# Dodge Dakota



## Third Day (Aug 29, 2000)

Just wondering if any one has checked into the four door Dodge Dakotas ? I plan on upgrading and thought that would be practical due to the ability to haul 4+ people and also comes with a V-8. Just wondering if anyone thought about it or checked into them.


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## fivestr19 (Sep 11, 2000)

they are very sharp looking trucks, a lot of power for a small truck the only drawback is the smaller bed, if u plan on using the bed to haul stuff it wont be efective, but other that that they are great


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## ScaryCary (Sep 27, 2000)

*Club Cab*

I bought a Dodge Dakota Club Cab and its great! seats five in a pinch and has no problem pulling my trailer loaded with my Walker, three "21 hondas, three trimmers, two blowers etc. etc.


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## muffy189 (Jan 26, 2011)

i have a 98 extended cab and push the same size plow i do with my full size truck and it just has a sex cylinder. awesome truck wouldnt trade it for the world


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## dinger838 (Jan 27, 2011)

I have a 2006 dodge dakota with a 5'' lift and the 6 banger. i wish i went with the ram. but i was on a tight budget, not a bad little truck ive put her through hell and back but shes still chugging. the v-8 would be perfect. when she blows on me im putting a 4 cyl cat in it. check dodgeforum.com lots of knoweledge for the daks over there.


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## muffy189 (Jan 26, 2011)

ya we had a 23" last feb 7th here and that thing plowed its butt off and didnt miss a beat except for the couple of times i got stuck, which i hadnt been stuck in years plowing till then.


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## CarCrazed4Life (Dec 5, 2005)

Third Day;25032 said:


> Just wondering if any one has checked into the four door Dodge Dakotas ? I plan on upgrading and thought that would be practical due to the ability to haul 4+ people and also comes with a V-8. Just wondering if anyone thought about it or checked into them.


What year? I bought the Dakota simply because it was a smaller truck and easier to live with on a daily basis, and with the Quad Cab, as long as an Extended Cab Half Ton. The draw back is the smaller bed, but with the tailgate down you'd be surprised how much you can fit.

The 2000-2004 Body style was the first with a quad cab, and probably handled the best. It could tow 6000# and if you find an 03 with the 5.9 motor, they are beasts (had one.) You can even adapt them with AWD/4HI/4Lo from the Durangos along with a 9.25" Rear LSD. I have the AWD and LSD and rarely ever engage in anything else while plowing. Even in heavy rain where 2WD trucks will spin being light in the rear, the AWD is super sturdy. Add a Leaf, Timbrens, and the Tow Package equals easy hauling with this truck. Only thing that stinks on these are the seats are crappy! I'm upgrading to ones out of an 05.

If your looking for the next best thing, I'd go with 2008-2010 Dakota as the newer 4.7 has 300hp. Tows upto 7000#s and still a very capable truck. Only downside with the newer ones are parts arent that cheap yet since the 4.7 was just recently released. However, they are great trucks for plowing as the front axles are highly rated (enough to match a half ton...)


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## muffy189 (Jan 26, 2011)

mine is a 98 extended cab i have timbrens on the front and add a leaf on rear i had a salt spreader on the back and it held 1000 lbs loaded and i always had 800 in the bed so it took a beatin, my dad had an 87 dakota and used to pull our bull dozer and our case 1845 skid loader with it. 

im not sure yet whether i like the new body style or not but it sounds like one hell of a truck. I built the dies for my body style dakota and durango years ago so im pretty partial to them. lol. alot of hours working on those dies.


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## CarCrazed4Life (Dec 5, 2005)

muffy189;1216399 said:


> mine is a 98 extended cab i have timbrens on the front and add a leaf on rear i had a salt spreader on the back and it held 1000 lbs loaded and i always had 800 in the bed so it took a beatin, my dad had an 87 dakota and used to pull our bull dozer and our case 1845 skid loader with it.
> 
> im not sure yet whether i like the new body style or not but it sounds like one hell of a truck. I built the dies for my body style dakota and durango years ago so im pretty partial to them. lol. alot of hours working on those dies.


Agreed. I've had over 2000# of commercial wall paper vinyl in this bed and it did better then every half ton on the job site. These trucks are seriously smaller half tons.


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## plowguy43 (Jan 2, 2008)

CarCrazed4Life;1216385 said:


> What year? I bought the Dakota simply because it was a smaller truck and easier to live with on a daily basis, and with the Quad Cab, as long as an Extended Cab Half Ton. The draw back is the smaller bed, but with the tailgate down you'd be surprised how much you can fit.
> 
> The 2000-2004 Body style was the first with a quad cab, and probably handled the best. It could tow 6000# and if you find an 03 with the 5.9 motor, they are beasts (had one.) You can even adapt them with AWD/4HI/4Lo from the Durangos along with a 9.25" Rear LSD. I have the AWD and LSD and rarely ever engage in anything else while plowing. Even in heavy rain where 2WD trucks will spin being light in the rear, the AWD is super sturdy. Add a Leaf, Timbrens, and the Tow Package equals easy hauling with this truck. Only thing that stinks on these are the seats are crappy! I'm upgrading to ones out of an 05.
> 
> If your looking for the next best thing, I'd go with 2008-2010 Dakota as the newer 4.7 has 300hp. Tows upto 7000#s and still a very capable truck. Only downside with the newer ones are parts arent that cheap yet since the 4.7 was just recently released. However, they are great trucks for plowing as the front axles are highly rated (enough to match a half ton...)


