I need the 4wd without question.

I just changed the fluid in the rear end last fall and probably only have 4 or 5k miles on it. I don't know if for any reason that could have anything to do with it. The fluid was still at the right level, I used the right weight...

Don't get me wrong. I love the Dakota as a truck. It's awesome to be able to have a 5 speed V8 pickup. Most people are like "Wait that's a standard and a v8?" It's a fun truck, decent power, great looks, simple interior which I love, simple to work on for the most part... It's just not reliable. I've owned two and neither were reliable. I know some people have had some good luck which is great, but when we need a whole thread dedicated to "things to look for before buying a Dakota" you know there's an issue. My first Dakota had both the engine and trans go before 130k miles. This one, the motor and trans are great, it's everything else I've had problems with.

I probably won't buy another Dodge because of it. The new ones are 10x better, I know, but this truck leaves a bad taste in my mouth for Dodge. If I were to buy another truck it would be a Ford without question. I more than likely will end up with a car though. I live in an apartment downtown now which leaves me no real need for a truck.

 

Man I must be the lucky one here..I have owned my truck 6 1/2 years and only had to replace a few parts here and there....

Most recent was the power steering pump and both hoses at about 148K

I replaced my original water pump at 142K. I replaced the upper and lower radiator hoses and the bypass hose at the same time

I replaced my front wheel bearing/hubs at about 130K

I replaced my original fuel pump at 125K or thereabouts

I replaced the original lower ball joints around 120K, had to do the uppers 2 months later, should have done all 4 at the same time and been done with it...

I put a set of Monroe Sensa Trac shocks on it at about 60K. I found out pretty quick those were not a good truck shock, even for just a plain 2 wheel drive truck like mine so I put a set of Monroe Reflex on the truck and they have done great.

I have replaced the stabilizer bar end links twice, the second time was because I accidentally damaged the threads when removing them while doing my lower ball joints. Napa warrantied one and I had to buy the other one at Advance, Napa only had one in stock at the time.

I had to replace my evap leak detection pump due to a wreck 2 years ago. I got a code for it 2 days after I got my truck out of the body shop. I put in a $20.00 junk yard LDP from a cash for clunkers truck, it's been fine ever since. The insurance did not reimburse me for it because I did not "offer them the chance to inspect and repair it first"..Buncha BS. Whatever.

I replaced my original fan clutch just 2 months before that wreck happened, used a junk yard part and had to replace it with a Mopar fan clutch last August.

I also replaced my original A/C compressor, fixed orifice tube and receiver-drier at about 80K. Not because they were bad but because I had hit a deer and the body shop did not replace those parts. The original parts were probably still OK but I replaced them anyway because of a "noise" I could hear in the A/C from inside the cab. No noise was really present when I stood outside the truck and listened but I replaced the parts anyway. I paid a shop to evacuate and recharge the system and did the work myself at home, and saved about $550.00 doing the job myself.

I replaced my original idler pulley around 70K, because it was noisy.

Other than that it has just been regular maintenance - regular 3K oil changes, change my rear differential gear lube every 12K, change the manual transmission lube every 35K, tune-up with new plugs, cap and rotor every 20 to 25K, change the wires every other tune-up, new serpentine belt every other year, flush out the coolant every 2 to 3 years, check my air filter at least once a month, change it out about once a year. I still have plenty of meat left on my original rear brake shoes. I am on my third set of front pads and rotors but that is because I had to replace one set prematurely due to the pads were just no good.

I am on my third set of tires, BFG Long Trail T/A Tours. They are a great tire no matter if it is dry or raining, the best tire I have ever bought for the money and performance, super quiet and real smooth ride.

I am also on my third battery, this one is a Duralast Gold, this is my third summer with it, it is a great battery, my truck fires right on up every time, even like today when it has been sitting without being driven for 5 days straight. I put a Duralast Gold in my wife's Honda Accord at the same time I replaced my own battery, hers is doing great too. The Florida heat is murder on batteries.

My truck has been wrecked twice, once in 2007 when I hit a deer at about 70 MPH on the interstate in broad daylight and once 2 years ago when someone pulled out in front of me and hit me in the left front bumper/fender area. It did $3,500.00 in damage when I hit that deer and I was still able to drive my truck over 80 miles back home to the body shop. My truck left the scene of the second wreck on a flat bed wrecker and it was a little over a month before I got it back, I had to beg, plead and get a lawyer involved to keep the insurance from totaling my truck out and leaving me with nothing all due to the other guy's impatience and negligence. The wreck would not have happened if he had waited another 5 seconds. The second wreck did about $4,035.00 in damage.

I love my truck. When something goes wrong with it I love fixing it and learning even more about how it works and operates. I love taking good preventative care of it and keeping it in good shape. I got to drive it today on about a 60 mile round trip and was glad to be out on the road instead of stuck here in my office at home. My truck has a few very minor cosmetic dings and chips in the paint but it has good power and runs smooth and drives great for its age and mileage. And no offense to Mike in Arizona but my A/C is freezing cold, even in the 95+ degree heat we had today. I have had to replace my blower motor resistor twice (what Dakota owner has not done theirs at least once?) and my fan will still blow strong enough out the vents to move my hair and my wife's hair too.

My Dakota has been the very best vehicle I have ever owned and it is about to turn over to 151K now and I hope that by continuing to take good care of my truck it will last me another 151,000 miles and then some. I will never get rid of my truck unless there is maybe some catastrophic super expensive repair or problem that comes up.

My truck has been awesome, and it was even built on Sept. 13, 2000. That was a Friday the 13th but it turned out pretty good for me. My Dakota is like an old and trusted friend and I don't ever want to get rid of it if I can help it.

Jimmy

 

I don't know Jimmy, seems like you've replaced quite a few things too...

