Re: Buying a 1989 vs. 1991+ 1st Gen Dakotas

From: Matt Beazer (teseract@enchantedbookstore.com)
Date: Mon Dec 29 2008 - 03:44:48 EST


Agreed... they don't use salt around here in WA, they use this daft
linseed-oil based deicer that (mildly) corrodes aluminum instead of
iron/steel and only works in temps over 14F, so if you get below that
(the 50% of the winter we do) you have the deicer acting as ice. Plus
it's slippery so even when it's not icy it's still slick, and studless
snow tires with their loads of sipes sop the stuff up like, well,
water. Then you get this nice lubed tire on lubed asphalt effect which
makes braking for yellow lights with no ABS a joy. I used to have
Blizzacks on my Neon. They'd sop up so much of the crud that on a
freshly oiled, er, deiced road I could go into a 4 wheel drift making 90
degree turns in town at 20mph... fun but scaaaarrrryyyy and if you
really overcook it (25mph, gasp!) you rapidly get educated in the art of
full opposite lock. Makes my friend's '00 Dakota with the factory LSD
loads of fun too unless you kick it into 4wd.

But at least the only rusty cars I see around here are 1980's Toyotas
and cars imported from other areas.

MattB

Dustin Williams wrote:
>> I've been trying to locate a better frame than the one under my 89 4x4.
>>
>
> Just so you know, Tom, outside the rust belt frames hold up for
> decades. If you want a solid frame look to the south or even better
> the west. Out here if there is snow or ice they sand more than they
> salt and it's only for a few weeks a year as opposed to months on end.
> My Dakota picked up more rust in it's one winter in Michigan than it
> did in the 12 winters it had before that in Oregon and Washington.
>
>
>



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