A buddy of mine gave me his old 88 Dakota 4x4 as it had become unreliable and he isnt mechanicaly inclined and able to trouble shoot her. She has 215K highway miles on the 3.9L, new clutch and fully rebuilt 5spd last year. He put new Jeep alloy take offs from the local tire shop on her a few years ago when the original rims died from rust. The 4wd works great, has limited slip rear end, extra HD rear suspension, high profile topper (he hauled model trains to shows in there). She has/had an intermitten stalling/no start issue, he doesnt know if its a loss of spark or fuel and so far hasnt stalled on me. The shop he uses just changed some stuff inside the distributor(guessing the pickup coil). He never drove it after that, he teaches and cant be stranded on the way to work. She came with Bosch fog lamps in the spoiler like a sport model, but both were taken out by a deer hit last year. I put a pair in I have, but they dont mount right so I am looking for the correct housings or a complete set from a early model sport. The marker lights on the topper need fixed, power wire is broken. We plan to get her running smooth again, then fix the rust, sand and repaint to IH red and leave the cap black. I also plan to install a reese hitch to tow our antique garden tractors to shows. Both of our rides are Mopar, my wife's being a 1998 Jeep GC Larado that is fully optioned out, lifted 2" ect. I do have a 84 GMC Sierra Classic that is rust free, 56K original miles, 6.2L diesel that I drive during the summer, its more of a show piece that worker anymore though. Its never seen road salt so it gets put away during the winter. I plan to sell it when the economy improves. We live in Kokomo IN, home to Chryslers 4 major transmission factorys and blessed with good parts stocking at the local auto parts stores. If its not a Dodge pickup or car, its a Jeep on the road around here! Cheers Mike and Michele T

 

Can't beat taht deal with a brick. That is awesome!

 

Thats sweet! I wish I could find a good deal like that. The truck looks to be in good shape. You said rust, where at? In the pic it don't look like any. I'm not to sure if the older models have an ADS (auto shut down) relay. This is the normal cause for other trucks. Ether the relay or the wires that power it up. There are wire splices that do corrode. Check the FAQ for a small write up on it.

 

nice find. i got my 88 for 400$ off a friend. oh and +1 on the bad splice, I'll bet that is your problem.