My Dodge Dakota Q-cab

[colodak]

So, I see there are a few others on here who will recognize my Dakota from other sites. I only recently found this site and love it. Thought I'd post up some pics of my '00 Dakota, original owner, so far only 119K miles on the 360 V8. It's been and still is a work in progress with lots more to do, saving some pennies now for new gears, wheels, tires and a trans rebuild (it's starting to get a little tired). Recently began debating replacing it with a newer Ram 2500 Cummins, but I've decided that this one is paid for, I can work on it without an engineering degree, and parts are still readily available for the engine.

2000 Dodge Dakota Quadcab (nick named Blue Marble by my late Mother)

Powertrain
5.9 li 360 cu in. V8 Mopar
AFE CAI
Modified Gibson Cat-back
Superchips Tuner

Driveline
46RE trans (to be rebuilt this year)
4.10 gears (as of 4/11/12)
Rear Disc conversion (as of 4/11/12)
16 x 9 Vision Warrior Wheels
265 70 16 BFG's

Interior
Garmin Nuvi 1450 GPS for the street
Garmin GPsmap 60CS/ Proclips USA dash mount for trails, hiking and biking
Cobra 75WX CB
Panasonic Stereo (soon to be replaced) w/ hidden 8 disc CD changer
3-guage A-pillar pod w/ trans temp, t-case temp, oil temp
Nuimage blue guages
custom LED's in the cup holders
custom made and concealed in the D-pillar wiring harness for roof rack lights

Exterior
Winch Ready bumper, with custom front skid plate
Mile Marker E8000 winch with smittybilt synthetic cable
PIAA 510 fogs
PIAA 520 spots
Astro Topper
Yakima Rack system with front loaded bike carriers
Yakima Loadwarrior rack, with extension, shovel, hi-lift and ax carrier
Hi-lift
Maxx Axe system
Add-on back-up lights
LED taillights, tinted with Nightshades
DEPO aftermarket headlights


Special addition: 27 lb "truck "owner spaniel mix, AKA Lady...sadly departed us January 2013, RIP my sweet girl

Sorry for the small size of this pic, but this from the Christmas '06 Blizzard we had in the Denver area, this was mid-way through day 1 of snowfall.

Spent two days at Christmas (and two more after the new year when a 2nd blizzard hit)assisting in the transport of hospital and emergency personel with the Denver Office of Emergency Management and Colo. Assoc. of 4 WD clubs

Just a little of what I carry in the back, recently built a storage system that is about to be modified again

 

[colodak]

Recently added LED taill lights and projector beam headlights, decided I didn't like the LED's as they were so I smoked them

 

[colodak]

My rear tow hook assembly that has been through hell and back. It saved my old truck from a really hard reay end collision.

 

[Snafu]

Very cool...this is where I'm headed with my truck actually...nice n simple daily driver with a wild side for the weekends!

I'm jealous of your snow...been dreaming of moving to Denver for over a year now since down here in El Paso we have two seasons: the windy season, and the monsoon season :sombrero:

 

[colodak]

statrted on my bed stoarge project today, figure it will take me a couple of weeks to complete as I have to fit work in between working on the storage box

 

[colodak]

okay, this is gonna take awhile, too hot to work outside for very long today, maybe 45 minutes at a time then a 10 to 15 minute break then back at it. Now I know why buying a ready made storage box costs so much, there is a lot of work involved.

 

[Kya]

Lookin good dude! Good to see you on this site. So many awesome threads to get lost in over here.

 

[Bikemobile]

I like the color. I used to have a 2002 quad cab with the 4.7. Great truck. Oh and btw your 2011 registration sticker is supposed to go in the bottom right corner of your license plate.

 

[colodak]

Lookin good dude! Good to see you on this site. So many awesome threads to get lost in over here.

yeah I'm really enjoying this site, a ton of inspiration for build ideas over here, I've noticed there are several Dak/Dur people over here

I like the color. I used to have a 2002 quad cab with the 4.7. Great truck. Oh and btw your 2011 registration sticker is supposed to go in the bottom right corner of your license plate.

lol, I move them around every year

 

[Bikemobile]

yeah I'm really enjoying this site, a ton of inspiration for build ideas over here, I've noticed there are several Dak/Dur people over here




lol, I move them around every year

Well just so you know some jerk cop could pull you over just for that. :/

 

[colodak]

yeah, I've had that happen before on a previous vehicle, actually, the base for my bumper mount bike rack obscures more of the plate and makes me more of a target to the cops, but, knock on wood, three trips Colo. to Ohio and one to Tx. as well as 3 trips in Canada, in 10 yrs, never a problem.

 

[colodak]

So, I've started building my storage box, it's going to be a bit of a long process to build: 1. because I hate the heat and it's too hot to work on it in mid-day, 2. have to fit it into the budget as I go along, thankful for a mid-year bonus to get me started on it, 3. I have to work on it around 13 and 14 hr work days. But, I've got it started, using 3/4 and 5/8" plywood and OSB, planning to do it all using liquid nails and 18ga. brads. Once complete, the drawers will be carpeted, the box will either be carpeted or line-x'd.

So this is what I was dealing with previously, the contents of two storage tubs that are breaking into a box of sorts, as well as my power outlets. I plan to leave the carpet kit in place, it's out now while I work on the build up.

The sub-base, I will be adding a pullout table to the box so I had to build a sub-base for the table

Made some weight saving cut-outs in the sub-base and using it as a temp. table for some other pieces

Some work done on the main body of the box, the sides are in place and drying, decided to stop for the mid-day heat, will work on it some this evening and then some on Monday morning. Didn't realize til I had them cut and glued in place that my OSB was warped. Hopefully once the end pieces are installed I will eliminate that problem.

 

[tperkins]

Awesome dakota man, I have to ask, who makes that bumper and winch mount? I really want to find a way to add front end protection to my Dakota, along with a winch, without spending like $1500 on a Dakota bumper that WinchReady makes. Also, I see the pic of your roof lights lit up, but I dont see them in any of the other pics, do you have some sort of fold-down prerunner bar, or are they removed?

Really nice build though, I dont know how I missed your build as I was looking through for other Dakota builds to base mine off of.

 

[colodak]

The grill guard/winch mount is Manik, not sure if they are totally out of business or bought out. Try Tactical Armor Group (formerlly Kennesaw), I priced out a bumper from them at around $1,000 shipped. Yeah, my lights are mounted on my Yakima rack, it's been off for the last several months. The wiring harness I made for the lights is jacked up and the lights are in bad shape. Hopefully, once I'm done with this box, I'll get to work on redoing the harness and replacing the lights, I bought a welder and am going to teach myself to Mig weld, maybe make a new rack.

 

[tperkins]

Yeah, Kennesaw makes nice bumpers, but their rep is like 50% good, 50% horrible, so I'm iffy. They're the only company I know of other than WinchReady that makes a dakota bumper. Theirs are really fairly priced too, and they make a nice rear bumper for like $300. I wish I had a welder, Im going to start learning at school shortly, and it might turn into making a push bar style bumper for my truck out of square tube, but we'll see how that goes haha. I look forward to seeing the rest of your build with the storage.