I am looking at buying a 2000 Dodge Dakota Quad cab 4x4. It looks to be in good shape, it has the 4.7 and the manual transmission. I have only owned chevys and don't know much about the Dakota. It has 155,000 miles on the clock. How reliable are these trucks? I know ball joints will be a maintenance item, should i be worried about the miles, it will be a daily driver.

One other question is how do these trucks do off road. I know there is not a lot of after market support for them. I am not looking to do any rock crawling, I would just put on some 31" mud tires, do they do well off-road in stock form? Were any models offered with limited slip rear ends or anything?

Thanks for your help.

 

check the glove box lid, it might show you the gear ratio. or if it is poisi .

 

I think the lsd's were offered in slt's and sports as options. You can check the glove box to know for sure. Something that high is good to get it checked over real well(preferably a mechanic) Front end parts,check all the fluids,see if its leaking anything. Take it for a test drive and put it through its paces to see how it reacts. Test the brakes,go through all the gears up shifting and down shifting,test the 4x4(hi and lo). Make sure the motor sounds quiet not makin any noises and when you look at it feel the engine to see if it was started up recently.

 

Milage isn't nearly as important as how it was maintained. I just bought an '02 with 133k. Drove fine. But after some poking around found out the brakes were shot, shocks gone, original spark plugs were still in it, alignment was off, tires were bad, exhaust manifold was cracked, muffler rotted out, etc. I did all the work myself, but easily doubled what I had into the truck making it "right". At least the front end was good when I had it checked for the alignment. Best bet is to take it to a shop for a "pre-purchase" inspection- well worth the $100.

 

Thanks for the input guys. I went and looked at the truck and decided to pass on it.

 

i bought my 02 4.7 liter 4x4 a few years ago at 150,000 and so far its been a good truck only had to replace the rear drive line and the transfercase and im bout to replace the valve seal on it cause if a small oil leak but other then that its been running strong...

 

I hit 210000 in my Dakota and it still ran with no ticks or taps. Just now got a urge to rip it apart and rebuild it with performance parts. It's all about how she was treated