Recommendations for a Dodge Dakota Forum?

[jmgtp]

I had 3 cars - way too many!

So the time came to get rid of one. It wasn't going to be the Vette, and my Grand Prix is still a work in progress - that left my daily driver 2004 Mazda 6s which I traded for a 2006 Dodge Dakota 3.7sohc, 4x4...my first auto trans vehicle ever!

Believe me I tried to stick with a GM. I looked at a bunch of Silverados and S10s but I just couldn't find the one for me. Some were in decent shape but were manual trans and I really wanted an auto for a daily driver. Others were rotted to hell underneath. And some were just way overpriced or I got lowballed on my trade. The Dakota is the cleanest truck I came across in my price range and I got a pretty good trade on the Mazda too.

Problem is, I can't find a GOOD forum for it. Take this forum for example, great layout and great minds. I can say the same thing for corvetteforum. I just haven't found the equivalent for the Dakota. I've only come across archaic looking or poorly organized forums. Or those with low volume.

So, any recommendations out there? Gotta be a Mopar guy lurking in here somewhere.

[pocket-rocket]

>.<

I would have kept the Mazda. The newer Dodges are just way to plagued with problems for me to even consider one, although the one good thing about a Dakota over other smaller trucks is the V8 option. From my experience with newer Dodges, things to keep an eye on:

Transmissions
Ball joints
Tie rods
Tie rod ends
Steering racks
Power steering pump.

For sure keep an eye on those suspension/steering items. I've seen/heard of too many front end parts failing on people with Dodges while driving down the road.

You should have gotten a Ranger. I'm not a Ford guy, but it stopped me from bashing Ford all the time, and they have a huge following.

[jmgtp]

Well, I certainly hope I don't fall victim to all those problems.
Some are wear and tear: ball joints, tie rods, etc. Now, if the transmission went south next week I'd be very disappointed but this truck seemed to be well maintained and is really clean underneath. I had them put it up on the lift so I can take a look at things and was shocked to see a rust free underside.

And I got the V6, V8 would be nice, get close to the same mpg in that truck, but fact is that they tend cost A LOT more and I don't really need the extra power.

Right now I'm trying to figure out if I should go synthetic fluid on the trans and if so what kind and whether or not it has a trans cooler or if I should even bother adding one. The internet seems to suck for this truck!

[pocket-rocket]

The problem with most of the parts I listed do fall under wear items, but 30k miles for ball joints?

[55trucker]

Have you looked at the DodgeDakotaForumz? http://www.dakotaforumz.com/
There's a Dakota in our family....(we've actually had Mopars in the house for more than 30 years), the GP is my wife's summer ride.
In as much as auto trans fluid is concerned...any Mopar knowledgeable owner will tell you ..ATF+4 and nothing else.
Stay away from Dexron, Mercon as they do not have the needed additives that the Mopar trans clutches are designed to run on.
My daily driver is a Shadow ES, and I doooo own a Ranger.

[pocket-rocket]

I doooo own a Ranger.

Not to threadjack, but I do know of a good Ranger forum that I've mentioned on here before.

https://www.therangerstation.com

They have gotten pretty spread out lately covering full sizes, and all the subforums At least they still have a good large base of knowledgeable people on board.