I recently just bought a '99 Dakota from my girlfriend's dad for $1800. The truck has 104,500 miles on it and is a 2wd with 3.9L V6. I knew when I bought it that the exhaust manifold had a leak, but wasn't too worried about it since its not dangerous, just loud. What he didn't disclose however, was that the wheel bearings are shot and need replaced for the truck to be road worthy.

I took the truck to Midas (nearest shop) and they quoted me $1919.52 to get it safe for the road again. That included wheel hubs, upper ball joints, new rotors, new calipers, and new pads. I knew a lot of that might be unnecessary, so I went to Autozone and got the hubs myself for $87 a piece. I will slowly replace the other components when I get more money, but the hubs are the critical piece right now.

The truck has spent its life outside in Ohio for the past 10 years, so it needs some TLC, but I'm loving every minute of owning my first pickup truck!

 

screw midas. the one around me tried to screw me on my old car, said 'both front calipers are shot'...yea, right. I switched pads and was good to go.

anyway, congratulations on a new (to you) truck, and welcome to DF!