Just paint yours!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sandblast the chrome off, and have a body shop match the chrome pieces...

Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....... ;-)

 

i would definetly buy this truck again, and yes i would do the same cam mod thats in it now. i had a 97 ram with a 5.2, good truck but not as fast as my dak. and yes the frt of the dak is terrible. they need to do something with the shocks. when i first got the truck was averaging 20/22 on highway and 18/19 around town. now with the cams lost about 2 miles over all. forget about the ho if you want a good ho get a gen two r/t . i could be running on 7 cyl. and still suck one of the gen 3 ho's up

 

My '05 QC 4.7 2wd is a satisfactory truck. I haven't had any maintenance problems like lots of other's on this site have. I use mine for commuting/work so the 7,100 towing capacity was the reason I sold my '02 and got the '05. If I had to do it over, I'd try to find a 6-speed rather than the auto. The 5-speed auto is not as smart as the multi-speed auto that was in the '02 (it's often confused about when/where to shift) and the '02 was much quicker and handled more like a car. Highway mileage for me (no trailer) is 21.25 mpg, city is around 18. I have seen two places where new coil-over front shocks are available but they cost almost $400. Since the Dak is not a popular truck, after-market parts will always be hard to find.

 

I love mine. No problems. I get about 16 MPG all in town.

 

love it, would buy it again and again. get approc 15 city and 19 highway. BUT got it for mostly towing and I have a heavy right foot!!

 

I love my dak, its great I leased it but I will seriously consider purchasing when its up, unless the 08 has something i just have to have. The fuel economy isnt all that great but I love driving it!

 

Thanks for the reply guys, To answer your questions( or at least the ones I remember) I need a truck to haul stuff, need 4wd. I live in the great white north, But I need some thing that will get better milage I drive 200 mile round trip to work every day with no end in site ( just started the job on tuesday)And today my ram got 13.5 mgp thats the best its been in a while. All the mods done on my present truck showed little improvement for the money so I dont think I will mod a newer one considering the miles I will rack up. I am looking at several trucks from a 03 4.7 gen 2 to a 06 4.7 gen 3,any truck I get will defenatly be a quad cab ( family of 4 soon to be 5) , 4.7 (have to have an 8) and4x4, thanks again and I vaule your guys input since your the ones with experiance with these trucks.

 

I would never buy another Dakota. I bought a new 2005 SLT QC 4.7 2wd last year. Within the first 200 miles of ownership I had to have a complete brake job done, and then the body panels had to be straightened, and after that, the truck had to be repainted due to many runs in the original paint that I never discovered until the body panel work was scrutinized. Then, after reaching the 2000 mile mark, the rotors warped again, followed by a defect in the power steering unit. Once again, after reaching the 7000 mile mark, the brakes went bad again, followed by another complete brake job under warranty. Once I reached the 11000 mile mark, the engine developed a ping which would not go away regardless of whatever octane I put in. the dealership found a faulty knock sensor and replaced that under warranty. finally, at roughly the 14000 mile mark, the vibration due to warped rotors started again, and this time, I had to pay for a rotor resurface and new pads. At this point, I had had enough and traded the piece of crap in for a new Jeep Grand Cherokee with the Hemi. Though the Jeep is also a DC product, this new vehicle has been problem-free for 8000 miles. My Dakota was by far, the worst new vehicle that I have ever purchased and completely devoid of " quality control ". Some people seem to have no problems with theirs, but I'm so glad to be rid of it now.

 

It's a first year thing. Granted the Dakota had many more problems than ANY first year vehicleI can think of, I know the late 05's and higher won't have this many problems.

 

Ramm where u at in the white north? In n NV here but been stuck in a cold snap. Even with that ho truck gets 13 town 17 80mph highway. This is at 4200 elevation so I would expect you to get at least this good which ain't great but better than what you're getting now. I imagine you'd be happy overall with a dakota. You know the deal with the mods, they help it run better but if you're doing it to save $ it'll take years to get it back from mpg saved, if any. Like I said the only big complaint I have is the shocks which feel nonexistent sometimes, I'm sorry but they totally suck ***. I'm sure some outfit will come out with shocks for it soon though.