I doubt ThirdDay is going to answer back, this thread was from 2000. LOL


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## plowguy43 (Jan 2, 2008)

dinger838;1216061 said:


> I have a 2006 dodge dakota with a 5'' lift and the 6 banger. i wish i went with the ram. but i was on a tight budget, not a bad little truck ive put her through hell and back but shes still chugging. the v-8 would be perfect. when she blows on me im putting a 4 cyl cat in it. check dodgeforum.com lots of knoweledge for the daks over there.


Do you have a 2" spacer and 3" body lift? No one makes a 5" suspension lift for the 05+ trucks.


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## CarCrazed4Life (Dec 5, 2005)

plowguy43;1216953 said:


> I doubt ThirdDay is going to answer back, this thread was from 2000. LOL


Quite true! Thanks Muffy LOL



plowguy43;1216957 said:


> Do you have a 2" spacer and 3" body lift? No one makes a 5" suspension lift for the 05+ trucks.


I was just thinking the same thing. I have a 3" Body Lift for mine sitting in the garage. I have almost 2" with the Torsion Bars turned equally all the way up. I'm waiting for this summer to convert the chormed out bumpers and grille to the Body Colored ones and then get some Black Rock Type 8 in 17s with 285/70/17 (32.8" vs vs the 265/70/16 which are 30.6", about a 1.1" gain in height due to tires.)

So overall Hopefully, I'll have a 6" Lift... But thats how I figure the math out...


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## bill7101 (Nov 20, 2010)

wonder what happened that someone is resurecting posts from 2000, this is the third one i have seen on the site today.


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## dinger838 (Jan 27, 2011)

plowguy43;1216957 said:


> Do you have a 2" spacer and 3" body lift? No one makes a 5" suspension lift for the 05+ trucks.


Yep, just easier than breaking it all down haha. its too bad nobody has manufactured a true suspension lift for this truck yet.


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## dinger838 (Jan 27, 2011)

im running 32.5 bfg mud terrains there awesome tires could go taller but these are fine for me


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## muffy189 (Jan 26, 2011)

i dont have a lift on mine but im running 31 bfg all terrains on mine and i love them bfgs are the best tires ive found


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## CarCrazed4Life (Dec 5, 2005)

I will be going with General Grabber AT2 (studdable On/Off Road All Terrain Tires) in 33x12.5x17 (315/70/17 equivalent.)


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## plowguy43 (Jan 2, 2008)

The 315s will be closer to 35's go with 305/70/16s that will be 33x11.5's. I ran those on my dakota with cragar soft 8's, 3" body lift, tbar crank and 2" blocks in the rear. It looked great, oh yeah I ran grabber at2's as well lol


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## CarCrazed4Life (Dec 5, 2005)

Well the 33x12.5x17 is the actual official size. The equivalent is really not correct. Those are 35x12.5x17 equivalents. To be apple to apple in the conversion, its really like a 325/60/17...

And the Cragar Soft 8s are very similar to the Black Rock Type 8. Hell they maybe the same wheels with a slightly different finish (Matt Black) and a Black Center Cap vs the Chrome.

Great minds think alike!


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## gpshemi (Jun 28, 2007)

Had an 2002 QC with 3" Body Lift and 285's. It also had the Jeep's HO cam for the 4.7L V-8. Little guy was quick and towed trailers like a dream. Was my favorite truck of all times. However, it wouldn't tow a 41' Toyhauler. So off it went. 8-(


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## MrPLow2011 (Jan 14, 2011)

Umm Did any one else notice this thread was started 11 years ago and the member only has 1 post !!!! Not sure he really values the opinion of this site. :laughing:


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## plowguy43 (Jan 2, 2008)

CarCrazed4Life;1225875 said:


> Well the 33x12.5x17 is the actual official size. The equivalent is really not correct. Those are 35x12.5x17 equivalents. To be apple to apple in the conversion, its really like a 325/60/17...
> 
> And the Cragar Soft 8s are very similar to the Black Rock Type 8. Hell they maybe the same wheels with a slightly different finish (Matt Black) and a Black Center Cap vs the Chrome.
> 
> Great minds think alike!


Very true, I hate metric sizes. I wish they were all just 33x12.5 etc etc. I missed the part of you having 17" wheels.

Here is my truck when it was lifted, I kinda miss it at times.


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## CarCrazed4Life (Dec 5, 2005)

gpshemi;1226454 said:


> Had an 2002 QC with 3" Body Lift and 285's. It also had the Jeep's HO cam for the 4.7L V-8. Little guy was quick and towed trailers like a dream. Was my favorite truck of all times. However, it wouldn't tow a 41' Toyhauler. So off it went. 8-(


I have to say although I like my 4.7l, I really missed my 5.9l. But that Gen Dakota Quad Cab was probably the best handling truck I've been in that can also tow/haul. I'd only ditch it if I find an 03 5.9l that I like 



plowguy43;1226621 said:


> Very true, I hate metric sizes. I wish they were all just 33x12.5 etc etc. I missed the part of you having 17" wheels.
> 
> Here is my truck when it was lifted, I kinda miss it at times.


I can see why, the All Black looks sharp! It was an easy truck to daily drive. The other trucks felt like trucks. Imagine if they had a small diesel in this thing


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## plowguy43 (Jan 2, 2008)

Oh yeah I was considering a 3.9 CTD swap into it with a 4L80 but the truck had low miles and I didn't want to rip it apart unless something went wrong. I also considered a HEMI swap since they used the same tranny and most of the wiring. In the end, it made more financial sense to trade up to a larger truck and overall I'm happy I did. The 2500 could care less about the plow and 800lbs in the back compared to the dakota which was just taking a beating on the horrible maine roads.


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