i have never had a need to venture too far off the neon section, but now i do...
this morning my wife and i traded her 01 pt cruiser for a 2005 dakota SLT quad cab..3.7L..2wd..power everything...
looks like brand new, has 80,000 miles on it
i absolutely love it

anyways...
is there anything i need to know about this truck??
any known problems??

thanks for any input

 

well, the 3.7 is only good for about 85000 miles before it craps out. you will need to rebuild the motor, replace the fuel pump, gonna have to have the tranny done over also. if it is 4x4 then forget it,thats gonna run ya some coin also. now that i have your attention, you are gonna have fun times with the truck. dont worry it wont fall apart. my 05 has 55000 miles on it and it has been threw the ringer and back. nothing really to complain about. only problem is the frt suspension. it will tend to bounce up and down at highway speeds. the struts are to springy. monroe is coming out with stiffer struts. they should be out by now. that is pretty much what everyone is complaining about. as for aftermarket stuff, there is hardly any. our trucks are the forgotten ones. just do a search on 3.7 performance and see what you can find. any other things most of us have encountered then and fix the problem. very knowlegable people on this forum

 

3.7l is only good for 85k? Never heard of that, I like my 06 3.7L but the 3.7 does lack power, its probably even more of a dog in a quad cab. Still it will be a good commuter truck for you. What did you pay for it?

 

ummm he was kidding, he just wanted to get the other guys attention, way to read it all lol

 

the truck actually seems pretty peppy....but im used to fast little neons, so i dont mind going slow for a while....
i just really wanted a pickup to haul my 4-wheeler and sumthing that gets decent gas milage....

i think we paid about $12,000 for the truck

i dont plan on doing any performance upgrades, but i would like to get some bed rails, tubed side steps, and a rhino liner

 

i noticed the idle...maybe i will have to check the plugs

is it just me, or does the 2wd sit almost the same height as the 4wd???

 

The 4x4 and 4x2 share the same suspension. They both have the same clearance.

 

12000.00 for the truck is a really great deal. you will be happy when hauling all of your toys around.