Meh, standard replacement parts are the same as any other truck, in my experience. Ball joints, tie rods, shocks, brakes...nothing more expensive than it should be. Motors are cheap, trannies are cheap, the 7.25 front ends are Dak specials so the half-shafts I'm finding are not cheap. That said, for the few aftermarket pieces you can find for these trucks, they indeed are $$$$$.

 

Tail lights $45-70
Clear turn and parking lights $50
Headlights after you do a 91 style swap - $20-100
Wheels - $150 or less a piece. Same as any other
Grill inserts - $20-35 set

The only real aftermarket piece that's expensive for these trucks are fiberglass hoods, front bumpers and roll pans. And even those come up cheap time to time.

I don't see where people say there's no aftermarket support for these. Just gotta look. And there's always craigslist.

 

But the cheapest decent fuel pump I can find is over $230. Any ol' Dangah Rangah is $90 for the whole assembly. Alternators are nearly $150, and virtually no parts are compatible across the 1st and 2nd gen when it comes to electrical/exterior engine. Plus the wheels are 6x4.5. No other make has that size so AFM or swapped rims are next to impossible to find that look half decent. Dunno what it is down south but up here in the north the cheapest 46RE (IF you can find one) is over $700, a 8ft bed is $600, Doors (if you can find them not rusted out) are $300 a pop. Dakota's don't have a very forgiving reputation when it comes to fiances I've found...

 

Hold the phone, I thought you was an expert that had your own shop? Thank you for proving my point about your lack of knowledge. Nissan xterras and same gen pickups have 6x4.5 rims.

Rims are hard to find? I bought one set and sold them 2 years ago, bought another set this past January, and going to swap those for another set tomorrow. They're not as common to find as other things, but still really easy to find if you have patience and willing to drive.

As far as the fuel pump, one reason why they're more expensive vs most vehicles is the sending unit, regulator and float are all one unit. Which as an expert you should know that.

Then as far as the engine, 95% of it is the same from engine to engine until they changed to the 3.7./4.7 with the only real changes being the throttle body and computer.

I think you need to look up the definition of expert.

Also, where the hell are you buying parts? I live up north as well, Ohio to be exact. I bought a rust free drivers side door for $175 with PW, pl, and pm with good glass. The locks and window still worked too. And as a bonus it was even white to match my truck. That's a far cry from $300.

 

Hahaha I know you meant finances but this is an epic misspelling. Another Dakota, another fiance. Sorry, just found that funny.

I can see your points. For what it's worth I got one completely rust free door for $100 (CT), and one with fixable rust just on the bottom for $75. If you need big stuff such as beds (rust free is difficult though) or even trannies/motors it often is often best to buy whole trucks, take what you need, then part out or scrap the rest. If you do it right you can even make all your money back then some that way (had a friend who did that with a rotted Cummins donor for his Ford). If you buy parts from a part-out it's more convenient than buying a whole truck, but you'll pay part-out prices.

 

Up here 1st Gens are magically made of Platinum enfused Gold apparently... There's 8 of them on CL, completely rotted out in every aspect of the term and the cheapest one is over $2800. Plus you get those ****tards that will damn near shoot ya if you offer any less than what they want...

Issue with buying parts trucks is cars/trucks are $20/ton, and unless they're REALLY cheap you're taking at least a 200% loss. Scrap market is gone. Period.

 

Honestly, i find parts pretty cheap..
The routine maintenance parts arnt more expensive as anything else and recently i ordered 4! monroe shock absorbers send home for 170 bucks.

You know here in europe 1 shock absorber for a crapcar already costs like 110 bucks right.

Same goes for the lamps if i compare it to VW or any other Euro brand 50 bucks for taillights is cheap as hell.

All together it's still alot of money though.. but it could be worse.

 

Hey, lay off a bit. His bio says that he works in an autobody shop, which is a lot different than being a professional mechanic. He may be great at painting, fixing dents etc. he just doesn't know all the mechanical ins and outs of Dakotas. Also, Ohio isn't really the "north". I live across the river in Kentucky and I can tell you that Ohio is more Midwest, Great Lakes or Southern than it is Northeastern. Everything out here in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana is much cheaper than in Maine. Up there it's hard to find parts that aren't rusted out thanks to the snow and salt air. So cut the guy a break

 

Don't speak of what you don't know.

Another guy even gave his experience about buying parts in Connecticut. Snow and salt? Lol we have that too.

Also, the guy has claimed to be an expert with a VERY successful shop many times. Never said body shop, always said mechanic shop or implied it very heavily.

 

Son of a bitch, that's outrageous. There's not many 1st gens on CL right now but the few that are are all less than $1500, and most apparently run and drive. Hell, I've seen southern trucks for sale up here with no rust for barely over $3k. You can get a really beat up but working 3rd gen for near $3k and a pretty clean 2nd gen for $3k. The 1st gens ive seen with broke frames or blown motors or trannys are rarely listed f
or over $1k. I always recommend them to people who want a cheap small truck because they're fairly reliable and usually at least a third of the cost of a Tacoma in comparable condition. That's here anyways.

Also, didn't mean to suggest I'd make money back by scrapping, but if I part out everything I can AND scrap the rest, I can end up easily making back the cost of a parts truck. But like I said, parts trucks around here can be had for well under a grand. Apparently not the case where you are...sucks.