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So, my stepdaughter is at Tech. She's got her 250k mile '08 Dakota V6 six speed manual extended cab, and it's getting...janky. Last it was here, I put a clutch in it because the disc grenaded. Did everything - disc, plate, bearing, hydraulics. Trans has started jumping out of gear, getting hard to get into gear sometimes, that sort of thing. It's old, and its the not-so-wonderful NSG370. I have a spare one for my Wrangler, but the bellhousing bolt pattern is different for a 4.0 Jeep and the 3.7 V6. And, she adopted a dog so what used to be luggage space for travel (extended cab) is now dog-space, so she needs room for her luggage that's not exposed in the bed. She also just got placed on the school powerlifting team, but they're responsible for their own transportation to meets - all over TX - and she's hesitant about the truck's reliability for frequent long distance trips.
Her mom and I are thinking of options. Dani (the daughter) wants to swap the Dakota for her mom's Durango (also high miles, but a hemi/auto and a good runner), but I'd have to drive the Durango from MD to TX, then drive the Dakota back - because I drive stick and can roadside-fix if needed. That's option 1.
Option 2 - she keeps the Dakota till Christmas, rides with teammates to lift team meets, we zelle her cash for a decent toolbox for the bed ("indoor storage" for her trip east), and she swaps with the Durango when she's here for Christmas.
Option 3 - we find something inexpensive in Lubbock, for her to buy. Newer, maybe a car, maybe an SUV, something not as thirsty as a V6 Dakota 4x4 or a hemi Durango 4x4, something with a back seat, something reliable. Buy it remotely, she drives it and parks the truck, brings the truck home at Christmas, leaves it here, flies back for spring semester and has just the car on campus. Bed storage wouldn't be an issue at that point since flying back to school means no dog this trip (her roommates can watch the dog), so her luggage could live in the back seat as usual.
My reason for asking about members near Lubbock, is for eyes. If we find something remotely that we're interested in, I'd like someone who speaks "gearhead" to look at it, and give an honest opinion. If anyone is willing.
If anyone in the area has anything that fits the bill, for sale - let me know! She loves my second-gen Cummins Ram...but those are priced out of the "inexpensive" range unfortunately.
And, if anyone in the area has a bed cover (preferably tonneau, but caps considered even though she hates the blind spots) for an '08 Dakota, I may be interested in that as well. Seems nobody makes them for this generation anymore - they weren't a long-lived generation so there's not a lot of stuff out there for 'em, I've been finding. I can get covers for the 1G Dakotas, the second-gen Dakotas, and the more recent ones, but this generation.....not so much. I think it was only a 2 or 3 year run.
She's a great kid - athlete, good grades, studying sports medicine, working on getting hired as a trainer on campus...she was at a powerlifting event just to see how it went, she asked out of the blue "hey, can I give this a shot?", the coach hesitantly said "sure"...and she blew away half the team. 2 days later she's not only on the team (who wasn't doing any tryouts because they were already full), but she's now one of the captains as well!
Anyway, if anyone is interested please let me know. I'll be hitting websites to see what's for sale in the area, but again - if anyone knows of anything solid and reliable, I'm open! Thanks!!
Her mom and I are thinking of options. Dani (the daughter) wants to swap the Dakota for her mom's Durango (also high miles, but a hemi/auto and a good runner), but I'd have to drive the Durango from MD to TX, then drive the Dakota back - because I drive stick and can roadside-fix if needed. That's option 1.
Option 2 - she keeps the Dakota till Christmas, rides with teammates to lift team meets, we zelle her cash for a decent toolbox for the bed ("indoor storage" for her trip east), and she swaps with the Durango when she's here for Christmas.
Option 3 - we find something inexpensive in Lubbock, for her to buy. Newer, maybe a car, maybe an SUV, something not as thirsty as a V6 Dakota 4x4 or a hemi Durango 4x4, something with a back seat, something reliable. Buy it remotely, she drives it and parks the truck, brings the truck home at Christmas, leaves it here, flies back for spring semester and has just the car on campus. Bed storage wouldn't be an issue at that point since flying back to school means no dog this trip (her roommates can watch the dog), so her luggage could live in the back seat as usual.
My reason for asking about members near Lubbock, is for eyes. If we find something remotely that we're interested in, I'd like someone who speaks "gearhead" to look at it, and give an honest opinion. If anyone is willing.
If anyone in the area has anything that fits the bill, for sale - let me know! She loves my second-gen Cummins Ram...but those are priced out of the "inexpensive" range unfortunately.
And, if anyone in the area has a bed cover (preferably tonneau, but caps considered even though she hates the blind spots) for an '08 Dakota, I may be interested in that as well. Seems nobody makes them for this generation anymore - they weren't a long-lived generation so there's not a lot of stuff out there for 'em, I've been finding. I can get covers for the 1G Dakotas, the second-gen Dakotas, and the more recent ones, but this generation.....not so much. I think it was only a 2 or 3 year run.
She's a great kid - athlete, good grades, studying sports medicine, working on getting hired as a trainer on campus...she was at a powerlifting event just to see how it went, she asked out of the blue "hey, can I give this a shot?", the coach hesitantly said "sure"...and she blew away half the team. 2 days later she's not only on the team (who wasn't doing any tryouts because they were already full), but she's now one of the captains as well!
Anyway, if anyone is interested please let me know. I'll be hitting websites to see what's for sale in the area, but again - if anyone knows of anything solid and reliable, I'm open! Thanks!!
