Just bought a Dakota!
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Joined: Aug 2011
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From: Ottawa, Canada
Just bought a Dakota!
I'm really pleased just now, because I've bought a 1996 Dodge Dakota 5.2 Magnum V8 for $1,700!
The vehicle won't be used for the road (at least not much), as it will be at my farm for hauling things around.
The bodywork isn't great, it has a fair amount of scratches and dents, but there is no rust, and it has four good tires (about 60% treads left).
The 4-Wheel Drive system works great, and pulls me up whatever hills I point it at, and I've already been shifting around some rubble in the bed, and if it wasn't for looking in the mirror, I wouldn't even know I had anything in the bed it drove so well.
It has 144,000 miles on the odometer, but it runs extremely well, and seems to have been well maintained (I pulled the dipstick out when looking at it prior to buying, and at first I thought there was no oil there, then I realised it was up to the maximum mark, but was so clean it was almost invisible!)
Pretty much, I'm very happy with my Dakota, but, seeing as it will be used often for hard work, I will probably be on here every now and then for help fixing problems.
The first problem, is that if I leave the transmission in N (automatic), and apply the emergency brake, it still rolls.
Is it a simple fix to get the E-Brake working ?
The vehicle won't be used for the road (at least not much), as it will be at my farm for hauling things around.
The bodywork isn't great, it has a fair amount of scratches and dents, but there is no rust, and it has four good tires (about 60% treads left).
The 4-Wheel Drive system works great, and pulls me up whatever hills I point it at, and I've already been shifting around some rubble in the bed, and if it wasn't for looking in the mirror, I wouldn't even know I had anything in the bed it drove so well.
It has 144,000 miles on the odometer, but it runs extremely well, and seems to have been well maintained (I pulled the dipstick out when looking at it prior to buying, and at first I thought there was no oil there, then I realised it was up to the maximum mark, but was so clean it was almost invisible!)
Pretty much, I'm very happy with my Dakota, but, seeing as it will be used often for hard work, I will probably be on here every now and then for help fixing problems.
The first problem, is that if I leave the transmission in N (automatic), and apply the emergency brake, it still rolls.
Is it a simple fix to get the E-Brake working ?
Last edited by DodgeDave65; Sep 11, 2011 at 11:45 AM.
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Joined: Apr 2011
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From: Idaho
First off, Welcome 
. Your cable probably needs adjusted. It's on the passenger side underneath. It's hard to miss. There is a cable that branches off and runs to both rear brakes. Just tighten the nut until it's working properly.
. Your cable probably needs adjusted. It's on the passenger side underneath. It's hard to miss. There is a cable that branches off and runs to both rear brakes. Just tighten the nut until it's working properly.
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Joined: Aug 2011
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From: Ottawa, Canada
Hopefully I'll be as happy with my Dakota as I am with my '88 Dodge Ram 2500 5.3 V8 Motor Home
I wonder what has more power ? The 5.3 V8 Carburetor engine in my 2500, or the 5.2 V8 Injection in my Dakota ?
Obviously the 5.2 will have more road power, as it is in a much lighter vehicle, but I wonder about just the engine by itself ?
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Joined: Aug 2007
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From: NM
Welcome to DF! I'm glad you got a good running truck.
As for which has more power the Dakota will since it is a fuel injected Magnum engine which replaced the older LA's. The Magnum V6 probably has more power than that old V8, but there were no 5.3's I'm assuming that was a typo and you meant to type 5.2.
As for which has more power the Dakota will since it is a fuel injected Magnum engine which replaced the older LA's. The Magnum V6 probably has more power than that old V8, but there were no 5.3's I'm assuming that was a typo and you meant to type 5.2.
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Joined: Aug 2011
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From: Ottawa, Canada
Welcome to DF! I'm glad you got a good running truck.
As for which has more power the Dakota will since it is a fuel injected Magnum engine which replaced the older LA's. The Magnum V6 probably has more power than that old V8, but there were no 5.3's I'm assuming that was a typo and you meant to type 5.2.
As for which has more power the Dakota will since it is a fuel injected Magnum engine which replaced the older LA's. The Magnum V6 probably has more power than that old V8, but there were no 5.3's I'm assuming that was a typo and you meant to type 5.2.
I actually meant 5.9, don't know why I typed 5.3, haha!
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Joined: Aug 2011
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From: southern wv
hopefully adjusting the e brake cable is all you will have to do....in my case i crawled under thinking i would just tighten it up and found it was snapped in two...9 months later and i still use a chock when i'm on a hill..that project slid down the "to fix" list as i have more pressing issues with my dak..(suspension, exhaust, etc)...so feel lucky if the e brake cable is your only thing to fix right now...in any case there is a wealth of information on repair and maint. of dakota's on this board
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Joined: Aug 2011
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Hi and congratulations with the truck.
Just saying: see how the oil is doing now. I'm not implying anything, but one quick fix for selling motorized vehicles (in general) is to add new oil so that it looks ok. Having some experience with such cases, I always get a bit suspicioous if the oil is that new. If it's fine, it's fine.
Just saying: see how the oil is doing now. I'm not implying anything, but one quick fix for selling motorized vehicles (in general) is to add new oil so that it looks ok. Having some experience with such cases, I always get a bit suspicioous if the oil is that new. If it's fine, it's fine.