Trying to investigate creating a Dak 'PreRunner'
#11
07-25-2009, 12:47 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: N.Ridgeville, OH
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#12
07-30-2009, 12:25 AM
Join Date: Oct 2006
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Thanks man. Yeah, I was crawling around under a friend's 4wd Dak over the weekend. Completely different. I was hoping it'd be close enough that I could figure a way to frankenstein it. No joy.
While I was at it, I checked the supports and joints for the body panels for the front fenders. I won't be able to fab the Power Wagon styled fenders I was thinking of. They work so great on the old Power Wagons because the cab and bed are so much narrower than the fenders. I made some mock-ups to try the profiles I was thinking in my head. Again, no joy. I'd have to widen the truck about 4-6 inches per side to do it. