I had 265/70-17 with 2" spacer. I had rub on the inner fender liner if I turned the wheel real sharp sometimes. I did not have to turn anything when installing my spacers. Mine were the nylon type.

 

Everyone will have a personal favorite. I have used a couple of the different aluminum ones and like them. The aluminum are a solid block of aluminum. Hard for anything to go wrong with that, steel can rust, plastic can crack and given enough salt, aluminum can corrode.
You wont have to drill or turn anything.

 

No, you will not need to drill anything.
You must be referring to a 2G (based on your avatar pic). This is not the case for a 3G Dakota. A 2" leveling kit requires a f*ck load of front trimming in the front for 285/75/16s, especially with less backspacing.
For the 3G Dakotas, you can get away with no more than 2" of lift in the rear before you will over extend the shocks. We had members claiming that 3" was so much that they would over extend going over speed bumps.

With 2" of lift in the front, very minor trimming will be needed for 265/75/16s (It depends on your wheels, and tire type. I had Firestone Destination A/Ts after my factory tires and I got zero rub. I then changed to a Goodyear Wrangler Authority in the same size and it rubbed, considerably. Keep in my, I was on factory steels at the time (16x7, 5" backspacing).

I have used two different kinds of leveling kits on my truck. Before Ebay even sold anything for a 3rd gen, I was installing this kit (which seemed to be the only leveling kit out at the time). The first was the Trail Master 1.5" aluminum kit. The design became frustrating after trying to "re-torque" the fasteners, per the instructions. You can't get a wrench on the heads of the through bolts while the strut is installed on the truck. Plus, it took twice as much labor to install.

Now I have the Daystar kit. This kit is the way to go. Simple installation, zero maintenance, zero problems.

 

SO you don't turn the strut at all? how would that work then? the bolts wouldn't line up unless you rotated the strut 180degrees where it mounts to the lower control arm. Cuz right now, if I put spacer on, then the new studs won't go into the factory holes if I didn't rotate the strut. CUz the new strut bolts would be positioned halfway between each hole in the strut tower... does anybody understand this?

 

HOW bad are these for our trucks? I literally replaced the front end (control arms, sway bar stuff, inner and outer tie rods, hubs, and cvs. I went with raybestos for the control arms, moog for the outer tie rods and end links, energy suspension sway bar bushings, Oreillys cvs, Timken hubs, and mopar inner tie rods. This also isn't always my daily.

 

I have 2 2nd gen Dakota Sports (one lifted 6", 33x12.50s, the other lifted 14" with dana70/dana44 high pinion and 35x12.50r15), a 2007 SLT, a 2008 SXT, and a 2009 SLT.

I bought the rough country kit part#397.20, and run 285/75r17 tires on the 2009 SLT. It is tight, but they fit and don't rub. I had 265/70r17s on but they made the wheel wells look like a giant gaping hole. I'll probably put a jeep dana 44 under the front with leaf springs at some point. I paid $1800 all together for the 2007, 2008, and 2009.

 

If you have already replaced those parts, you should be ok. Its the factory parts that get destroyed by leveling kits due to the angles it puts the front suspension and drive shafts at and the weak *** parts (made for a minivan). As long as your not have major articulation you will be fine. If your extreme offroading, be prepared to have things break.

 

Ok, so you will need to turn the strut mount. You will have to compress the spring to relieve the tension to the mount. This is just another step in the process. Or, you get the Daystar kit and not have to do any of this. Or, you can get the steel kits that stack just like the daystar kit.

 

I dont have an issue working on suspension, ill get the cheaper kit. However, my rear axle seal MIGHT be leaking. I'm making a new post about it tho.

 

I bought a 2" Level Kit for my 2008 Dakota 4x4 from Supreme Suspension, I paid just over $200 for it, I think $240, delivered waaaaaaaaaaay up to the Canadian Arctic.

It consists of front 2" lift and 1" blocks out back. I added a set of 265/75R16 Destination MT Tires on the sock rims, I am very happy with it.

You can check out my pics to see what it turned out like.

Lift is about 7 months old now and I have no issues with it. I am looking for some new shocks though and do a small build on it, which I am going to start in a new thread.

http://supremesuspensions.com/index....roduct_id=1570