Sorry to see that dude I had no idea about this. I wonder if 4x4 woulda helped...

 

I agree with everyone else. Very sorry about your Dak, man, but am very happy to hear everyone got out without serious injury. I agree that 4WD would not have helped. A guy I worked for in New Mexico once had a Scout, and they had chains on it and in 4WD, as was called for. driving straight down the road, the Scout went at an angle, while facing straight ahead, and just walked basically sideways off the road. I just can't get over that beautiful Dak all bent.

 

Yeah, I still have no idea what started that slide but it wasn't the truck's fault. I do wonder if better tires might have helped though, soon as I make some money this summer those goodyear POS's are going in the dumpster and something decent is going on. Also want to take out my TM kit and get the lowering shackles when I get the chance. The shop working on it has a very good reputation so with any luck she'll be like new again soon

 

Alot of insurance companies are also supposed to give you the option/right to choose what kind of parts go on to your truck. When I had my 2 Dakotas, I signed a form stating I would only accept new or aftermarket parts for repair/replacement on my truck in the event of an accident.

When my GTP was hit (nice lil hit n run) they had to ask me the same thing. In this instance, a body panel is still a body panel, so I allowed them to use a salvaged piece. However, the rest of the parts had to be ordered new. This saved me almost $600 on repair costs.

The point I'm making is that you have every right to have new parts on your vehicle. This is what you pay your insurance for. They do not have the right to use used parts first. In fact, if your insurance company tries this crap, you should be reading your policy. If you're not sure of it, you should go double check it and make they cant screw you like that.

Some policies require a lil more a month for this option, other's include it as part of their service. My advice, never allow them to use used parts from other vehicles to put on your vehicle, as it should be repaired new.



Honest advice man, dump the truck once it's repaired.

Hear me out...

No matter how much you like/love the truck, you know its been wrecked. Everytime it makes a crazy squeak, acts up, any of that....you're going to wonder how much of it had to with the wreck and how much of its actual work needing done. More to the point, you could end up spending time fighting with the repair shop to get repairs made that werent visible or showing. They may only present themselves once the truck is being driven.

I know you had said you dont really have the means to go out and get a new vehicle, but perhaps you could find a way to trade up into something better or slightly different then what you have. Another 3rd Gen with 4x4? Perhaps a RC Ram? All I'm suggesting is that you consider all the potential headaches that may come from this....and also ask yourself are you ever going to be able to get over knowing you almost totalled that truck.

I'm not trying to scare you, or advocate you getting a new vehicle. What I am trying to do is make sure that you realize its okay to consider it, and it's okay to do it if you can afford to. With the price of gas, I'm sure you could swing a good deal on a truck trade in...
At the end of the day, just make the decision that both is the right one for you and one you can be happy with...

 

Yeah I see where you're coming from there, I've thought about that a good bit. Thing is right now it's all paid off, I can't trade into anything I want without having to make payments. It also has some sentimental value for me as my grandfather cut me a ridiculous deal on it because he wanted me to have that truck. If they totalled it he was actually going to buy it back from insurance and fix it for me himself as long as the frame checked out straight, all the other damage is cosmetic. He used to have a 96 dodge ram which he rolled on the turnpike at 85, bought it back and fixed it himself that thing held up very well. He sold it to a guy in northern Maine and last he talked with the guy it had almost 300k miles on it and the guy said it was the best truck he ever had so I have some hope it can be fixed well.

That said however if it looks like it's going to be trouble we will probably dump it and I'll keep borrowing the vehicle I am now till I can work something else out. As long as I'm confident the truck is mechanically sound it'll be alright. One of the best vehicles I ever had was a 95 chevy k1500 with more little squeaks and rattles than you could count but that thing was solid, never let me down. Either way I'm pretty used to vehicles with little quirks, this Dakota is the only thing I've had with less than 100k on it and it's my 5th vehicle, my Integra had ~200k when I sold it you better believe that thing had some quirks

 

Ok latest update:

Talked to the body shop about painting those parts, they told me with the amount of prep work they'd have to do for the paint to properly adhere on the fake chrome and that plastic front bumper it would cost me less to buy new primed parts and have them painted. Since those parts on the front were undamaged in the crash we can't get insurance to cover it so that's a no go. I may be getting a better bed cover, talked to my dad about it and my parents may help me put in the extra for an undercover or a Bakflip instead of the same kind of soft cover I had on it. Honestly the soft one isn't much use to me since most of the stuff I would keep in the back needs to be locked up, thus looking at the locking covers.

As for the truck I'm borrowing right now... damn thing blew the 3 & 4 clutch drum in the automatic transmission, shop here said it's pretty common in that year GM. It's in getting the transmission rebuilt right now, we didn't want to put any money into that one but we can't sell it for anything with the transmission messed up so I guess it will just sit around as the spare till it dies once I take the dak back.

By the way if anyone has the Bakflip folding tonneau could you chime in on how you like it? I really think that would be a good way to go for me but I'm worried about how well it holds up where the pieces hinge.

 

WOW, glad you guys are ok, Maine driving can be an adventure, I have a cabin near Ellsworth. Good luck with the insurance crap and all.

 

Man you have been having a good run of bad luck lately! Hope things clear up for ya.

 

Long as I can find an internship this summer I'll consider my luck good again Seems like every truck I touch lately breaks, lol.

 

Well the body shop agreed not to put the decals and badges back on, they're even putting the cost of them towards the deductible for us. As for the bed cover I think I'm just going to go without it for now and get something decent later on, I don't really see any use in a soft cover and the hard ones are too expensive at the moment. On a side note I at least have the GMC back to drive, turns out the lines to the transmission cooler were rotting through and leaking fluid which contributed to the demise of the 3-4 clutch.