Dodge Dakota Rear Brakes

[Pop_Rivit]

My wife and I are settling the estate of a friend who passed away early this year. We've been friends for as long as I can remember, and he was part of the greatest generation. He didn't have any family in the area so my wife is the executor of his will. In 1999 he purchased a new Dodge Dakota-I was there with him when he bought it and I have done nearly all the maintenance on it for him. I used to joke with him that I should inherit the pickup when he died. Always the one to get the last word in, John actually willed me the pickup. Since we've had a lot going on I brought it home a couple months ago and parked it. John had been ill for a few months therefore it hasn't had any real use for the last year or so. I finally managed to free up some time to do some work on it. I was pretty sure it needed new rear brakes (I did the fronts a couple years ago). I started at 6:30 this morning and was finished by 9:00. New brakes and hardware. A nice new drum. The old shoes did indeed need to be replaced. I'm really not sure what I'm going to do with this pickup, but no matter what it needed the brakes replaced. Other than that and an oil change it's current on all maintenance. It's never needed anything other than routine maintenance and it's always been completely dependable for him. It's just an all around good pickup.

 

[NHGUY]

Then there are the naysayers that say every Chrysler product is no good and to be avoided.Then tell me why most minivans have 150-300K miles on them?

 

[JHZR2]

Theyre good in-between trucks. Not sure if/what kind of pickup you have now, but perhaps it would be a good trade or addition. It will be interesting to see if the surface treatment on that drum is any good, or if it will get rusty rapidly.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Originally Posted By: NHGUY

Then there are the naysayers that say every Chrysler product is no good and to be avoided.Then tell me why most minivans have 150-300K miles on them?

I've had a number of Chrysler products over the years and every one of them have been solid vehicles. I currently own 3 of them (2 pickups and a 2006 Durango).

Originally Posted By: JHZR2

Theyre good in-between trucks. Not sure if/what kind of pickup you have now, but perhaps it would be a good trade or addition. It will be interesting to see if the surface treatment on that drum is any good, or if it will get rusty rapidly.

I currently have a 1999 3/4 ton Dodge that I use to pull a trailer with show tractors to tractor shows. I'm not doing that very often any more, so I'm thinking about selling the 3/4 ton, keeping this, and having a friend use his pickup to haul my trailer, 1 of his tractors and 1 of my tractors to shows. He has a 3/4 Ford pickup but no trailer. As far as the drums-I expect them to get a patina of rust, especially since this pickup sits outside and, if I keep it, will be used in the winter snow.

 

[eljefino]

They're great trucks-- I've had three. The only bummer is the 3' 10" between rear wheel wells interfering with sheet goods hauling. My driving style means brakes last a long time-- my shoes got glazed over and the e-brake barely worked. It all came apart after 15 years, the shoes were $12, the hardware similarly cheap, and it worked like a million bucks afterwards. What's funny is I'm pretty sure they use the same shoes on the rears of minivans. Mopar, always digging through their own parts bin.

 

[spasm3]

Nice looking brake job. I see you used all new hardware! Thats the only way to do it. Nice job. Sounds like he thought a lot of you , and would like that you are driving his truck.

 

[HangFire]

Originally Posted By: NHGUY

Then there are the naysayers that say every Chrysler product is no good and to be avoided.Then tell me why most minivans have 150-300K miles on them?

I'll put my 20 years of Dakota experience up against all my friend's combined Chrysler minivan experiences. Maybe I'm just lucky and they are all very unlucky. Dakota's do have their flaws, I could list all of mine to you right now off the top of my head, it would take a few minutes, but in general they are reliable, easy to diagnose, easy to work on and parts are cheap. An all galvanized steel body and stainless-steel exhaust really helps value for the long haul.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: NHGUY

Then there are the naysayers that say every Chrysler product is no good and to be avoided.Then tell me why most minivans have 150-300K miles on them?

Good point. My middle daughter's hubby loves them, they have a Dakota and a Durango. Both are very inexpensive to repair, and their resale surprised me. Nothing wrong with Chryslers, some of us just need to disparage something...