket sealer, and at the very minimum 2 hours of your time and hassle, plus lost coolant, plus bleeding the system. So in a best case scenario, you gain $100-125 dollars, and that's counting your time and pain/aggrevation at $0. Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. I don't pay people to do things I can do myself, and I think it's odd when people do. This. I never pay a man to do something I'm capable of doing. Time is money and it's all about priorities. |
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Posted: 11/27/2015 1:21:07 PM EDT
[#19]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Just did one yesterday, no problems. Go slow, use google and YouTube, and be not afraid! YouTube and Google are HUGE boons to the home mechanic. A half hour of searching and reading, and I've saved a thousand bucks by fixing something myself.... More than once. And we're not talking terribly involved stuff, just stuff where the dealer knows that they can take you to the cleaners. Knowing up front what you're getting in to, and being able to watch someone do it, are incredibly useful. |
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Posted: 11/27/2015 3:40:36 PM EDT
[#20]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. I don't pay people to do things I can do myself, and I think it's odd when people do. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Water pump are easy to change in general. Some cars make it a pain to get to, but trucks generally have plenty of room. I've done it on your Dakota's big brother, a Ram. I think the Dakota would be a snap to change. Find out what size wrench you need for the fan. It WILL be a large size that you don't have. On the Ram, it was 36mm. Buy a whatever size open end wrench from Harbor Freight or somewhere for cheap and have it handy before you start taking stuff apart. Get a manual. $20 from Autozone or Amazon. It will tell you step by step how to do it. LOL I love the logic on this site. $300 to walk away from a disabled truck, and get a functional truck back that night. No blood loss, no special tools, no aggrevation OR $20+ dollars for a paper manual, special tools or tool rental (and associated cost of running them down), gasket or gasket sealer, and at the very minimum 2 hours of your time and hassle, plus lost coolant, plus bleeding the system. So in a best case scenario, you gain $100-125 dollars, and that's counting your time and pain/aggrevation at $0. Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. I don't pay people to do things I can do myself, and I think it's odd when people do. Same, If I'm even remotely capable I'll get it done. I had to do the water pump on my Boxster about two months ago, no floor jack, stands and only basic hand tools because of the location. Yep it was a pain only made worse because of this. 
Still got it done. 
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Posted: 11/27/2015 3:56:12 PM EDT
[#21]
Don't know about a Dodge.
The newer (to me) Chevys from the mid to late 80's and up to end of the 90's had easy to change water pumps. The older ones had all the brackets (alternator, power steering pump, AC compressor, etc. bolted onto the front of the pump, so all that stuff had to come off/out first. Then they changed and went to a system where the brackets bolted to the front of the engine and you can pull the water pump without having to remove all the other stuff first. Not a bad job if you have the tools. Like folks said, use You Tube, lots of info there. |
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Posted: 11/27/2015 3:56:44 PM EDT
[#22]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
LOL I love the logic on this site. $300 to walk away from a disabled truck, and get a functional truck back that night. No blood loss, no special tools, no aggrevation OR $20+ dollars for a paper manual, special tools or tool rental (and associated cost of running them down), gasket or gasket sealer, and at the very minimum 2 hours of your time and hassle, plus lost coolant, plus bleeding the system. So in a best case scenario, you gain $100-125 dollars, and that's counting your time and pain/aggrevation at $0. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Water pump are easy to change in general. Some cars make it a pain to get to, but trucks generally have plenty of room. I've done it on your Dakota's big brother, a Ram. I think the Dakota would be a snap to change. Find out what size wrench you need for the fan. It WILL be a large size that you don't have. On the Ram, it was 36mm. Buy a whatever size open end wrench from Harbor Freight or somewhere for cheap and have it handy before you start taking stuff apart. Get a manual. $20 from Autozone or Amazon. It will tell you step by step how to do it. LOL I love the logic on this site. $300 to walk away from a disabled truck, and get a functional truck back that night. No blood loss, no special tools, no aggrevation OR $20+ dollars for a paper manual, special tools or tool rental (and associated cost of running them down), gasket or gasket sealer, and at the very minimum 2 hours of your time and hassle, plus lost coolant, plus bleeding the system. So in a best case scenario, you gain $100-125 dollars, and that's counting your time and pain/aggrevation at $0. 2 hours of time.....savings of $100-125. Let's see, that's $50-62.50 per hour. Sounds pretty good to me. I guess if you make 100s of thousands of dollars per year then it would pay to have it done for you. I don't so that $50-62.50 per hour is pretty attractive to me. |
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Posted: 11/27/2015 7:35:28 PM EDT
[#23]
Its not always about saving money, or even the time involved, but about learning something new...and showing yourself what you are capable of accomplishing. To me, that's worth far more than the money I'm saving, and it makes it a lot more likely I'll tackle other projects down the road that I may have once farmed out to someone else.
