So I bought the flipped shackle mounts that Crazy4x4RT mentioned and installed on his SAS Dakota. https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen...with-pics.html

I bought these without researching properly, as I later learned that I could not get more than a couple inches of torsion bar lift in the front via the independent front suspension. That means that rear would be lifted 3.25" and the front would be lifted only 2". That would be ridiculous.

I don't want to do a solid axle swap...err..well I do, but I can't weld and I am scared to cut stuff off my "brand new" rust free frame. So I am essentially stuck with my IFS.

Does anyone have any idea if shorter shackles are available that would lessen the rear lift? If I could use shorter shackles get down to about 2" of lift in the rear, I could use the flipped hangers I bought. I doubt that any such thing is available, but I figured I'd get a second opinion before I sell my flipped hangers.

In any case, I think it would be perfect to have a 2" suspension lift, a 1-2" body lift, and whatever lift comes from 32s or 33s.

 

Are you certain the shackle flip will lift the rear 3.5"? I did a shackle flip on mine and don't remember getting that much lift out of it (though it's been a while and I don't really remember). You can probably find some shorter shackles, but you'll have to match up the measurements to what you have as there aren't any listings anywhere for shackle flipped Dakota lift shackles. Maybe try some "lift" shackles for a Chevy? Summit Racing has a bunch of different ones you can browse through.

These look pretty short.

 

Well that's what Crazy4x4RT said about how much lift he got. Thanks for the link! I wonder if Ram and Dakota shackles share the same dimensions. At least, they share the same dimension at the hanger mount, because the Ram hangers work on Dakotas.

 

Those shackles should work. The most critical dimension is the spring width, and that's the same. As long as the bolts are the same diameter, you're golden.

When I did my shackle flip, I used Ford Ranger spring hangers (got brand new Dorman replacements for $18 each from Rock Auto) and stock Ramcharger rear springs that I bought off craigslist. The front spring hangers were fine where they were (front half of the springs were the same length as stock), but I had to mount the rear hangers a few inches farther forward because the back half of the Ramcharger springs were shorter than the Dakota springs. I still have 2" blocks in the back (turned "backwards" to correct the pinion angle after the shackle flip), but it all works pretty well.

 

Sweet, thank you very much! I'll measure my shackles and see if I can find short enough replacements to use my flipped hangers. Thanks.

 

So a torsion key drop it'll add an inch maybe