 

Okay, so you get a couple bad ones and the whole bunch is spoiled.

You know, I bought a pack of Energizer Ultimate Lithium's, and those things are expensive! But two of the batteries were dead, so I may never buy another Energizer product ever again because of it.

 

My only bad taste about my Dakota is my HVAC but most of the problems were caused by a shop that spent 5 months fixing/Fking my HVAC up.

$3K and 5 months of them constantly repairing my HVAC by this shop and ripping almost everything under the sun out of my Dakota more than 4 times damaged my HVAC system drastically and in doing so trashed my HVAC system very bad even needed my truck towed back to them two times because first they stripped out all my compressor bolts and the compressor fell off into the radiator then when they removed my dash to replace my condenser they installed it without replacing the foam seals and also poked a hole in my heater core that I found out as I was driving it home after they supposedly fixed it finally.

That is why I’m so good at HVAC I do all my own A/C work now after that fiasco nightmare.

They never fixed my HVAC after the 6 time fixing/trashing it I ran as fast as I could to another shop and they fixed it in one hour but my HVAC system was so hacked up by the other shop I have spent 3 years fixing what they damaged and still fixing there handy work.

I guess what I’m saying is some of my biggest problems have been caused by bad shops not by Dodge.

 

Nah...it's all just been normal wear and tear, or wreck-related stuff. Or parts that I broke accidentally. I replaced both front brake calipers because I cracked a piston in one caliper when I bottomed it out using a big ole pair of Channel Locks instead of doing it the right way with a C-Clamp and the old pad. I was in a hurry. I also had to replace my upper radiator shroud because I tore a crack in it when I removed it to replace my water pump. Lucky for me there is a good you-pull-it yard not too far away with a lot of Dakota's and Durango's.

To me it's all been money well spent I guess. Any truck or car can have problems and need repairs, some more than others, some less. I have gotten way more miles out of a lot of my original parts than some other trucks. I expect to have to replace parts and fix problems, especially now that my truck is getting up there in age and miles. I don't mind it too much when I have to fix my truck, or my wife's car. I sit in my office 8 hours a day looking at computer screens all day. I am very glad when I have something to work on or do outside, like yard work or fixing something around the house.

Jimmy

 

No matter what you buy its going to have its pros and cons. People come into cummins forum and ask the same thing. What to look out for. I would own a older ford 04 and older nothing new. Plus their trucks power is far from good. My pap has the 5.4 and its a turd. Its got decent low end power but stomp on it from 40 and its no better than a 3.9 v6.
Personally if I had to own a brand new truck it would be a chevy or gmc(same thing) 6.2 v8 has some good power for a gasser.

No matter what you buy dodge,chevy,ford bmw when it gets to 100k its gonna start showing it.

 

I was leary of buying a Dodge too bc of all of the complaints but i couldt afford to get a crew cab 4x4 in my price range so i did some research i took a gamble. I bought mine with 99k miles and have 111k on it now with no problems really. I had to put an elbow on the AC drain line and im about to put some Upper control arm bushings on it but it hasnt given me any trouble. I pray it dont. Case in point though, i have owned a lot of Nissans prior to this truck and have had great luck with all of them until my last one which was a 97 4x4. Only had 85k miles so i thought i would have it forever. From 90-125k miles i had to replace all of the following

Rebuild tranny
Replace clutch
Ball joints 4-5 times
Timing chain
Fusible links
Read drive shaft
Water pump
Valve cover gasket
2 sets of wheel bearings
Rear brake shoes
Front brake pads
3 sets of UCA bushings
Shocks
and finally the motor spun a rod bearing at 125k

Sold it as is for $2500 and never looked back. I think some time we can just get lemons.

 

I think the major issue are the big companies having to comply with a bunch of BS regulations for emissions.. they give us big Gas hogs with no real power. 225HP out a V8 and they got 4-bangers in the Euro cars pushing well over 200-300 HP.

Go figure.

I say buy an old 60's 70's or up to mid (before EFI) Ford Chevy Dodge. 70's Ford's and Dodge are by far my Fav Trucks.

I would buy another 81 F100 if i could find one.. ROFL. I loved that truck. Did not have any the problems the new one's have; and got the same gas mileage with out all the extra electrical and emissions BS these trucks have.

I used to get out of my 4bbl 5.0 HO (84) that was dropped in my 81 F100 about 17 HWY if i kept my foot out of it. And that was Carbed.

Our trucks that are a little lighter and with a 5.2L Fuel injected and all that your lucky to see that kind of mileage and they have no power.. that you would expect them to have over older Carb motors.

where I agree about the 5.4; compared to my Dad's and My Kota; they are about the same as far as power; but what the Ford has is a better transmission.. and quicker pickup off the line. But really his truck is 2x's the weight of mine and you would think my truck would have more get up being less weight and about the same power under the hood.. buttttt nooooo... Sure i got the raw power because of gearing.. but still..

 

Ford's Focus RS makes 305 HP & 325 ft.lbs of torque over there, they make like half that over here. The new Focus ST makes 250 HP and they're making a big deal out of it. The Focus has had that power for 10 years over in Europe.

My father's crew cab (full 4 door) F-150 has the 5.4 and it's certainly quicker than my truck. It weighs like 2000 lbs more but pulls way better than my truck. It's not rocket ship but for the fact that it weighs like 6000 lbs, it moves pretty good. The brakes need to be bigger, that would be the biggest complaint about the truck. The brakes are too small, but it motor is solid. The newer F-150's have even more power. I love my Dakota but I'm really a Ford guy at heart. The Ranger is Ford's worst mistake even, such a piece of ****, I'll say that. It's the reason why I went to the Dakota, I didn't want a full size but didn't want a Ranger, so the Dakota was a happy medium.