wheel well
#1
06-02-2019, 11:31 AM
wheel well
just got my 1st 2nd gen Dakota, have had 4 1st gens....
99 club cab SLT, 3.9, 105k, tons of receipts, its been taken care of. kept in heated garage. real chrome bumpers that are like brand new. I thought all SLTs had power windows? (I don't care about it not having them, just sayin') I thought SLT was top of the line. It does have the Infinity stereo.
absolutely perfect flawless body, in front of the bed. Only hole is in top if driver wheel well. Frame, where it overlaps by front of leaf spring, is "eh"..... seems common on these trucks from what I have seen. looked at a 04 4wd in a car lot, can tell that one has been crudely repaired and badly hidden. saw an 02 at a trans shop and the wheel wells were pretty much "gone" very minimal (for these trucks especially) rust on rest of bed I can just MIG in a patch from beneath the wheel well, I was thinking of spraying in a liner to preserve what else is left of the bed anyways. but would anyone have a nice driver side wheel well maybe out of a truck wrecked elsewhere on the body that they would part with?
Id have rather had a 318, but had something happen to my 92 that cost the wife and me this past Friday off of work and had to have something "NOW"... stopped by the Dodge stealership Friday (2 of them), looking for a full size with a real 8' bed theyre out there but real hard to find, especially when I need something NOW. looked at a couple of 2018s "no way" not getting locked into 7 yrs of payments
I will say this... I found a huge wad of paperwork in the glovebox and this guy was quite loyal to a certain shop over the years and man did they take advantage of him/ rake him over the coals over the years.... 4 serp belts since 2002? in 50K miles over that span? Cmon now. Then they charge for labor to replace the belt and then charge again to replace the tensioner and yet again to change the idler pulley? ON ANY ONE INVOICE and they got him for like $37.50 just in labor to change the idler each time..... even though the belt was off... I about crapped when I saw what they nailed him for to do the brake lines, and then they did a sloppy job....like $800 egads that's about $50 worth of materials. (they stretched that out to over $200
brand new exhaust from Y pipe back.... I could have HAD true duals done at least twice for what he paid for stock replacement. Since when is one of these tailpipes worth $96 by itself? Never.
it HAS been well maintained but this guy paid 2-1/2-3x of what he should have paid had done what he had had done.... which is way more besides, what it cost me to do it myself... maybe I do need to jack my "hey can you do me a favor" prices I charge, to do side work....
charged him 2x for alignment over 3 mo/500 miles, initial complaint was "pulling left" this was only 2k miles ago.... it pulled hard right on the 90 mile ride home. Looking at the printouts (barely in spec range nowhere near "Correct/ dead nuts", right and left settings offset too much/ no matter it pulls.... gonna have to get it aligned before I do anything else/ wish I was still an alignment guy
I paid to have my 92 and my 96 done recently, neither is right either..... gotta pay again to hopefully get the 96 done right this time.... 92 is going away so my worries about that one are over.
99 club cab SLT, 3.9, 105k, tons of receipts, its been taken care of. kept in heated garage. real chrome bumpers that are like brand new. I thought all SLTs had power windows? (I don't care about it not having them, just sayin') I thought SLT was top of the line. It does have the Infinity stereo.
absolutely perfect flawless body, in front of the bed. Only hole is in top if driver wheel well. Frame, where it overlaps by front of leaf spring, is "eh"..... seems common on these trucks from what I have seen. looked at a 04 4wd in a car lot, can tell that one has been crudely repaired and badly hidden. saw an 02 at a trans shop and the wheel wells were pretty much "gone" very minimal (for these trucks especially) rust on rest of bed I can just MIG in a patch from beneath the wheel well, I was thinking of spraying in a liner to preserve what else is left of the bed anyways. but would anyone have a nice driver side wheel well maybe out of a truck wrecked elsewhere on the body that they would part with?
