I know the cab body boltshave 12mm threads, and the bed bolts have 10mm threads. But does anyone know the pitch? 12x1.0, 12x1.25, 12x1.5? I know the diameter and the length of the bolts...but need the pitch. Anyone know off-hand? Else, I'll have to pull one of each off the truck and go match it up at the store. Removing my body lift this weekend; need correct length bolts.

 

it probably wouldnt hurt just to buy all new bolts. the ones that are on there are over ten years old and im sure have been stressed over the years.

 

That's what I'm trying to do...just need the thread pitch.

The ones that are on there came with the lift. They're only 2 years old, but they're obviously too long to re-use (without the lift). The the previous owner did not keep the original bolts, so I've got to get new ones.

 

ahhh i see. are there any stickers or logos as to who is the manufacturer of the lift kit? maybe you can contact them.

 

No, I can't tell who made it. It's no big deal -- I'll just pull one of the bed bolts and one of the body bolts and go to Lowes and match up the threads. I doubt I'll ever have to do this again, but just to be sure, I'm going to buy stainless bolts...so hopefully nothing will get corroded. The Dakota is our third vehicle, so I can leave it set a few days while I've got body bolts missing on it to try to match them up.

 

Well, I can answer this question now.

The body bolts are 12mm - 1.75 x 80mm. The bed bolts are 10mm - 1.5 x 30mm.

It took me about 2 hours start to finish to remove the bed lift. That includes messing a little bit with the spare tire, taking the bumper off, etc. I did that last night. I took about 3 hours start to finish to remove the cab lift. The biggest pain was removing that silly steeringshaft extension and the brackets for the fan shroud and front bumper.

The truck is now back down to where it should be, and I drove it this evening and boy does it drive nice. The handling is much better too (lower CoG).

The last issue is with the rear bumper. The dual exhaust was installed after the lift was installed -- so it's tucked up real nice to the bottom of the bumper...raised 3". Now I can't put the bumper back on the stock mounts because the exhaust is in the way. Should be no big deal -- any exhaust shop should be able to lower the exhaust in less than an hour.

I REALLY like the new tires and their size with the truck back down where it should be. The tires look real nice now. I may even lower the rear 1". But not now. Next truck project is paint restoration. Chipping/fading/cracking on the roof top. And general paint restoration needed everywhere else (tree sap spots, swirl marks, small scratches, etc). It looks great from 20 feet, but up close, the paint's not all that great.