Well, I got about 120 miles out of a random "sputtering" fuel pump. I was lucky enough for it to go out on me at my brothers house. Used my dad's Durango to tow the Dakota to parents house.

$150 for fuel pump
$50 for Monroe shocks
$10 for new shock hardware

Removed the entire bed. 1995 Dakota extended cab 4x4. 8 bolts hold the bed in, clip some wiring holders, remove the tail lights, the tail gate, and the 4 screws holding the fuel filler hose, and the bed came right off.

Fuel pump was easy to get to, and so was doing the shock replacement. Also got to lower spare, and oil up that mechanism as well.

All in all, not too bad with 3 people helping lift the bed. Worse part of the whole thing was actually removing the 2 lower shock bolts. Ended up just snapping the heads off, and using the impact gun to buzz out the bolts

As a bonus, my gas gauge works again

 

Cool! Looks like fun.

 

Not sure if I would call it "fun" but it works. I would rather be playing with my REAL toy

 

Funny, same thing happened with me very recently; sluggish pump then finally died at my friends house and no gauge. Call me lazy, lol, but had my mechanic do it. Did not want to mess with it and besides, had some days out at my Guard base, so not a whole lot of extra time.

A working fuel gauge is nice, huh?

 

Nice job and getting the fuel gauge to work was a bonus!