Well met, everyone.
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Well met, everyone.
Name's Sam, used this forum for research for my dad's truck, finally got one of my own, so I figured I'd pay back the forums by signing up.
I'm from Missouri, a bit south of St. Louis. I'm no mechanic, just a computer guy/soon to be engineer, but my dad's a halfway decent mechanic.
We have had a lot of dodge trucks in my immediate family:
a 92 dakota (2x4, 318 ext cab, RIP), 200,000 + miles
a 93 dakota (4x4, 318 ext cab, RIP), 200,000 + miles
98 dakota (4x4, 318 ext cab, RIP), 240,000 + miles
99 dakota ( 4x4 318 ext cab, limping but alive), 210,000 miles
98 dodge ram 1500 ( 4x4 360 with the sui doors, limping but alive), 400,000 mi
2x 97 dodge ram 1500's (4x4, 318 ext cabs, 1 alive, 1 that's decided that its oil needed coolant and its coolant needed oil). 160,000 and 172,000 miles , resp.
I just bought mine 2 weeks ago, since dad's (the 98) needs a whole drive train rebuild thanks to his plug wires dropping and hitting something that electrocuted the whole damn truck. Probably wouldn't have been bad, except he had no choice but to drive it like that (blown sensors, computer malfunctioning, clogged cat) as he was banking up for a major back surgery that put him down for three months. And I just found out yesterday on mine, that the guy who sold it to me was a p.o.s, and must have just flushed the radiator and did an oil change to it, cause its the 97 that has a blown head gasket (hopefully that's the only damage). And yea, I had checked everything on it as best I could, but i paid less than 3K, so I figured he was just trying to dump it. That's life.
This truck is in the long run going to be gifted to my dad or brother (who has the 99 dakota), and since dad no longer can bend his back, I'll end up doing a lot of work myself on it. Which is why I'm here, cause beyond normal maintenance and suspension work, I have no idea what I'm doing. So thanks in advance for the help, time to start digging into the threads to get familiar with these trucks.
I'm from Missouri, a bit south of St. Louis. I'm no mechanic, just a computer guy/soon to be engineer, but my dad's a halfway decent mechanic.
We have had a lot of dodge trucks in my immediate family:
a 92 dakota (2x4, 318 ext cab, RIP), 200,000 + miles
a 93 dakota (4x4, 318 ext cab, RIP), 200,000 + miles
98 dakota (4x4, 318 ext cab, RIP), 240,000 + miles
99 dakota ( 4x4 318 ext cab, limping but alive), 210,000 miles
98 dodge ram 1500 ( 4x4 360 with the sui doors, limping but alive), 400,000 mi
2x 97 dodge ram 1500's (4x4, 318 ext cabs, 1 alive, 1 that's decided that its oil needed coolant and its coolant needed oil). 160,000 and 172,000 miles , resp.
I just bought mine 2 weeks ago, since dad's (the 98) needs a whole drive train rebuild thanks to his plug wires dropping and hitting something that electrocuted the whole damn truck. Probably wouldn't have been bad, except he had no choice but to drive it like that (blown sensors, computer malfunctioning, clogged cat) as he was banking up for a major back surgery that put him down for three months. And I just found out yesterday on mine, that the guy who sold it to me was a p.o.s, and must have just flushed the radiator and did an oil change to it, cause its the 97 that has a blown head gasket (hopefully that's the only damage). And yea, I had checked everything on it as best I could, but i paid less than 3K, so I figured he was just trying to dump it. That's life.
This truck is in the long run going to be gifted to my dad or brother (who has the 99 dakota), and since dad no longer can bend his back, I'll end up doing a lot of work myself on it. Which is why I'm here, cause beyond normal maintenance and suspension work, I have no idea what I'm doing. So thanks in advance for the help, time to start digging into the threads to get familiar with these trucks.
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Thanks everyone. And yea, the 98 (dad's) is crazy tough. Alot of it has been rebuilt, and right now it's getting the factory rear axle swapped out, as it's finally failed after all those miles, with dad hauling 1000 lbs in the bed 5 days a week, and pulling a couple thousand lbs in a trailer between 3 and 6 days a week. Dad won't give it up though, loves that truck.
It's why I bought mine, as once he retires/becomes disabled, the 360 will kill him on fuel economy. Mine, even with the bad motor, is still getting a fairly consistent 13 to 15 depending on load.
It's why I bought mine, as once he retires/becomes disabled, the 360 will kill him on fuel economy. Mine, even with the bad motor, is still getting a fairly consistent 13 to 15 depending on load.
Last edited by SamSK; Dec 13, 2014 at 12:40 PM.