I have a steep, straight, concrete driveway which is a real pain in these PA winters. My 'winter car' finally died this year and I need to replace it.

I have zero knowledge and very little experience with pickups. I found a 1995 Dakota 4x4 regular cab with a 5.2L and cap and it looks like it has full power including AC. they want 4K for it with 142K and KBB said that's about right. From the pics online it looks like it's in good shape but of course they all do until you get there lol

So, being a newbie to pickups, and more specifically Dakotas, I wanted to find out if there are any 'unique' issues to this truck that I should be on the look out when inspecting it. Not being too mechanically inclined i will be taking any vehicle to my local mechanic to check out of course. And I will be looking through these forums as well. Is 142K at an end point for this vehicle or are they known for piling on the miles if well maintained? My winter car went until 337K so I admit I'm spoiled by long lasting vehicles.

But I need something to get up this steep driveway and saw this for sale and thought it would make a good snow vehicle. Any info you can provide would be appreciated, no detail is too small.

 

Welcome.

The real main issue I've ever come across on them is the water pump. I personally only had to replace the radiator in mine for the 140k miles it had the stock motor. 142k is just breaking it in, lol. I've seen plenty well over 300k.

In my 2wd I ran it through the snow without any weight in the back. Hell, I even ran it through someones back yard in 6inches of snow, it got stuck, but pulled itself out[sm=hail.gif]

These trucks are built well and last a long time. Hope you enjoy it.

 

Thanks for the welcome and good news. I was just worried that with a light rear end that even 4wd wouldnt be getting up my hill. My old caprice usually made it with a running start (had to block the street and zooooom up lol) so I had assumed the Dodge would be much better with the extra drive wheels.

And I dont mind normal maintanance issues, I just would hate to buy something and find out that "oh they are all noted for the transmissions dying' type of thing.

 

they are great in the snow. i take mine across frozen snow covered new england lakesice fishing. just make sure to get some aggressive tires.

 

it has BFG TA on now but until I go see the truck I wont know how good the tread is. I liked them on my old car but for the noise but with this truck, i wouldnt care.

Hey how is insurance on this? I'm used to paying 600/per car here in PA and just wondering if this will be more or less because it's a truck?

 

I dont know how much more the insurance compaired to others but its not bad. If the snow gets bad you can buy a locker for the rear end and there is no stoping you in the snow. There good trucks light wieght helps the truck not to get stuck. Have fun. I LOVE THE SNOW.

 

95 4x4 5 speed here. There are a couple of issues with these trucks, what vehicles don't have them? Here's what I know:
-Miraculous vanishing paint, go to car wash and paint just flakes off; I think it's only certain colors though. With the truck you're looking at it should've happened by now.
-Engine miss - there is a TSB about relocating the plug wires.
-Intake plenum gasket - this is the killer, symptoms are loss of power, engine knock (93 octane will stop the knock but not the rest), poor gas mileage. If the truck acts like this take off the air filter and look down the intake with a flashlight, if it looks wet it probably needs a new gasket. It's expensive to repair due to the labor involved but you could do it yourself fairly cheap.
-Mysterious shutdown/stalling - this isn't really unique to any vehicle these days, but the Dakota is known for the "bad splice" in the harness.

The good: It's basically a full-size truck, especially if you get the V8. You will have no trouble in the snow. Gas mileage is pretty good for a truck if the motor is in good shape. After fixing my intake gasket and using some Seafoam, I got 20 mpg driving to Baltimore.

 

Welcome to D.Forum.

 

welcome! you'll love it, just take care of it and it will return the favor! I own 2 of these one 2wd and one 4wd

 

Thanks for all the detail...I guess i'd hear/see most of them right away with a test drive. guess I better bring a flashlight to any test drives though lol. What's the bad splice in the harness, guess I better search on that one, I've never owned a car that just shuts down like that.