On Wed, October 27, 2004 9:31 pm, Michael Maskalans said:
>
> well the RC needs a pair of axles to be anything worthwhile anyway... so
> it would have just been a *simpler* axle swap ;-)
OK, there is that. It seems you're a bit more hard-core than I'd probably
ever be. (Easy to say that now, but I'm sure the first time I break an
axle I'm going to be shopping for some nice military spec parts :-)
> Also, the 250HP 115,000 mile EFI motor beats the hell out of the ill-tuned
> carburated 100HP 200,000 mile motor :^P
Think Jon would have noticed if you would have exchanged motors with his
'Cuda? I know for a fact that the 440 fits in the Ram.
Charger. Ahem.
> Lastly, I was counting to myself on the way home - I could think of 6 SAS
> Dakotas off the top of my head - and being one of like a dozen rigs is
> just cool.
Yeah, that's very true. I used to have all kinds of wild plans for what I
wanted to do to my truck "some day". I understand the coolness factor of
overcoming such a huge... what's the word? Handicap? Basically starting
off with a much bigger challenge in front of you, instead of taking
advantage of the head start you could get with a better factory design.
But, as I've gotten older (and deeper in debt) I've become a lot more
practical and wonder why I ever wanted to punish myself by trying to build
a Dakota in to an off-road monster when it would be so much cheaper and
easier to start with a Ram, Jeep or Samurai. Not that I really have the
money for those options either, but they're more in line with my limited
budget and mechanical skill.
Realistically speaking ("realistic" meaning "unless we win the lottery"),
the most I'd probably ever do to the Dakota would be to put a locker in
the rear. The 4:1 low range, body lift, winch, bumpers and V8 swap that I
used to want are pretty difficult to justify when I can buy a built
Samurai complete for the same amount of money.
Now, just because I think an SAS Dakota is a dumb thing to do, doesn't
mean I respect your accomplishment any less. Rather the opposite. I'd
already decided it was prohibitively expensive and difficult, then you go
ahead and do it. Pretty cool.
As for me, I'm still hoping that my grandmother will some day sell me the
Power Wagon. I think she's afraid that I'll scratch it, though.
-- Jason Bleazard http://www.bleazard.net Burlington, Ontario his: '95 Dakota Sport 4x4, 3.9 V6, 5spd, Reg. Cab, white hers: '01 Dakota Sport 4x4, 4.7 V8, Auto, Quad Cab, black
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