Early Dakota Quadcab trucks any good?

[Beat95yj]

How bad are the autos? A quick search was saying you sniffed at one with a V8 and it littered the freeway. Is it 700r4 legendary status?

My friend had a 5.2L quad cab and liked it. But that sucker was super long in the middle and would hang up on shit my 99 xtra cab Tacoma walked through.

I'm doing a little research on an extra cab 4wd of that era but I'm not sure on 4.7L, 5.2L, or 5.9L.

One of the companies I worked for had a 97 extra cab four-wheel-drive. In the two years I worked there we put in three transmissions under warranty. The next owner was also associated with us and he put in two or three. The truck might have 200,000 miles on it now. We had it brand new.

It’s essentially the same as a CJ trans but it didn’t hold up for shit in a Dakota. After the second one we added a cooler and a gauge.

 

[350TacoZilla]

Given what you want to do and what work it sounds like your willing to do, you could almost start with anything and end up where you want as long as its not too big for trails or too small for family.
I don't think anyone answered you about the whole sequoia\tundra width being different, the sheet metal on a tundra reg cab & access cab are different than a double cab tundra or sequoia. It sounds goofy but its true, even the windshield and bed interior is taller in the DC vs RC \ AC. So in short both widths you have are pretty close the RC \ AC is 75.2" and DC \ SQ is 76.6" both without mirrors. But dont forget that all of them can tuck full width superduty axles under the factory flares width wise on stock SD wheels. Also again if a tacoma 2nd gen (74.6" wide) or 3rd gen (75.2" wide) fits down the trail than 99% chance any of the 1st gen tundra's \ sequoia will.

I wish my moms tacoma was long bed so it would be more apples to apples but its still a good example. The trucks are on slight hill with the tundra being on the higher side but it's not off by much. Now I will concede that you can find a dakota cheaper than a tundra but they can be found for decent price and sequoia seems to be in between the two value wise.

 

[Mad Max]

I think the option that has the least amount of 'build time' (= time away from family, etc) is a Ram 2500 quadcab (or megacab) on 37s or 40s. Most everything will bolt on (very little fab time). Simple, big, strong, and reliable.

 

[Hooligan]

I like my Ram, but body panels on trails scare me. I’d love to flatbed mine and shorten it a foot…that would be the ticket. The 2019+ has the 8 speed with a 5:1 first, gets close to a 60:1, not bad for a factory truck with auto. But….not exactly cheap for an off-road rig.

 

[Ghetto Fab.]

Here is the spot I always think of when I think of actually attempting to wheel a fullsize truck in the Sierra's. There are many more, this is just one of the ones I remember.





Its pretty tight as you can see. As you pull through the large, undercut boulder in front of the pass side forces you to turn left. The rock under the drivers rear tire leans the body over into the tree on the pass side, but as you come off of it you wind up flopping back into the rock on the drivers side. I know full width axles will make it through here without an issue, and I would imagine you could shove a full size truck through here, but at what cost?

I guess I'm not really telling the whole story though, as I haven't shown the bypass around this that people have made off the trail because they simply can't drive, don't actually want to wheel the hard spots, or don't fit. I don't recall the bypass being there last year. Kinda bums me out in a way, but thats yet another tangent.

Sorry for bringing toyota pics into the dodge forum.

 

[Mad Max]

no that's exceptionally good intel for anyone wanting to plan out those kind of treks, regardless of 'make and model' 👍 . My big truck is 8 feet wide from bulge to bulge - do you know how wide it is between the tree and rock? My truck is big enough that...in that particular situation...I'd be tempted to get my drivers side up on that rock and 'sliders' down the other side, but that's me. For the record, is the bypass legal?, or is it considered 'off trail'?

- Sam

 

[Ghetto Fab.]

I don't know how wide it is. It is at least 84" wide and probably more like 90". If it was all flat, level, and you could drive straight through it, I'm sure you could get a fullsize through it with no damage.

I don't know if its legal or not. I tend to feel like its not, but there may be an easement I'm unaware of. I don't know how the clubs that caretake these trails feel about these situations. Past comments from an old club member about previous similar issues at the gatekeeper supports my thoughts that they are not legal, but who knows? It bums me out because I know the reason is the popularity of these trails is what is driving the bypass situations and will likely result in major changes to the trail or closure. Plenty of dirt roads in the forest. I don't get why you would come on a hard trail to only try to drive around the hard obstacles?

There are other spots going between trees that are super narrow also. Some of those also have bypasses, some new, some old. There were more than a few spots where I was cringing because the body was getting super close to a tree. I don't mind a few dents, its all part of the game, but I'm trying to limit the amount I get. Most of the trees next to the trail have scars on them from vehicles rubbing against them. I also really don't want to break the rear side glass and I am overprotective of that. Happy to report no new dents, broken glass, or even broken taillights from this trip!

 

[fl0w3n]

Not trying to hijack but what about the earlier Dakotas?

 

[Mad Max]

they are even 'simpler' - still had V8s, and IIRC all body on frame so plenty good for wheelin' etc., but no 4-door, so really any of them are 'good enough' and most any of them will require voodoo to take 'em real deep into the rocks, at least IMO. If I didn't need a 4-door I'd have very likely built an earlier clubcab Dak vs my 02.

- Sam

 

[Kage]

Bench building is one of my favorite things to do lately, especially since I have played this game many times since selling my Mountaineer. One thing you may not be considering is how the lack of glass in the back of the trucks makes it a little "easier' to sneak them around things. I was often afraid of (and often did) blow out the rear glass on the Mercury (Similar dimensions to your 4 runner). It is a bit easier to sneak around things in a full size if you don't have acres of glass behind you to worry about.

 

[fl0w3n]

they are even 'simpler' - still had V8s, and IIRC all body on frame so plenty good for wheelin' etc., but no 4-door, so really any of them are 'good enough' and most any of them will require voodoo to take 'em real deep into the rocks, at least IMO. If I didn't need a 4-door I'd have very likely built an earlier clubcab Dak vs my 02.

- Sam

Have you ever eye balled the frames for low slung sas setup? I’ve never looked one over in person, but also haven’t done an SAS yet so don’t know what I don’t know when I do look. Just trying to bench build right now too

 

[Mad Max]

...do you mean how much clearance is under them after a SAS? Either way, here are a couple pics of mine - to recap, 02 Dakota QC, ~4" leaf springs, ~140" wheelbase, 40" tires - there's about 25 inches between the belly and ground bow to stern - Homer bucket for reference -