I need your input. I found 92 Dodge Dakota (club cab, 6.5 foot bed) with 60K miles in very good condition. It has 4x4, 3.9 V6, auto, and a/c. Dealer price is $4K. This may seem like a lot for 92 but KBB value is around $3.5K. This would be a weekend truck for occasional Home Depot and recycling runs. Good points are that there is no rust, low miles, very good condition. Cons are that it is a club cab and shorter bed and I would prefer short cab with long bed. I have been looking for a truck for a while but here in North East US 99% of the trucks are high mileage and rusted out. So this Dakota stands out as a exception. What do you guys think? Is it a fair price? Anything in particular that I should check if I decide to see the truck?

 

Do a carfax search. It's worth the money. Do not accept the "carfax" the dealer hands you look it up yourself for peace of mind.
How does it drive? Go around town find some big hills and get on the highway for several miles. Watch how quickly the temp comes up, where it shifts, how responsive the peddle is.
There are some common problems you can read over the FAQ page and look through these postings for an idea of what goes on with them. The issues that come up most often are the intake plenum gasket leaking and the wire harness splice on the driver side fender and wiring to the fuel pump which is in the gas tank failing or the sending unit (gas gauge) part of the pump failing.

 

Thanks for replying. I run an Autocheck on the truck. Sold at auction with 6K miles and then again with 60K miles. No accidents, no odometer rollbacks, no problems reported.

 

First, everything OneMore94Dak said. I'll follow that by saying that sometimes people focus on the engine when they think about what might go wrong with an older vehicle, but automatic transmissions are pretty complicated devices, and in my experience they're often the first major piece to fail when a vehicle gets older. You might check the tranny fluid - dark, smelly fluid is burnt, which is bad. Look for leaks underneath too, leaking seals suggest the truck sat for long periods and the seals are dry.

That's pretty low mileage; there's a lot of 1st generation Dakotas running around with 200K+ miles. In that price range you probably can't go too wrong. You might even be able to get it for $3500 or so.

 

Heh.

My 1988 is at 345,000 and counting; original motor and transmission.

RwP

 

Must be your mechanic

BTW, is yours automatic?

 

Dakotas are mechanically sturdy trucks (at least the manuals are) and they're one of the easiest trucks to work on. At only 60k miles, the engine is probably fine, but the auto transmissions can be troublesome. Also, I suggest that you carefully examine the truck for frame rust given that you live on the east coast. If everything is in good shape, than 4k is a pretty good deal.

 

No, it's luck, combined with the current mechanic (that's normally ME, bub!)

When we purchased it, it had almost 200,000 miles; last owner was "Oil lights on? What's the cheapest crap you have? Oil filter? Whazzat?" kind of person.

So far I've rebuilt the brakes, rebuilt the front suspension, lined the interior with a Dynamat(tm) knock off, and am working on the rest of the truck.

It's been real, and it's a nice truck for what I do.

And yes, the transmission is a 3 speed auto (the A604 IIRC).

RwP

 

Thanks for all the replies. I saw the truck but did not buy it. Outside was nice but the frame was pretty rusted. One body mount was completely rusted out, 4wd was popping out when driving, tach wasn't working. Just too many small issues which was pretty surprising for a truck with 60K miles on it.

 

Only downside to them are there's no aftermarket market for them, and all parts are expensive as ****, but that goes for all Dakotas.