Originally Posted by
matador
I owned a 1992 Dakota with the 3.9 and the 5 speed. It was 4x4, and a regular cab long bed. My God, what a truck! I've hauled over 2000# in the bed, and it did it better than my true half tons did.
I'm looking into another one. Mine was end-of-life when I got it. Have you towed or hauled anything heavy with yours? If you don't mind, I'd like to hear your thoughts on a Dakota that wasn't almost done with life.
Mine was at 200k miles when I got it, and I've hauled ~3000 pounds in it. I regularly pull my 15 foot flatbed with one or two riding mowers on it, and for a V-6 it does really well to have that much weight on the back. It has no problem accelerating on flat ground in 5th gear with 1,500 pounds behind it. You do kind
of notice it going up hills, but all in all it does really good for a V-6. The one time I put 3k in it was when I needed gravel for my driveway so I put 3k pounds
of gravel in the bed
of the
truck instead
of paying the guy $45 to haul it 2 miles down the road. The engine acted just fine, could hardly tell the weight was back there as far as drag, but the suspension really didn't like it. I guess I really didn't realize just how heavy 3,000 pounds was until the loader started dumping and my bumper just sat lower and lower. Didn't hurt anything though. I also hooked onto the two halves
of a car I was junking and dragged them a mile through the creek bed to where my trailer was sitting (trailer wouldn't fit up the creek), as well as a 20 foot long 12"x4" I-beam, loaded the car and the beam up on my trailer and hauled it to the scrap yard. To answer
your question, yes, I've hauled a lot
of weight with it, relative to the size
of the
truck anyway.
Anyway. This is my first Chrysler vehicle, and I have been seriously impressed with it. The previous owner was my wife's uncle who used it on construction jobs hauling blacktop and stuff, and they didn't even take care
of it that well, so for it to do as good as it does with me after 200,000 miles
of abuse is a testament to their durability. I have just tried to do all sorts
of preventative maintenance since I've gotten it to keep it alive. I change the oil filter (Mopar filter) and oil (synthetic high mileage) every 3,000 miles, grease the front end and drive shaft and rotate the tires when I change the oil. I flush the transmission once a year before winter and just drained the transmission and re-filled it with full synthetic gear oil. The engine uses a little oil but I have a set
of valve seals and valve cover gaskets when I feel like changing it out, it's not bad enough to warrant me screwing with it right now. I'm currently at 211,000 miles with the factory engine, transmission and differential, and when (if) it ever throws a rod or something, I plan to buy another Dodge
truck to replace it.
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