Hello Cory,
Sorry I haven't responded to your question earlier, I've not been able
to keep up with the e-mail like I used to.
Anyway, Here's a quick history lesson on what you have there. You have an
88½' Dakota Sport 4x4.
In 88', Ford had a successful STX package of the Ranger. It came from the
factory with an off-road light bar with 2 lamps, a brush guard and STX
striping decals down the sides of the truck. It was introduced in 86' and
sold well.
Chevy had an 88' S-10 4x4 model that also came with a light bar and grill
guard from the factory. It was equipped with a 2.8 mated to a 5 speed
manual transmission with 4:10 gears in the differentials. Dispite the fact
it only had a 2.8 it had a lot of balls off road because of the low gearing.
It became the Baja package in 89' with the addition of the decals and I
think the motor was upgraded to a 4.3. They also changed the front and rear
bumpers for the Baja to make it look like more of a race vehicle.
Dodge didn't have anything in this newly emerging sport truck market and the
new Dakota, which was being marketed as a mid-size truck, was not selling as
well as they had hoped for though there was a successful, Indy 500 limited
edition of the Dakota in 87'. In April or May of 88' Dodge took a number
Dakota 4x4s and introduced the Sport. It was basically a test to see how
well they could compete with the Ranger and S-10 models already on the
market. The 88½' Sport package was similar to the Indy Edition and was a
fully optioned, short bed, Dakota 4x4, with black painted grill and bumpers.
A set of Bosch fog lamps mounted in the air dam and a set of Bosch off road
lamps mounted on a factory installed light bar. The four lamps had black
plastic covers that had Dakota printed on them in white. The Decals were a
redesigned of the stripes from the Indy Edition. The package was available
in Flash Red (most common), Black and Bright White (least common), with a
Grey on Grey interior. I've never been able to get an actual number from
Dodge, but several dealers have told me that between 1000 and 1500 were
built in 88'.
The truck sold very well and Dodge sent the Sport into regular production in
89'. The 89' however, lost all of the standard equipment power accessories.
The Red was changed to a darker Crimson Red and the interior color was
changed to a Burgundy with a custom embroidered seat. The 89' Sport was
also available in a 2wd and a convertible.
Now back to your question, you can't get manual hubs for your truck because
you don't have hubs. The front end is engaged and disengaged by use of a
vacuum actuator on the front axle housing. Are you having trouble engaging
and disengaging the front end? It is a common problem with the early
design. The actuator and/or switch will start to stick after a while and
will give you trouble. There are 2 vacuum lines that run into the actuator.
When the truck is in 2H, a switch on the transfer case supplies vacuum to
one of the lines moving the actuator to the unlock position. When you shift
into 4 wheel drive, the switch changes the vacuum from one line to the other
causing the actuator to move into the locked position. If when your trying
to shift out of 4 wheel drive back into 2H and it won't disengage, stop, put
the truck into reverse and back up about 10-15 feet. The reverse rotation
on the driveline should pop it loose. If the problem is that you can't get
the truck to go into 4 wheel drive, then look at the switch. You can
identify it by looking for the four vacuum lines (2 to the front end, 1 to a
vacuum ball and 1 to the motor) running into it on the transfer case. It
looks similar to an oil pressure sending unit. A way to test to see if it
is the problem is to remove the 2 lines on the front end. With the motor
running check to see which line has the vacuum. Then shift the truck from
2H to 4h and check to see if the vacuum changed to the other line. If it
didn't you know the switch is stuck. When the motor is running you should
always have vacuum to one of the lines. If at any point you have no vacuum
to both of the lines, then you have a leak. If every thing seems to work
correctly, then your actuator is stuck. About once a year, I pull the lines
off and spray a little oil into the actuator and switch. If it continues to
be a problem, replace the part that is sticking. If I recall correctly, it
was about $20 or $30 bucks each for the parts at the dealer.
Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do up front there for modifications.
Walter_Felix@MSN.COM
88½' Dakota Sport 4x4
WWW.GeoCities.Com/MotorCity/Downs/9219
-----Original Message-----
From: Cory D. Venable <venable.9@osu.edu>
To: Walter_Felix@MSN.COM <Walter_Felix@MSN.COM>
Date: Tuesday, September 29, 1998 3:06 PM
Subject: 88 Dakota Sport
>Walter,
> I am a college student at Ohio State (there Agricultural school). Anyway,
>I also have a 1988 Dadge Dakota Sport 4WD. It has the automatic, and a/c.
>I bought it about 4 months ago, it had @ 115,000 miles. It still runs
>great, I have just had to replace the oxygen sensor (and change the oil,
>filter, etc.) I was interested in getting manual locking hubs for it. I
>have researched a little and as far as I know Warn dosn't make any for it.
>Do you know of any or any information would be helpful.
> Thanks
> Cory Venable
> venable.9@osu.edu
>
>
>
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