Customer Reviews

Dodge Durango '04-'06 & Dakota Pick-Ups '05-'06 (Haynes Repair Manual)

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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have a 2004 Dodge Dakota pick-up and was told by Haynes Publishing to order this manual. I did, even noting the title listed by Amazon as covering the 2004 Dakota pick-up. When the book arrived, I was dismayed to find the manual covered 2004-2006 Durango's and 2005-2006 Dakota's, completely skipping over the 2004 year model Dakota. After contacting Haynes Publishing to question the error, they informed me that the 2004 Dakota manual was being published and was due out in 60 days.

I'm not sure when this was first published, but I wish I would have found it years ago. Even if you don't perform in-depth repair work yourself, a manual like this is a great refernce to have on hand. I use it to locate certain things on the vehicle, and to understand the repair work that I'm having done at a shop. As far as manuals go, I don't have a strong preference between Haynes or Chilton. Haynes won this time because I found them first.

I don't trust the information in this manual. It appears they did not use a Dodge Durango to research the instructions.

As an example: directions for changing differential lubricant says "If there's no bolt-on cover, look for a drain plug..."; the next sentence says "If there's not a drain plug and no cover...". This makes me believe no one even looked under the vehicle to see what is there. The general rule for filling differential housings with lubricant is to fill to the bottom of the fill hole, which is what both Chilton and Haynes (see below) manuals instruct. The owner's manual for my Durango states: "Rear Axle fluid levels should be 7/8 (22 mm) below the fill hole for 8 1/4 axles, and 1 1/4 (31 mm) below the fill hole for 9 1/4 axles" and "Front Axle fluid level should be 3/4" (20 mm) below the bottom of the fill hole." So now I know the authors did not thoroughly read even the basic documentation, which makes me question all their instructions. Too much fluid can cause leaks or even damage seals.

NOTE: The information in this book is identical to that in the Chilton, paragraph-for-paragraph, photo-for-photo, word-for-word. There was a time when these two companies competed against one-another and I could combine instructions to accomplish more complicated repairs. Chilton is now published by Haynes. (How unfortunate that they abandoned the Haynes format and publish the Chilton version under both names.)

I decided to keep this Haynes version ($5.00 cheaper the day I purchased them both) for immediate need. I will look for something I can trust for future maintenance and repairs.

If you have knowledge about fixing cars this is ok for refernce but not for beginners!!! The way things are decribed are too much. They tell you to take things out for a certain job but really there is no need to do so...

Just what its for. In depth enough to work on that Durango or Dakota yourself if you are mechanical. Comes in handy when the warrenty is up.

Ordered the Repair Manual

Received in a short amount of time

Would do business again!