Well, Kyle and Brian, I have no experience with the older style Daks
(actually, I wanted one back in the day, but had to settle for the
little brother D50), but on my '98 4x4 the moulded flaps I purchased
from the dealer have held up well. I admit I've only had it hard-core
wheel'n once out here in the Nevada desert (only been here six months,
so haven't had a whole lot of time), but the flaps are still there.
The bonus with the desert is that there are no big sticks to jam up in
there, which probably makes a difference. However, there are plenty
of rocks around here and I can tell by the scape marks on the bottom
edge of the platic flaps, that they came in contact more than once.
Just to tell you about my recent foray into the desert environment (I
grew up in wet, green Oregon), I was out in this area that ranged from
sandy dunes to rocky mesas. I went out with a buddy of mine who has a
full sized Ram and my truck just flew up the sandy dunes with the
stock tires. His Ram would bog down and on a number of occasions I
had to sit at the top waiting for him. However, when it came to the
rocky hills, the stock tires showed their weakness and he made it up a
'hell-of-a-hill' that I couldn't get enough traction to make up--got
mid-way three times and just sat and spun. There was also a number of
motorcycle trails we found ourselves on where I got to test out the
articulation. I must say that I'm quite impressed with the truck as a
4x4. Now all I need is some more clearence--drug the skid plates a
couple times. Thanks for letting me babble. Oh, I thought of
something else--the flaps help keep'n the rocks off the side of the
truck a little, but I still have rock chips on my rear fender flares
from spinn'n the fronts. I've thought about getting some of that
clear plastic adhesive to help protect the 'em--anybody done this?
Later,
JY
---brian duffey wrote:
>
> Ditto that...
>
> My flaps started to go just from highway driving.
> One trip to the Outer Banks and some Dune 4-wheelin & they were toast.
<snip>
> Duff
> '95 SLT 4x4 CC 318 4spd/OD - 3.55 LSD
> MSD 6AL - MSD Blaster Coil
> MSD 8.5 wires - K&N FIPK - F&B Stage I TBI
> Rancho 5000/9000's, 30x9.5s
> -------------
> Original Text
> <<
> How intense were your off-road treks? We ended up ruling out the
molded flaps to get the more flexible kind with Dodge on them. I was
a little concerned about getting them caught on something while
climbing and having them snap or crack. Is there a chance of that
happening?
> >>
>
> My truck came with smaller molded flaps, which I soon found out I
was missing 2 of the 4 after a 4wheeling weekend. Then, I went to the
dealer, and bought 4 new longer flaps that seemed to be more felxible,
NOPE!
<snip>
Save your money for something your REALLY need when 4wheelin' , like a
Hi-Lift jack, etc.
> Kyle
> 93 Dakota 4x4 V6
>
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