Also doubles as a comfy seat. That gave me an idea to make a board padded and flip it to carry plywood, etc.

Funny, if it was a Honda or Toyota with an 8' bed, it would've been "brilliant" allowing storage under the plywood. Still using my '94 club cab

I have the same truck in a 92 year. Do you have any tips?? My truck has 82k miles. Very happy and excited. What oil do you use??

@@geesecentralstation4263 Keep your fluids change on a schedule.. Dont let small things get away from you. Use correct weight oil.. I always use 10w30 and I have learned to use various brands of non synthetic oil.. A mechanic told me what one oil coats the other brand will clean off.. Use stock plugs,, I found I get the best gas ilage from them.. (copper) keep the antifreeze flushed EVERY two years REGARDLESS of claims of how iong it will last.. Last change transmission fluid EVERY six months! filters aond fluids are cheap .. Hard parts are not.. I have one with 340k on it and its a six!

@@ke4tud You got it! I tell people not to leave a lot of un necessary stuff in the bed of it either. Remember maintenance is king! Love my kota. Its almost there at half a million! 498200 as of today,, (pandemic slowed down travel)

@@geesecentralstation4263 i have a 91 with the 3.9 v6 manual. Best oil I've found is the Valvoline full synthetic 20w50 that comes in the 5 quart jug..

Hey C.Elliott so you get up to about 500km's for a full tank?

Very cool to hear the Fire Service is using these there in Greece. What a mental picture. I have a '96 SLT 5.2 5 spd manual 4x4 extended cab - LOVE it. I also work wildfire in the Southwest U.S. Thanks for your post. When I'm out this year I'll be picturing FS using Dakotas!! Be well

I,m only 12 miles from where you grew up

@@deansapp4635 In which direction? North, east , south?

@@briteidea08 Catonsville

Did you have that holly throttle 👍👍the sound it would do in my dads 96Ram wooooooooooo

@@FRESNOSTATE1559 They had high rise intakes aka beer keg with the throttle plates made by holley. What ppl did not know that the high rise coiuld be cut down inthernally and increase power.. and the throttle bodies can be swapped with the 360 318

But also shittier.

They also had significant rusting issues. Some looked ok, others had the beds dissolve faster then a Vega

Yeah the rust is bad but it drives like a full size. :) got the motor of one too. 318

Rangers are a complete knock off .

@@Dankcatvacs how was the ranger a complete knock off when the ranger refresh of its front headlight composite design came out in late 1988? Lol. the ranger was the first small size truck in america to come with composite headlights and then dodge followed 2 years later.

Where exactly did it rust ? I've seen alot of Dakotas for sale with bad frames but I cant figure out where they go bad

I had a first year 87 4X4 and the same thing happened to me. The truck was still running great and I had just put new tires on it all around, then about 3 months later I found out the frame was rusting. This was in 2004 and it had about 190K miles. If I could have a dream Dakota it would be a 92 regular cab long box 4X4 with the Magnum 318 and 5-speed.

I agree with the early years like 1991. After 1992 the truck got up to 230hp and 295lb torque. I have a 1993 model with the 318 and he’ll keep up with mustangs and camaros from that time. I’ve never had a ranger or s10 from back then wax my ass though.

318 much more durable especially the detuned ones

It sure is!

I picked up a 91 single cab long bed v8 with 101k and no rust in Iowa for 1200 there's one in Michigan but it's a 93 for 3k

V-8 5spd manual with 8' bed? Wish l would've known then what know now😂

Has that timing chain loosened yet

The 318 is starved in the setup for the Dakota.. Simple mods and it can be a kitten to a tiger.. The simplest thing is remove that intake! Get a performance intake and get the plenum gasket kit sold online,, change the rear end gearset,, underdrive pulleys and better (less restricted exhaust and headers) and that lil girl will turn .. Here is a secret get the headers from the 93-95 years they are larger from oem.. but I'd go with some shorty headers 2.5 inch low restriction cats dynomax exhaust,, The high rise intake kills off anything over 4k rpm.. you can cut the air channels in it out to increase air but the OEM intakes are problem ridden with plenum failures.. If you got to do plenum gasket change the intake out as a set.. see www.hughesengines.com/Index/index.php it will pay in performance and less maintenance.

This example used TBI, or throttle body injection. After 1992 or 1993, they switched to the Magnum engines, which had Multi Port Injection. The 5.2 (318) then put out around 230 horsepower, and 300 ft lbs.

@@1stchair503 MPI did improve the reliability of the series.. It also reduced emissions. the exhaust were reduced in 94-95 to reduce hp but improve mpg's and it also improved low end torque..

@@ke4tud right. By the end of the engines run, in the Dakota anyways, it was making 220 hp and 295 ft lbs.

That engine is powerful strong. I agree it should do better but it’s super de tuned shit I remember my dads Ram was faster and better on gas. still today. 🤣🤣 he still has it looks pretty clean too……..

With over 200 torque output. Which is what Americans like..

The next year ('92) the 5.2L got the "Magnum" upgrades and was rated at 230hp/~300lbft. I had a '93 in '96 with the Magnum 5.2L. At the time it was fast. For a truck of that era, it was very fast.

@@elcheapo5302 They also restricted the exhaust manifolds later and dropped a few hp ,, That Holley High Rise intake was a secret in making it perform more by shaving the runners down.. low restricted exhaust and multi nozzle injectors and the 3.9-5.2 were on fire! I own a sleeper 3.9 that turns 275hp on a 1/4 mile 13.59 average on pump gas,, Very tough engine,, I have been told it will do NOS with little mods if any,, but I am not into button power.. ;) I also have a 96 that has over 400k and its a daily driver

@@elcheapo5302 Yeah , the ones with the Magnum engines were a whole other animal . You could easily roast the tires from a standing start . A chore to drive in wet weather .

@@elcheapo5302 kinda like GM did with the Regular 350 and Vortec 350 in the OBS

But that torque occurs at a much higher rpm in todays V6 engines.

Magnum 3.9 had 10 more horses and had 25 less torque.3.9 works fine for me but she shakes at idle.slant six don't do that.v6 with pistons at 90 degrees makes for a shaker

This was pre-magnum. The 230hp magnum came in 1992 and yes they are far faster then 10 seconds. I have a 1993 dakota with the 5.2l magnum with a rebuilt beefed up tranny, 295 tires on back and a bigger throttle body and I get 0-60 in the 6s

That was pre-magnum v8 days. I forgot they even offered that engine. The Magnums were quite a bit more powerful.

Mopar uses 4cyl transmissions for everything, that's why.

@@johncholmes643 sometimes I read a comment, that I'm not sure if they're joking, or they're clueless. Which one is this?

@@jasonfalk7696 Dodge transmissions are garbage, when they put the same torque converter behind a diesel they use in a minivan solidifies my comment.

@@johncholmes643 what years?

The 318 was still using the older style heads yet AND was only throttle body injection. The "Magnum" V6 and V8 came out in 92 with 180 and 230 HP respectively. This I believe was stop gap.

People have to live somewhere

@@HAMMER8181 no farms. No food.

they also had a 22 gallon fuel tank option