no brainer. Especially as clean as that truck is, and such low miles. FIX THAT TRUCK!!! I actually wish I would have found something like that, when I was truck shopping/ Id have bought that in a second rather than going into "Payment He!!" by buying this 2012. I made payment #1 yesterday/ only 47 of them left to go. I havent had a payment since I paid off my Wrangler in 2005. I'm allergic to them. I have a 96 Dakota 4wd with same engine as yours, and 238K miles. I bought it 5 years ago for $800 with a dead transmission and rebuilt that trans myself, at 170K miles. Driving that truck daily, still. It's been demoted to my winter and "goin mowin' grass" b e a t e r. Only because the body "isnt so nice" any more. Id like to find a better bed for it. that trans rebuild cost me 1/10 of what the PO had been quoted. and that was with a shift kit, a fresh torque converter and even fluid.
the plenum gasket you are needing, will be literally another 15 minutes of work once the intake is off for the head work, "anyway"
I'd be taking those heads that you have, to the machine shop// to see if they can be fixed with a new valve or a few new valves and typical "valve job" would be much much cheaper than new heads, and with that low of miles there is a really good chance of that/ looking at new heads (and especially from someplace like Hughes) is putting the cart before the horse. Id let the machine shop tell you they cant be fixed before I went after new heads. and you can find reman heads cheaper than those new ones taht would be just as good.
Mind you, I know Hughes.... been to his shop, about 100 miles from me/and I have spent some money there over the years. almost anything he has, can be had (Identically) for less elsewhere.
He has a full complete machine shop, and I would seriously even consider having him go thru the current heads, if you're in the area. I've built a few of those engines, with all needed machine work done and no corners cut, for less than $2700. he's just a little far for me to take all my needed machine work to on a regular basis, otherwise I would.
The last one I redid, wound up getting new heads (EQ, same as the heads he would be selling you) on account of cracks and didn't even cost me $2700 for everything! including those heads. gotta be careful these days with those EQ heads //they aint what they used to be when first came out. I had a set that was bad, brand new out of the box. I wont be buying any more since that set without going thru them first// before bolting them on, as a result. I do believe Hughes does just that, with any of the new heads he sells. He calls them "Iron Ram" heads// but they are those same EQ ("Enginequest") heads with his sticker on the box.