hey guys,

i just closed the deal on the above truck oh yeah it has 85k miles. anything specific i should look for before i hand over the check? im new to dakotas. trading in a 2003 tundra 2wd, good truck, just wanted something with quad cab, and the new tundras are well ugly...to put it mildly. didnt really want to spend a fortune either.

any advice as to upkeep or anything else about the these trucks would be much appreciated.

ps. a funny side note. asi was test driving this truck i noticed on the 4wd indicator it had awd, 4hi and 4lo. thought that was strange since everything i had been looking at showed the 2wd instead of awd. anyway after i made the deal i got to worrying about it thinking it might had been in an accident or something and repaired wrong. haha. to me i thought awd would be the same as 4hi.(before i read there is an awd dakota) anyway thanks to this site i just found tonight, i am feelingmuch betterabout my soon to be purchase. (after reading there is infact an awd dakota)

 

umm make sure that you have 4 spark plugs on each side of the truck



seriously if it has a v6 dont get it, my dad has on 03 qc 4x4 w/ v6 and that thing doesnt even get out of its own way, and take the vin number to the dodge website and check that all the recalls were done on it

 

If it has the limited slip rear end, you may want to go back and buy the extended warranty if you didn't do so. You didn't mention what engine. I agree 100% with shrpshtr ^^^^above. Check ball joints, intermediate shaft, inside of filler cap where you put the oil for sludge. Keep up the maintenance, religiously. Nice trucks, you treat them right, they'll treat you right.

 

sorry forget to say it has the 4.7 v8. yeah the v6 was out of the question as i have a 23 foot boot i have to get back and forth to the lake.

 

have fun with that i had problems with a 12 foot trailer that had a gross weight of 4,000 lbs the 5.2 is beter for towin IMO, id get a fullsize tho if ur gna pull somthing like that..

 

As said above, check to see that recalls have been performed. Get them done if they haven't. Plan on replacing the factory sealed ball joints with new ones that have grease fittings.

Mine is also the awd/fwd. There is a center diff that locks up when you put it in 4wd. In awd, you have drive from both front and rear. Mine also has the locking rear diff.

Gas mileage isn't the absolute best, but there are a couple things you can do:

1: Get the throttle body and fuel system cleaned.
2: Have the tranny serviced. Use synthetic tranny fluid.
3: Have the diff's serviced, and put in BG LS-II additive.

I had all this done to mine, and picked up an additional 3mpg.

I'm planning on installing a K&N air system and a chip in an effort to wring as much mileage out of it as I can.

Luck with it!