My Dak and I have been together for three years now :) In that time i have put almost exactly 70,000 miles on her (current mileage is 195,763 :) Here is a not so short history of me and my 1993 Dodge Dakota V6 5 speed CC Sport 2wd.
YEAR 1- From day one I was wanting to modify. By the end of the first week I had swapped out my stereo and speakers from my Silverado and built a custom box to replace the rear seats. Pioneer tape deck and changer controller, 6-disc cd changer, Pioneer Premier 6-1/2"s on all four corners, and two Pioneer 10"s in the box. I later traded my rear 6-1/2"s to a buddy of mine for some new Pioneer Premier 5x7" speakers for more midrange :) Only major repairs were replacing the brake pads and shoes. Around June, I found the DML and promptly signed up. Soon after that, a deer ran into the side of my truck, leaving a huge dent i have yet to repair on the side of the bed right above the gas cap cover.
YEAR 2- During the summer I found some bucket seats/fold-up console from a 98 regular cab. it took me a week to adapt the newer seats to the older mounts, mainly cause i was working in a parking lot and my kitchen table. The only major repair needed was after the centrifugal clutch on the cooling fan exploded, spraying the engine compartment with silicone. After gettting the money, I promptly remove the stock fan and clutch and put in a 16" Permacool electric fan. Yes folks, you can tell the difference without the stock fan sucking up hp ;) I also put new tires on the Dak this year, as an alignment problem wore the old ones down, replacing them with some 235/75/15 AT's. My ABS malfunction light was also on the better part of this year, it ended up being a blown fuse caused by me towing a 6000 lb trailer w/o brakes. Easy fix.
YEAR 3- This past year has been rough on the Dak. Major repairs were numerous. Spring- both front calipers were clogged and locking up, which warped both front rotors, so these needed replaced, along with the front and rear pads and shoes. About the same time I developed a severe power steering fluid leak, that i am pretty sure is bad hoses (but I still dont have the money to repair them). However, i accidently put brake fluid in the power steering pump, and since then I have not leaked a drop...who knows, i dont look gift horses in the mouth. Around Easter, my gas mileage suddennly (in one weekend) dropped from a consitent 19-21 mpg to 10 mpg. I did not figure out the problem until trhough the DML I discovedr i could pull computer codes. i replaced the MAP sensor and the O2 sensor ($50 each!! Damn!!), but my mileage and performance instantly jumped back up to 20 mpg (I expect this to go up when winter and bad gas go away). An offroading accident around the same t!
ime left my fron bumper mounts bent, destroyed my air dam, and bent the front bumper itself.
Summer time, the Dak moved me and all my stuff from Nashville to Syracuse on nearly bald tires (still had the alignment problem), but she handled all that weight in the bed and trailer just fine. During the fall and another offroading trip (to get fire wood) I managed rip apart my exhaust by driving over and getting caught on a cable fence. A week after driving with no exhaust on my truck (get earplugs if you ever plan on doing this ;) I replaced the stock exhaust with a dynomax Turbo catback setup. At the same time I replaced the timing chain. Man, can you tell the difference for the better :) Somewhere around then I also put on some freebie minivan tires that evven with their All season tread, handle the CNY snowfall VERY well. After Christmas and many nights researching the DML for how to info, I modded my TB by cutting off the ridges and grinding and smoothing the rest. Not a big mod, but easy, free, and VERY noticable.
PRESENT- The Dak is running pretty well. I can hear some valve clatter, and figure with as many hard working miles as she's seen, a head rebuild would help. But in the meantime, she gets me around town during the week just fine, and safely and smoothly gets me from Syracuse to Allentown, PA and back every weekend. And once i can get some money, some serious mods are in the plans...that is unless my fiance can convince me sell my Dak and get a newer Gen II, but with 4x4 and a V8 :)
Sorry this was so long, but i have a lot of good memories with my truck, and this is the first vehicle I've had that I honestly think will last me many, many years :) And for 2 1/2 years the DML has been there to help me, listen to my rants, and encourage my wild imagination more than it should be.
Mike S.
Present: 93 Dakota CC V6 5speed
87 Chevy Silverado SWB 5.7L auto lowered and loud
81 Ford F100 SWB 302 auto
64 Plymouth Valient 2 door Slant 6 three on the tree (wish I still had this one)
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