1st Gen Dodge Dakota build

[Whumpus]

New to the forums/site, I’m loving it! I’ll be spending much more time looking for build ideas and seeing what other cool DIY things people have been doing.

Been searching the site for a gen 1 Dak but haven’t seen any others up there. Decided I might as well post mine and see what people think, and see what people think I can do to keep making improvements!

It has been quite the story... I’ll start way back at the beginning. March 2016, I wanted a truck. Got one for cheap, $800, worth the tires and thats about it. What a beauty. Ran terribly, looked terrible, smelled terrible. Loved it on sight.

 

[Whumpus]

Fast forward to 2017, things have been going great. Rebuilt just about everything on this truck: rear axle/shocks, u-joints, electrical, brakes rear/front, front axles/suspension, oil pan/rear main seal, transmission lines, radiator, head gaskets, the whole wiring harness, intake/exhaust. The entire interior was revamped, painted, customized. New seats, new headliner, new sound system, power mirrors/windows/locks, everything. Literally, if you have any questions about anything to fix on this truck, I’m your guy (most likely, not a professional but I’ve done literally everything on this truck). Picked up a tool box (tools had to come with me everywhere as stuff broke everywhere...) and added a few nice touches. More on those if you want, plenty of mods and cool DIY projects (phone charger, lights, auto tool box lights, etc)

However, still looks like garbage. Good garbage, capable garbage. Oh, also 250k plus miles garbage...

 

[Whumpus]

Didn’t want it looking like garbage anymore. I highly recommend having someone paint your truck, this is a long and boring process. But, fairly good results I say! Notice... the second donor truck in the back... some of you might know whats coming...

 

[Whumpus]

The fated day finally came. What a place to break down... The best part was doing this in a parking lot up at college. Study? Why? I’ve got plans for this thing...

 

[Whumpus]

Picked up a free camper shell. It needed a new back window, which I made. Then, proceeded to immediately reimagine and build a camper set up. Live in it, expeditions, camping, the lot. Really tried to do it without spending much, picked up most of the wood from CL and FB or from what was laying around the yard.

 

[Whumpus]

The final result was quite fantastic, I love how it turned out. With the carpet it was perfectly functional for my wife and I, or just myself. We’ve used it plenty since. But... the build needs to continue. There is no power, no heat, the kitchen/camping box/drawer is unfinished. I wanted to put it to the crowd, what are your thoughts? What should I build next? How can I make this better for weekending or traveling in, possibly living in for a time? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

 

[high-and-dry]

living in, weekending traveling. You need a large teardrop.

 

[Whumpus]

This would be for weekending mainly. I might live in it temporarily from time to time even that is unlikely. Trailers are an option but I want to see about keeping it self-contained in the cab/truck for now. Thanks for the suggestion though!