2000 Dodge Dakota: Dakotas could now be equipped with a 235-horsepower, 4.7-liter V8 engine, borrowed from the Jeep Grand Cherokee. It replaced the previous 5.2-liter V8. A "crew cab" (Quad Cab) model with four front-hinged side doors debuted in midseason. Quad Cabs seated six. Regular-cab models abandoned the previously available 8-foot cargo bed, coming only with the 6.5-foot bed used by the Club Cab. [/align]
2001 Dodge Dakota: New linewide features for 2001 included a standard universal garage door opener, redesigned alloy wheels for Sport and SLT models, and 16-inch wheels instead of 15s with the optional tire and handling packages. Dashboards and center consoles were also redesigned and, on 4x4s, the transfer case was now controlled by a dashboard switch rather than a floor lever.

from: http://consumerguideauto.howstuffwor...dge-dakota.htm[/align]

 

All hail pitkanen the reserch god, lol

Also poking around i found this site:
2000 Dakota
2001 Dakota

You can see it on each page if you go to specs, then powertrain. Seems like an awsome research site, as it looks
to list all options for every year. it even shows the available colors.

So with all this info it appears that these facts are true:
Manual transfer case lever 1997-2000
Electric transfer case **** 2001-2004
5-speed automatic transmission optional in 2003-2004
2004 sport models had chrome in the grill (i hate chrome btw)
Quad Cabs were first available in 2000
Amber Fire color 2000 and 2001 only
Black was available in all years

This will deffinitly help me in my search.Thank you all.

My options have been narrowed/deffined to:
2000 - Manual 4x4 lever, 4 speed automatic w/OD, Amber Fire or Black
2001 - Electric 4x4 ****, 4 speed automatic w/OD, Amber Fire or Black
2003 - Electric 4x4 ****, 4 speed automatic w/OD, Black
2003 - Electric 4x4 ****, 5 speed automatic w/OD, Black