OK so I'm gonna make another intro and try to stick to the rules better. Sorry guys, my bad. My original intro post was moved to the Gen 3 Dakota page probably because I was also asking for repair advice so this will be a straight intro post.

So I'm MikeNice from AZ, I work a relatively crappy job that pays the bills and I got a gaggle of kids. I semi recently acquired a 2005 Dakota 3.7L 4x4 club cab SLT with 88k on the odo. Dad passed away last July and this was one of their trucks. Since it was one of the last things of my dad's I'll ever see I'll probably never get rid of her. She (muh truck) lived on a ranch in Montana since she was born, spending the majority of her life tooling up and down lots of dirt roads, making 45 mile round trips between the ranch and town. So yeah, 15 years old with only 88k on it. I honestly don't think Dad EVER washed her. When I first met her, she was tannish, almost yellow from the coating of dirt and dust on her. She came mostly clean and surprisingly the paint isn't in terrible shape. I drove her down from MT last October. She did well on the trip down to AZ. She ran solid, no engine codes, no weird noises and gas mileage was as expected. I did manage to cook the brakes pretty well coming through the mountains into AZ though so she's picked up a bit of a shimmy while braking.

Since she did sit a lot she's not without problems. Oil leaks which I haven't found yet, diff leaks, tires are dry rotted, hood liner got eaten by mice (so far haven't found any wiring chewed on) brakes aren't fantastic, no spare tire, dirty in places I didn't know existed, I don't think the fuel injectors are at peak performance, torn CV boots, shocks are iffy. On the upside, she runs relatively smoothly, a few sputters here and there, she runs cool, tracks straight, and I'm a pretty handy guy. I plan on doing a lot of work on this truck myself, all I can in fact.

Short term plans are CLEANING OMG CLEANING THAT DAMN THING!!! GEEZ DAD!!! EVER HEAR OF A HOSE AND SOME SOAP??!!! Seriously though I tore out the interior for cleaning it because it was really the only way. I have yet to get the interior back in. I have new brakes all around probably getting here today or tomorrow. New discs, calipers, pads, drums, shoes, wheel cylinders, springs, everything except the master cylinder and lines. I also have oil pan gasket and diff gasket ready to go in. She's also getting new plugs and coils and a new air intake, exhaust comes later. I have to get the bumper figured out before I put bigger tires on it cuz my bumper will rub on bigger tires. The goal for this year is to get her reliable as a daily driver and light 4x4 on the weekends.

Eventual performance parts include exhaust manifold, exhaust, intake manifold, full intake, throttle body, injectors, and a chip. Eventually she'll get a modest suspension lift and some decent tires, a bull bar and a light bar. Maybe someday paint. Maybe. She looks like a Coors light can right now. Long intro I know but this is a project truck and I'm wordy guy. Figured 'Kota fans would appreciate it. Here's some pics. Comments and suggestions are welcome, not asking for advice here b/c this is the official intro post. I'll make sure I keep my questions to the Gen 3 Dakota page. -M



Gutted

 

No worries. I moved it to 3rd gen so folks that have 3rd gen Dakotas will see it. People don't get out of their subsections much. Anyway, thanks for the intro and welcome to the forum.