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First American vehicle-Dakota

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Old Apr 15, 2013 | 01:01 PM
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tbugden
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Default First American vehicle-Dakota

Hey guys,

First, if you're looking at this and you happen to have a front right lower control arm for a '93 4x4 dakota then I am interested in buying it. Thank you.

I've been a Subaru guy but recently I've had the desire for a pickup. I bought my friend's '93 Dakota 4x4 w/ 114k miles.

I've always done my own work on my Subarus and I love it but I'm pretty excited to have a truck rather than a car for the simple fact that they're more simple and have more room to work.

It runs well but needs a lot of suspension work. Bushings, shocks, perhaps ball joints and at least one wheel bearing. I'm very glad to see that all that stuff is relatively inexpensive compared to what I'm used to with Subarus (and Subarus aren't all that expensive either). I'm going to take the bed off and inspect the frame, and will probably end up doing the same with the cab. If the frame is in decent shape I will grind all the rust off and coat it in SPI epoxy primer. If it's not...well I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

$1000 got me this.
First American vehicle-Dakota-cbd3yzt.jpg
 
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Old Apr 15, 2013 | 06:00 PM
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zman17
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Welcome to DF. Post your question in the 1st gen dakota section. ANd part's for sale go in the classified section.
 
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Old Apr 17, 2013 | 11:16 AM
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tbugden
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Okay, thank you! I picked up a control arm off eBay.

Now trying to decide on tires. I will probably go with 31s and I'm debating between Treadwright, Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs, Cooper AT3s, and others. Treadwright retreads are well priced but shipping plus mounting and balancing costs (~$80 for 4 tires, I'd think?) will make them only about $90 less than the Duratracs mounted and balanced. Either way, tires are damn expensive.
 
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