Budget Beater Build: 2004 Dakota

[Grit dog]

S p oO g e is a bad word??
How aboot ****?

So’s j I z z.

Let’s try *****…

S e men is bad too!

Ok, ***.

C u m is no bueno tambien.

Ok , will just leave it at baby batter!!

Bottom line is I don’t wanna be sittin on whatever ran down some chicks leg 19 years ago. No matter how dry, crusty or “invisible” it may be by now!

 

[SirRobyn0]

Pulling this thread back up to answer this question. We've put approx 1500 miles on it since I got it back on the road. It's averaging 14 mpg. Not great, but not bad for an occasional use vehicle.

That's the down fall of the Dakota, they don't get as good of mileage as one would think it should.

That’s 1mpg better than the Dooragno I just picked up. 318/3.55 truck. Same miles as yours too. Think I could get 14-15mpg out of it if I kept the highway speeds down. It also has aggressive 31-10.50s on it but the size matches the speedo and gps within 1mph at highway speeds.
A 30 mile run on a flat stretch of highway at 60-80mph not much traffic said 17mpg on the lie o meter.
I secretly hoped it would do better than say the ole Tahoe. But 13-14mpg is aboot it for any half ton ish 4x4 older V8 rig regardless of whether it’s a pickup or suv. Even if it’s only 3/4 scale!
Great little rig though. Runs like a Swiss watch. Needs a full fluid maintenance and some typical 100m mile stuff like shocks and brake shoes but old small block Dodge engines are pretty close to small block GMs for being bulletproof! And it definitely out kicks its coverage for the price.

It's that right foot of yours effecting your mileage. I'm kidding seriously though the Durnago is a little heavier and those aggressive tires.

Just keep in mind guys we might pay a little more at the pumps with our older rigs, but we are all saving money on no car payment, lower insurance cost, licensing cost, and we save on repair cost by doing some or all of the work.

IMO, there has never been a better time to be driving an 20 or more year old vehicle.

 

[Midnightmoon]

Little update. Finally treated the old Dakota to a set of new tires yesterday. It had some miss matched tires on it when I got it and we finally wore them out.

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[Midnightmoon]

$3 headliner "Repair"

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[Midnightmoon]

Really enjoying having this little truck around for various chores. Used it this weekend for a 300 mile round trip to pick up this LS and also a Corvette D44. Basically turning in to my beater parts hauler.

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