Hey! You're near where I live, I'm in Lawrenceville,GA. Sorry, slightly off topic.

If you're buying an 04 the V6 is the newer 3.7 (2003 has the 3.9, buy a V8 if you're going with that year), which actually does a pretty good job. If your requirements are light commute driving and the occasional light off-road/truck use, then yes the 3.7 will be fine and you should be able to get 14 mpg in GA.

I bought an 2001 Dakota 4.7L, Quad Cab, 4x4; with 236,XXX miles on it and drove it to 246,XXX before the engine wore itself out (I'm also to blame for that, I am hard on engines and trannys). I bought it for $3,400 main reason I paid so much was it's frame, body, interior and were in fantastic condition. The truck is fantastic, the 4.7 is a great power plant (the 3.55 gears suck tho). So in my opinion $10,900 dollars is $3-4k too much. Bring them down to $8,500 would be more acceptable and demand that they let you get a local mechanic to inspect the vehicle before you sign any paperwork.

Things to look or listen for: squeaking from the front wheel wells, causes are bad/eco brake need for new shocks; knocking/chattering noise from the engine at high revs, cause can be bent valve (needs to be replaced); power steering pump leak, the reservoir and hoses crack with age; inspect brake lines.

I hope that helps

 

agreed on price. My 01 was 7,000 in pristine condition...far from current condition.

 

I will go and check it out tomorrow. I appreciate everyone with their advice and help. KBB has the truck at a much less cost. I know KBB isn't the end all of price, buts its a good start.
I am not in any hurry to buy anything now, so I have that on my side. I have the patience to wait for a better deal for sure.
The reason I don't want drums is they are a pain in the **s to change. I had two Cherokee's and hated doing it. I like to do work on my autos, its a good way to shut your brain off and just fix it. but, I don't want to make it a job.
I will post tomorrow after I look at it.
Thanks again to everyone.

 

just a warning now, on the disks. The slider pins are NOT bull-headed. I would bet 60% of dakotas out there have stripped out pin threads, and an over-sized in it's place. 3 out of my 4 slide pins are oversized.

 

You know why they strip out/jam up correct?

Because most don't make sure the caliper piston is pushed all the way in and all pressure is released before they install the caliper.

If you don't do that the caliper will want to go in crooked during install making alignment of the slider pins a hard project causing stripped out slider pin holes.

Yes

 

Well, the truck was a bit of a disappointment. There were a lot of scratches all over the body. I was expecting scratches and dings but not that much. Also it appeared to have a fluid leak at the front of the engine. Couldn't tell if it was a front seal leak or some other fluid. Also when I opened the door it smelled like a frebreeze convention.
No one from the company came out and greeted me. some would say that is a bad thing (my wife did) but it gave me time to crawl around the truck with out having to waste mine or the sales person.
So on to the next one. Everyone have a great weekend.

 

Any place that wants over 10 grand for a 10 year old vehicle with over 120k miles is absolutely nuts.

I'm surprised you even bothered.

Plenty of other trucks in better condition going for half that price.

 

Hey, something I'd highly suggest is look for Dakotas on Craigslist

 

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