I currently have an '98 Dakota which I love, but my husband would like me to have a truck that can have a plow so it can be a back-up in case his truck breaks down. (Apparently this year can't be fitted with a plow). We were all set to go look at an 04 quad 4x4 but the owner just called and said it blew a head gasket this morning. Which got me wondering about the 4.7L v8 engines - would they handle plowing? This would only be for a snow or two (driveways) IF my husband needed it. (We'd go with a bigger truck, but we actually NEED the truck to be on the shorter side, for various reasons).

Should we keep looking for an '04 Dakota or will we wind up with a blown engine? Any suggestions??? Please help, we need to find something quick!

 

Ok, after a ton more research and some phone calls, it's looking like it's just not smart to put a plow on a dakota.

We're now looking for a Ram that's as close to 221" long as possible.... (it has to fit in a limited space) If you have any suggestions, comments, warnings - I'd love to hear them!

 

I will move this to the 2nd generation Dakota sub-forum.

 

Well you don't normally see too many midsize trucks that are plow trucks.

My girlfriends father has a 98 GMC Sierra with 520,000 kms (original motor, second tranny) that he uses as a plow truck.

Thing is an animal, but I would definitely get a full size if you just want to plow with it. Just don't buy a Ford Just kidding, but I wouldn't!

 

Actually, we will be going this morning to pay for an '02 2500 Cummins Diesel (w/a sweet 5" tail pipe). And it's dark blue (why does it seem that 90% of the used trucks out there are white??). Hopefully this will work for both my husband and me - I need it to haul soap to the farmer's market in the summer (should do for that and I would think it could handle a plow.

But I have another question - if you could please tell me what forum I should ask it in! The body is pretty good except for some rust over the right wheel well. I'd love to have it taken care of and then would it be possible to put on those black cover-things? They look like a 2-3" edge along the wheel well? Would cover most of the problem and hopefully keep the other side from rusting out.... but I don't even know what they're called or if you can get them after-market and for a ram - does anyone know???

 

Here is the forum for the Cummins Engines:
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/dodge-cummins-diesel-88/

I'm sure you will love it, I would love to own a diesel.

As for the rust, unless you get it all, it's just gonna keep coming back. You're thinking of adding fender flares which I wouldn't do unless you fixed the rust first.

Here are your options:

1) Repair the rust as best you can... You need to get ALL of the rust, or else it will come back in 1 or 2 years. If it's just surface rust (no holes) then you have a pretty good shot this way. Grind it all off,grind it again... You sure its all off? Go ahead and grind again. Apply your filler, then spray some etching primer, prime it, paint it, clear coat it, THEN add your fender flares.

2) Best option (I wouldn't do it) Cut out the entire area and and weld in a new piece of metal and go from there.

Just DO NOT add fender flares over the rust, you will just trap the moisture in there causing it to rust out even quicker.

I got my Dakota in Nov 11, thing was mint other than a small paint chip near the rear wheel on the passenger side. Less than a year later and it's rusting out on ALL wheel wells and behind the headlight, but the underneath is still pretty clean. I live in Canada where the roads are heavily salted, so I'm estimated that my trucks body will last another 3-4 years then it'll be rotted out.

 

Definitely go full size on the truck. And known a few folks with the Ram Cummin's diesels and they all are all in agreement it is a beast. As long as there taken care of they will do any job you throw at it.

 

Wow - thanks for all the info! Nice to know what the fender flares were called - and to get the link for the cummins forum. Seems like it's overkill though since my husband will only get to use it if something happens to his truck and he needs it temporarily - but it kinda is nice to know that I'll be making all the guys drool when I drive it down our main street to set up at our farmers market all summer. Not to haul in heavy furniture or loads of heavy veg's -but to haul natural soap. lol! This truck won't even know it's there!

 

If it is an issue of plow blade weight hanging out in front of the Dakota, you can get plexiglass blades. I would imagine you would still have to beef up the suspension. Just a thought.

 

Unfortunately, now that we've bought the diesel, we will HAVE to sell the Dakota. It was a manual transmission, which I will really miss. But we can't have 3 trucks. My husband said that he just didn't want to consider a lighter plow for what he does - we're in Wisconsin and sometimes our snows can get super wet and heavy, so it was important to have something more heavy-duty.