1999 dodge dakota

question. A 99 dakota came into the yard i work at the other day so i walked over and fired it right up. drove it around and went through all the gears. the yard wants $700 for it and even if it blew up tomorrow I could get at least $500 out of it in scrap/core value.

the truck: has normal dodge rust above the rear wheel, and fading/feels like sand paper paint on the roof but the frame is more solid than the toyota I'm driven now and the interior is cleaner. its got a 3.9 v6 5 speed with 300,000 miles on it. came from a dealer who has a thing where if something past a certain model year sits too long or they loose out big time on promotional trade ins they automatically sell to the yard. the only reason they got it was it hit exactly 300k and guy said its time for something new.

my plans: find pieces of scrap and make a scrapping cage for it add fluids as necessary but spend almost nothing on maintenance. unless the parts come from a scrap truck (we get a lot of dakotas come in) if its not needed to perform driving IE radio, AC, windows, body parts, creature comforts, i would either take them out as they break or just let them be broken. Use it to tow a s-10 pickup trailer i made and make it my primary scrap hauler till it blows up for good.

with all that being said my question is do you think i could get another year or two (20-40k miles) out of it? since the body and frame are still good and not really all that old would it be worth it to swap engines with another (possibly scrapped since we get so many of them) dakota when the engine does finally blow? since its a stick shift would the tranny (except the clutch) last longer than an automatic? and if you were in my position would you buy it knowing that at most you'd only loose $200 if it blew up tomorrow?

Id sorta prefer scrapping in this truck since I only have two trucks. ones a brand new 2017 tacoma which already has scrapping scars in the paint and the other a 98 tacoma both have 2.7L 4 bangers and I'm pretty sure within the next year or two the 98 will need to go see toyota about the rust recall on them. so it will be either A) down for 5-6 months getting a new frame (and new seals in some parts) or B) turned into $4000+ cash money. either way that would leave me with only the 2017 and possibly an old m35 if i can save up enough before the taco rusts. right now i use both my trucks pretty regularly and could not imagine being down a truck for 6 months. your opinions?

The question is reliability.
If the truck blows up only a couple hundred miles from now, while you are using it for hauling, it's going to cost some $ to get it towed .

Where would i be able to test sample of the oils? We did this in the army but i was an operator and never saw it after the mechanics took the bottles. And as for scrap value we have a shredder at the place i work. They paid $300 something for it. It weighs 4460 with my ass in it. I know the core value of engine is $150 and tranny $50. Im pretty sure its got aluminum rims at $8 a piece core value, cat around $50 and brake rotors around 2-5$ each. Battery $10 plus other parts. If it blows i also like making trailers out of the beds and got scrap lying around to make at least two more of em. And as for negotiating price they might drop maybe $50 but they generally charge for what they can get out of it not what they paid. They'd charge $900 to an outside party. But i dont know maybe i do have more room to negotiate with them since not only do i work there i also make as much or more after work collecting metals i bring to them. So i guess if the trucks running not only will it make me money but them as well.

Originally Posted by Patriot76

Evidently you have thought things out. Sorry if my ideas offended you. Good luck and I will honor my promise to tone it down.

Patriot, I don't think you need to apologize for anything and I saw nothing with the tone of your reply. If the OP doesn't like your reply, he shouldn't post on a public forum asking for members opinions.

Originally Posted by Patriot76

Evidently you have thought things out. Sorry if my ideas offended you. Good luck and I will honor my promise to tone it down.

Not offended but the yard i work at is sort of in a pinch for money themselves as one of the owners is trying to buy out his share. Everyone else that works there pretty much has bought cars from there and he usually doesnt lower prices too much. I did like your idea of testing oil samples which is why i was asking how to go about that.

Originally Posted by ScrapmanIndustries

I did like your idea of testing oil samples which is why i was asking how to go about that.

Originally Posted by Patriot76

The disadvantage is that I do not know where they send them. I trust both because I have had positive and negative results from both.

This is one of the more popular ones. Blackstone Labs