On Tuesday 09 May 2006 09:25 pm, Andy Levy wrote:
> > up lots of auto trans Dakotas, but very few manuals, and even fewer with
> > 4WD. I have my eye on one from a semi-local dealer and am considering
> > making an offer on it.
>
> They are pretty hard to come by. Most manuals that aren't base models
> end up being factory orders, I think.
Seems like they must have been. Base model regular cab 2WD manual trans
Dakotas seem to have been the dealer loss leaders, so there are some of those
out there, but what they sold most of was 4WD automatics. At least around
here. Somebody ordered this, and must have specified what they wanted in it.
Fortunately, their tastes seem to be similar to mine. Crank windows, manual
locks, 4WD, and stick shift. It's got A/C, which I would have gone without,
but I can live with.
Anyway, as an update, I bought it. Just got home from the dealer. I'm picking
it up tomorrow after work. So, once I get it home I'll get a chance to go
over it and find out what I really got and start getting it to the way I want
it. Here's the starting point:
> I know when I bought my '03,
> the dealer couldn't find one anywhere in the northeast with a stick.
Funny, that's where most of them seem to be now. The deals are always better
on the other side of the country I guess. I'm sure that now that I've bought
it, four or five more will suddenly appear for sale locally. My luck works
like that sometimes.
> Definitely have the balljoints checked out by a mechanic who knows how
> to do it. If you can, have a dealer run the VIN to find out if the
> balljoint recall was performed on it - an '01 4x4 should have had it
> done.
Will do, thanks.
Are the replacements any better than the originals, or do they suffer the same
problem?
> If the shocks are still OEM, they're shot.
Ok, it's going for tires anyway, so I'll have a look at the brakes and shocks
while I'm at it.
> If you can get a real maintenance history, do it and read through it.
Nothing. This is one of those used car lot places you see by the side of the
road with a couple dozen cars. Except this one's specialty is claimed to be
"work trucks", meaning a bunch of various sizes of pickups and box trucks
instead of the usual assortment of cars. The only paperwork is the bill of
sale and the title. I forgot to check the glove compartment, but I'm betting
I don't even get the owner's manual.
.
.
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