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Posted: 11/27/2015 8:40:50 PM EDT
[#24]
If your Dakota is anything like my Hemi Ram was, you're going to need the tool to remove the fan.
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Posted: 11/27/2015 9:30:43 PM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Time is money and it's all about priorities. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Water pump are easy to change in general. Some cars make it a pain to get to, but trucks generally have plenty of room. I've done it on your Dakota's big brother, a Ram. I think the Dakota would be a snap to change. Find out what size wrench you need for the fan. It WILL be a large size that you don't have. On the Ram, it was 36mm. Buy a whatever size open end wrench from Harbor Freight or somewhere for cheap and have it handy before you start taking stuff apart. Get a manual. $20 from Autozone or Amazon. It will tell you step by step how to do it. LOL I love the logic on this site. $300 to walk away from a disabled truck, and get a functional truck back that night. No blood loss, no special tools, no aggrevation OR $20+ dollars for a paper manual, special tools or tool rental (and associated cost of running them down), gasket or gasket sealer, and at the very minimum 2 hours of your time and hassle, plus lost coolant, plus bleeding the system. So in a best case scenario, you gain $100-125 dollars, and that's counting your time and pain/aggrevation at $0. Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. I don't pay people to do things I can do myself, and I think it's odd when people do. This. I never pay a man to do something I'm capable of doing. Time is money and it's all about priorities. So you get paid for your spare time??? It must be nice to get paid 24/7 |
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Posted: 11/27/2015 10:12:05 PM EDT
[#26]
On your dodge, whether it be the 4.7 or 318/360/3.9....it's all easy.
I've done them on both families of engines; and it's not bad. Hardest part is removing the combo fan shroud / overflow tank / washer bottle. You can skip the fan removal tool with two good vice grips. Don't worry about scuffing the pulley, you're replacing it anyway with the new water pump. |
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Posted: 11/28/2015 12:13:10 AM EDT
[#27]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
On your dodge, whether it be the 4.7 or 318/360/3.9....it's all easy. I've done them on both families of engines; and it's not bad. Hardest part is removing the combo fan shroud / overflow tank / washer bottle. You can skip the fan removal tool with two good vice grips. Don't worry about scuffing the pulley, you're replacing it anyway with the new water pump. Yea trucks, older trucks at least, are pretty easy. I just did my Ford 5.8 last month and the hardest part was getting all the crap in the way, out of the way. Once that was done, a few bolts, new pump and gaskets and replace the bolts. Done. Then just put all the accessories back in place and fill/purge the coolant. Took all of 4 hours and that was including running to the shop for a new harmonic balancer and front seal. I also agree with other posters, I'm not paying someone else to do something I can do... Unless it's F'in cold outside. F that. |
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Posted: 11/28/2015 5:19:37 AM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
So you get paid for your spare time??? It must be nice to get paid 24/7 What is this "spare time" you speak of? I fix most of my own shit - I have 4 drive able vehicles so I usually don't end up in a bind having to fix something immediately. Others might not have that luxury. The last $60 water pump I did was on my wife's '98 Explorer 5.0 - it took 8-10 hours because I had to cut the timing cover off the front of the block with a Dremel due to a seized bolt...... Total f'ing PITA. |
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