Hello there! My names is Josh. I'm going tell you how i got my Dakota. Well my dad owned it before i did he got it in about 2003 i think, maybe before that. In the spring of 06 he was diagnosed with cancer.... For 9 months he battled with it, unfortunatly he lost, on april 12 07 he died, it was a great loss in my family i still feel regret in losing him. So afterwards my mother no longer needed 2 vehicles and gave me it. So this vehicles hold special meaning to me. Not only is this my dads car but it's my first. Later this year we are going to spread his ashes in canada where he loved to be the most. I have a couple of problems with it that i think i can fix but i need some advice if at all possible on if i can do it or not. The car is a 1997 dodge dakota 3.9L SLT club cab.

 

Sorry about your DAD. Welcome to D.Forum. What is your problems with the truck?

 

Thank you sir! well the auto transmission is on it's way out it seems and my buddy told me to get it rebuilt would cost me about the same or more he said 1500-1600 i wanna say and i have seen transmissions for this truckonline for as cheap as 1350.00 (brand new). so i thought maybe since i normally do very well with putting stuff on my self maybe i could just do it my self. although if you think it would be out of reach for someone like me i would take your advice.

 

for someone who is not that experienced in trannies, i would let a tranny shop do the work.if the truck is 4 x 4 then you will need to remove transfer case and what not. if 2 wheel may be a little easier. i feel for your loss. my sister passed away nov. 1 of 06 talked to her on holloween and the next day out of the blue she passes away 41 years old.

 

sorry to hear about your old man.. any how welcome and with the auto tranny, http://www.apsprecision.com/ rebuilds our 42/44/46 re's with stronger parts, you just have to send in your old one as a core but the pricing isnt so bad, good luck with the dak, great truck, is it 2wd or 4x4?

 

yeah i'm not very experienced with trannys, if a rebuild would be cheaper then i would go that route but, if it costs the same as getting a new one i think i would just give it my best shot on putting in a fresh one, i know a few people who do car work, i don't know if they know transmissions though. and it's 2WD sorry that i forgot that.

 

If you have some guys that know that kind of work, you can do it.
Just take your time. And don't force anything in, everthing should just slide rightin.

 

Alright awesome thank you guys very much i'll go that way unless there is a better option.

 

You can put it in yourself, would be very helpful though to have a:
A tranny jack, do I wish I had one of these when I pulled mine out.
Impact Wrench is nice too, that or a breakbar with a series of extensions and knuckles.
A Manual so you get a feel for it, with a few things to give you a hand.
Since it's two wheel drive all you really have to do is remove all off the skid plates. Drive shaft. Remove anything connected to the transmission. Remove the starter along with the cover plate. Remove all of the cross members. etc... Then there are four bolts holding the tranny to the engine via the torque converter. Remove these and remeber to keep the torque converter with the transmission. while you drop it.

PS. I was a newbie to this until I did it for myself. I never re installed it but I could have easially. Another way would be to go to a shop doing work like this. That would give you a great hand. But if you can use a lift somewhere at a shop/home whatever, you would have it nice and easy to go.

 

Well i rememberd the other things i would like to change/fix. the steering on it seems loose, it's got movement in it when it's turend off, seems like something needs to be tightend but i don't know what i could really do also my mother said there is slop in the steering. also the air filter (plastic box) type seems like a inefficient type to what a cone type could do for the dakota, i don't know if i'm right about it though so any advice would also be very nice. thanks again to of you who already helped with the tranny.