Id have rather had a 318, but had something happen to my 92 that cost the wife and me this past Friday off of work and had to have something "NOW"... stopped by the Dodge stealership Friday (2 of them), looking for a full size with a real 8' bed theyre out there but real hard to find, especially when I need something NOW. looked at a couple of 2018s "no way" not getting locked into 7 yrs of payments
I will say this... I found a huge wad of paperwork in the glovebox and this guy was quite loyal to a certain shop over the years and man did they take advantage of him/ rake him over the coals over the years.... 4 serp belts since 2002? in 50K miles over that span? Cmon now. Then they charge for labor to replace the belt and then charge again to replace the tensioner and yet again to change the idler pulley? ON ANY ONE INVOICE and they got him for like $37.50 just in labor to change the idler each time..... even though the belt was off... I about crapped when I saw what they nailed him for to do the brake lines, and then they did a sloppy job....like $800 egads that's about $50 worth of materials. (they stretched that out to over $200
brand new exhaust from Y pipe back.... I could have HAD true duals done at least twice for what he paid for stock replacement. Since when is one of these tailpipes worth $96 by itself? Never.
it HAS been well maintained but this guy paid 2-1/2-3x of what he should have paid had done what he had had done.... which is way more besides, what it cost me to do it myself... maybe I do need to jack my "hey can you do me a favor" prices I charge, to do side work....
charged him 2x for alignment over 3 mo/500 miles, initial complaint was "pulling left" this was only 2k miles ago.... it pulled hard right on the 90 mile ride home. Looking at the printouts (barely in spec range nowhere near "Correct/ dead nuts", right and left settings offset too much/ no matter it pulls.... gonna have to get it aligned before I do anything else/ wish I was still an alignment guy
I paid to have my 92 and my 96 done recently, neither is right either..... gotta pay again to hopefully get the 96 done right this time.... 92 is going away so my worries about that one are over.
Last edited by volaredon; 06-02-2019 at 06:08 PM.
#2
06-02-2019, 11:13 PM
huh nobody???
I have done some looking, and on car part.com saw lots of Dakota beds this era that have wheel wells rotted out....
looked on Epay and saw several listings for aftermarket replacements, and a few for OEM Mopar replacements. The OEMs were a lil over 2x the price of aftermarkets. any experience here? Aftermarket are ~$74-76ish, as I remember NOS/OEM is $160-ish each. anyone here ever replace one? It don't look that hard at all, I have a lift, a MIG welder, and spot weld drill bits.... or should I just weld in a patch about 1-1/2 to 2" bigger than the rot out and call it good> I have sheet metal here, can fab something up. though the $70-some don't sound bad, IF it is decent metal and fits like it is supposed to without much farting around....
I have done some looking, and on car part.com saw lots of Dakota beds this era that have wheel wells rotted out....
looked on Epay and saw several listings for aftermarket replacements, and a few for OEM Mopar replacements. The OEMs were a lil over 2x the price of aftermarkets. any experience here? Aftermarket are ~$74-76ish, as I remember NOS/OEM is $160-ish each. anyone here ever replace one? It don't look that hard at all, I have a lift, a MIG welder, and spot weld drill bits.... or should I just weld in a patch about 1-1/2 to 2" bigger than the rot out and call it good> I have sheet metal here, can fab something up. though the $70-some don't sound bad, IF it is decent metal and fits like it is supposed to without much farting around....
#3
06-03-2019, 07:05 AM
Some of the aftermarket parts are good, others, not so much. They are generally made of thinner steel, and don't always fit quite right. Some 'manipulation' required. 
If the holes aren't that bad, and there aren't a lot of complicated body lines involved, just patch it. Otherwise, if you have the scratch, I would be more inclined to go with the OEM parts. But then, I HATE body work. So, anything to make my life easier.
If the holes aren't that bad, and there aren't a lot of complicated body lines involved, just patch it. Otherwise, if you have the scratch, I would be more inclined to go with the OEM parts. But then, I HATE body work. So, anything to make my life easier.
#7
06-03-2019, 05:29 PM
Legend
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#8
06-05-2019, 06:36 PM
might do that later, bottom back of driver side bed skin starting to go too...might be up for a road trip theres a a few guys in the general area that advertise southern sheet metal.... might see what they have locally 1st.
for now Im gonna scrounge some sheet metal and just MIG a patch in. especially since I aint getting any answers about who makes good repop parts from either site that I asked....
for now Im gonna scrounge some sheet metal and just MIG a patch in. especially since I aint getting any answers about who makes good repop parts from either site that I asked....