‘98 Dodge Dakota. Exhausting work.

At least your arches suit the truck. Mine were far too dori special, on a truck that I haven’t managed to chirp the tyres one once yet.

Terrible photos inbound!

Before I removed the camping carbuncle, I emptied the small amount of stuff out of it. It had a 3 way dometic cooler, a hob and grille and gas bottle and a carpet. In the cooler there was a free beer. Result.



Lifted the box with the 2 post lift at work, unfortunately this soon became apparent I couldn’t quite get the height required to remove it past the tailgate posts. Getting the last few inches was simple enough though. Let the tyres down 😂



I then moved on to flushing the cooling system and trying to purge it of the brown rust water normally found in late 90’s Renault cooling systems. I didn’t take pictures as it was wet and messy but it took longer than the faff of removing the bed box.

The pictures get worse here. My phone camera is truly dead.

What this wonderful zoomy blur is is clips holding the radiator fan on. I presume it used clips but for some reason it was held in place with wood screws dropped in the holes and I just couldn’t look at that every time I opened the bonnet. So I fashioned some retainers.



The battery clamp is well and truly broken and was too tall to hold this well flash Optima battery so I repurposed the gas bottle strap to make sure it’s secure. I can’t stand batteries being loose.



I changed the oil and plugs and did a few bits and bobs including replacing (temporarily) the tensioner pulley that sounded like it was about to take off with a Nissan 300ZX timing belt tensioner pulley I had lying about and tensioning the belt so I can use the A/C, as well as removing the arch extensions and then called it a day. I took some pics with the wife’s phone at this point.

Getting onto the right track with it now at least.

is it ok in the LEZ ?

No idea. I don’t drive in it (CAZ/LEZ) anyway in my ‘toys’ as the Peugeot is CAZ and LEZ compliant so I use that if I have to go in town. I should check really 😂

I've got stacks and stacks of suitable stickers if you want to fit in with other American truck owners.

Hopefully not this……





Looks a lot better without, imho.


I have a ton of stickers too, but that’s where the story ends for me (and a pile of truck parts that used to be a truck)

I restored this ex USAF security Police 1998 Dakota for the museum i volunteer at. It's V6 Magnum powered auto.

Wicked, you did a great job. Its in much better shape than mine I'll say that!

Took the Dodge to work for a 'appointment' with a handy trade friend


Here he is look, honestly not complaining or anything.


Plan was to pull the dents with the weldy dent puller.


That did not go to plan, as the Dodge is not made from Zanussi steel. It appears to be made of recycled M60 main battle tanks.

Was not going to be beaten though by trivial matters like 'the metal is too strong to pull'. Out came the washers.





Not ever going to be a minter, the dents are pretty violent so we got it as straight as can be achieved with a shop MIG and a slide hammer, and he got on with the pudding.





Getting close to finish. Looks a lot of plop but it's very shallow. So he tells me. Might have to order a heavy duty passenger side spring.







And as finished as he ever was going to, complete with amusing colour guide coat.


I will point out that I'm mildly horrified by his DA being face down on the floor but hey ho. Not my circus etc.

Paint is here, so that will start tomorrow to get the primer covered.

You can also get Montana black in white - and a lot of other colors.

Was one can enough for that huge wing? How long did it take to dry?