Diagnosis and Part Selection Advice:

How did you know this part needed replacement? Why did you choose a certain brand/part number?
!998 Dakot RT CC. 37k miles, truck was a bit scary on bumpy roads. Needed shcks bad. Read dakotaRT forum on delphi. A lot of talk on Bilsteins . Found information on the Monroe reflex shock.
Parts:
MONROE Part #911137
MONROE Part #911138

these seemed a good fit for the way I drive

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Part Comments

What came in the box? Were additional nuts, bolts, sealant, etc. needed for the repair?
Shocks were shipped quickly. All parts were in the box. One thing I noticed when I removed the front shocks. The original rubber and bushing washers are very substantial from the factory. I was impressed. The new bushings and washers are the standard issue I have seen many times. They look really minimal compared to the factory ones. Since this truck is only driven in the summer and had so few miles. I reused the factory wahers and rubber. They were in excellent shape.
I really think the shock manufacture should include near factory type hardware. You really have to see the difference.

The new shocks work as advertised. The truck rides and handles great.

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Repair / Installation tips:

Special tools needed? Have to remove other parts to reach this one? Any left-hand threads, sharp edges, messy fluids or other pitfalls to avoid?
You need a 18mm socket . The rear shock nuts are 18mm. The standard socket sets and wrenchs do not include this. One thing that is neat on this dakota was the upper rear shock blts nuts do not need a wrenc. There are special nuts with a built in bracket that when the bolt spins the bracket jams against the frame. After years of trying to get wrenchs into ridiculus access, this was a treat.

The fronts were easy as the factory A-arms have substantial bolts and welded in nuts. My truck does not have any rust, so removal just required a little shot of a liquid wrench product and the bolts were removed easily.