Keep or sell?

[Budnicks]

I loved my 97 Dakota extra cab 4x4,318 automatic. It towed really good for what it was. The rear axle started getting noisy so I traded it in. I kept the shaker hood,and put the stock hood back on it. I always figured that I would get another one so I saved the hood all these years!

what color is that shaker hood ?

I'm not really in the market, don't need it,
'but';
now if it was already the 99 OE Emerald Green Pearl
(it looks blue-ish & black, in that photo)
it'd be a bolt-on & me not spend a small fortune on paint matching
& especially the extortion costs of shipping all the way to Calif.
from all the way across the nation, on the freaken' East Coast

I almost bought one & painted it when mine was new
it just didn't seem worth it, back then

 

[chargervert]

It was emerald green, but got spray Amethyst and black with spray paint.

 

[Detective D]

My 2 wheeler needs more fixing than it's worth and needs to go. I thought my 4 wheelercould be used through another winter saving my newer truck. Well the frame is very rusty and it's starting to buckle. The box to cab gap is detting tighter at the top. There has been some contact at the top. I noticed this a few weeks ago. Ya, this one needs to go bye bye as well.

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That's really too bad, it looks like the rest of the truck isn't half bad. I mean for midwestern salt trucks
I bet even with a junk frame you could sell it as a parts truck, I have seen WAY worse up here in WI.

 

[Detective D]

I L O V E my '00 5.9 CC R/T.

Most dependable vehicle I've ever owned.

Also likely the newest vehicle I can still do 90% of the work on by myself.

167,500 miles.

We've had six Dakotas and a Durango in our family.

My mom has a '02 crew cab 3.9. Longest she has ever owned a vehicle.

All ours have been automatics.

Curious as to what a 5.2 5 speed gets MPG wise.

Ours have been- 3.9- 18 MPG/ 5.2- 16 MPG/ 5.9 13 MPG

MPG will probably be about 14. I mean it might be higher but I already know it can leave about 12 feet of twin black "evidence of travel" if I ask it to in first gear. So mpg is going to be affected by the driver Not all the time but I know I tend to push rpm higher then need be with 5 speeds even just driving around, because it is fun.

Speaking of, it has a slightly annoying, slightly LOL little yellow triangle light in the center of the tach. It is a factory shift light. I recall reading about this somewhere but forgot all about it till now. It appears to be tied to the ECU, because it looks at rpm vs throttle position.

 

[Detective D]

Well, it looks like the overwhelming consensus is I would be foolish to sell it.... which is good because I have been trying to talk myself into keeping it this whole time so far

Related:
I also have a 2002 Chev 2500HD with the 8.1 Allison. Previous owner was local mechanic. he had it redone some years back, new bed, new rockers, etc. he had the entire bottom of the southern bed he found and the inside, and also the bottom 6 inches on the outside sprayed with bedliner. Then the rockers were sprayed inside/out with bedliner. Bottom 6 inches of doors, including the inside surface. You get the idea. The truck is black, and has the 2002 era plastic fender flares, so the bedliner is not noticeable really. it seems to have held up well, but I don;t know of any other trucks around that had this done to compare.

Anyone here ever done this? My Dakota is white but my understanding is they can color match the liner so it would blend in, just have that sort of rough texture vs paint/clear. I think it would look ok. Just not sure based on one example if it is a good practice or not. From what i can tell with these trucks, if you can stop the bottom 3 inches of the cab and doors and rockers from starting to rust, you have stopped the bull in it's tracks.

 

[Budnicks]

Well, it looks like the overwhelming consensus is I would be foolish to sell it.... which is good because I have been trying to talk myself into keeping it this whole time so far

Related:
I also have a 2002 Chev 2500HD with the 8.1 Allison. Previous owner was local mechanic. he had it redone some years back, new bed, new rockers, etc. he had the entire bottom of the southern bed he found and the inside, and also the bottom 6 inches on the outside sprayed with bedliner. Then the rockers were sprayed inside/out with bedliner. Bottom 6 inches of doors, including the inside surface. You get the idea. The truck is black, and has the 2002 era plastic fender flares, so the bedliner is not noticeable really. it seems to have held up well, but I don;t know of any other trucks around that had this done to compare.

Anyone here ever done this? My Dakota is white but my understanding is they can color match the liner so it would blend in, just have that sort of rough texture vs paint/clear. I think it would look ok. Just not sure based on one example if it is a good practice or not. From what i can tell with these trucks, if you can stop the bottom 3 inches of the cab and doors and rockers from starting to rust, you have stopped the bull in it's tracks.

I helped build/restore frame up 68 Cj5 Willys/Kaiser Jeep (next door neighbors)
the co. sprayed interior floor with a bedliner (Rhino Liner brand IIRC)
local guy (sort of) down in Oakdale, Valley area 60+ miles down the hill
they 'got close' on color, out in the sun you can see it/is different, more redish
he claimed because no metallic/poly used in it (?)
it has a custom color, but with the seats, belts & rollbar all in it
you can hardly tell
it's somewhere between a T7 Bronze & a Burnt orange
the stuff is tough as hell

I'd think a white wouldn't be as hard,
but there is a bunch of different shades of whites too, 'toner' is the only real white
everything else has black or blue etc. in it

 

[Detective D]

I helped build/restore frame up 68 Cj5 Willys/Kaiser Jeep (next door neighbors)
the co. sprayed interior floor with a bedliner (Rhino Liner brand IIRC)
local guy (sort of) down in Oakdale, Valley area 60+ miles down the hill
they 'got close' on color, out in the sun you can see it/is different, more redish
he claimed because no metallic/poly used in it (?)
it has a custom color, but with the seats, belts & rollbar all in it
you can hardly tell
it's somewhere between a T7 Bronze & a Burnt orange
the stuff is tough as hell

I'd think a white wouldn't be as hard,
but there is a bunch of different shades of whites too, 'toner' is the only real white
everything else has black or blue etc. in it

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That doesn't look half bad.
The white Chrysler used on their trucks in the 80's and 90's is basically titanium oxide white. Plain white rustoleum is actually so close you can barely tell the difference. I agree, i would think they could match it close.