Hey all, just got my Dak back from the shop this evening.
Took it into Midas last week for oil change, rotate, balance and alignment.
They told me they couldn't align it because both lower and one upper ball
joint were bad. I actually had an appointment the week before with the
dealership for a 'clunking' in the front end during turns but skipped it
because the service writer was a real jerk-off!
After this, I made another appointment with another service writer who was
actually pretty cool. I had to leave the Dak overnight but they wound up
replacing all four ball joints under warranty (32,500 miles). The new ball
joints and upper arms (comes as an assembly), along with my new Rancho
RS-5000's have really tightened up the ride. I thought the Rancho's might be
a little too stiff for my tastes when I first installed them last week but I
think I've really come to like them a few miles down the road. Definitely no
more rear end hop.
And to think that while waiting for my ride I actually sat in a Nissan
Desert Runner manual with supercharged V-6, and started to think about
trading in the Dak! Just climbing back into the Dak was like getting into a
new truck! The steering and suspension now feel better than when I first
bought it!! And now that I FINALLY have all the vacuum leaks worked out and
the TV cable adjusted right again, the mods are FINALLY paying off and the
engine feels REALLY strong.
By the way, the Nissan 2wd V-6 supercharged V-6 manual is rated at 15 city
18 highway. My computer is telling me I average 15.5 city and 17 highway...
(4wd CC with 318/auto and more horses and torque cruising 75-80 mph w/AC)!!!
So what exactly is the point of going with a smaller truck??? Mileage?...I
don't think so! Especially considering my Dak is rated at TWICE the towing
capacity of the Nissan (3500lbs vs 7500lbs).
Just thought I'd share my happy ramblings with other Dak fans.
Mike G.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:02:27 EDT