Well lately ive been kinda hard on my dakota got it stuck friday and needed pulled out(ended up scratching my door on a snow pile) then sun I over heated my trans trying to get up to camp 3,000 rpms spinning in 4x4 for about 500 yards but I made it anyway I got something else to beat the living crap out of 95 grand cherokee 4.0 l6 216,000 miles. We actually bought this jeep new back in 95 with only 11 miles on it and it was well taken care of all its life its had its fair share of ball joints water pumps starters and so on. at about 150,000 miles the tranny gave out and we put a used one in drove it for another 40,000 miles before we decided to sell it. We sold it to my step bro who basically beat the crap out of it and never took care of it. He left the state and I got it for 200.00. Btw this jeep has had oil changes done by me about every 3,000 miles and every single time I used fram filters and thats all it ever saw so they seem to be working out for this engine. All it needs is a front bumper and a grille but It still looks pretty good for age and miles tranny is starting to slip again but I dont care this is now my new beater. Oh and body does not have any rust on it. The factory undercoating is still intact and doing its job only rust on it is the cross member that holds the tranny up and its not that bad



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awesome! looks good for the age, and at least its a mopar and not some junking yota taco

 

Yeah only thing I have owned that wasnt chrysler was 93 nissan hard body man it was a great truck and took a beating. Pretty much everyone in my family owns a chrysler product we now have 5 lol

 

Whooaaa there, easy on the yotas......Don't get me wrong here guys...I love my Dakota but it will never be half the truck my yota is. 85' Yota 4x4 over 400,000 logged on truck, original motor, trans, plug wires, only thing i've ever done to it mechanically is put a timing chain in it and replaced the oil filter once or twice(when u add a quart of oil every week the oil doesn't seem to get dirty enough to change) Me n the ol' thing got t-boned by an 18wheeler on the highway in the snow one morning, I changed a tire and was on my merry way and the trucker sat there and waited for a wrecker. Nailed me in the drivers side door, caved it in and buckled the cab pretty good but musta buckled just perfect, door still sealed and open an closed. Only real problem after that was the bed was demolished an knocked loose so we just threw a flat on it an it runs to this day

 

The old ones wernt bad its the newer ones that will get ya. My neighbor had a 93 f150 awhile back cant remember what motor was in it but before he got his new truck i remember him trying to trade it in with 500,000 miles on the truck orignal motor and trans never rebuilt or anything just lots of reg maintance

 

Honestly the worst truck I've owned or seen was my 3.9 dakota. It was a pile, but my 4.7 is great so far. My father has 3 F150s for company trucks one is an 02 one is a 99 and the other one is an 04 they have 315k,350k, and 215k miles repspectively all still orginial drivetrain all automatics. My room mate has a 89 yota with 315k on it all original. So trucks will last a long time. Don't know much about Chevys never owned one, but my father has always had Fords and have ALWAYS lasted, my room mate has that yota...

I'm going to keep for Dakota for a long time even if I get new truck one day and I hope it can make it to 300k... If it does ill be happy if not ill be disappointed because I've seen so many other trucks do it.

 

Most all cars will last, when maintained properly, and when doing the task they were designed for, or less.

But a bunch of non warmed up engines mixed with hard accelerations will take its toll.

 

Hard accelerations ha my truck only runs good during that. My pedal is always on the floor lol

 

I thought there was only two positions on the pedals, all the way on the brake and all the way on the gas? hmmm going to have to think about this one.

 

I know the feeling man.
I just picked up another 92 Dodge Shadow for $300. Needs a tie rod end. brand new engine, brand new transmission.

Old woman had it had no clue all it needed was a tie rod and was too scared to drive it, so I basically stole it from her for $300. Has 136k on her. I miss my old 94 shadow so I got another one.

Hey bpark, my old 96 ram 4x4 360 auto had 200k on her when I sold her, original drivetrain and engine. I'm sure your dak will make it. Just take good care of her.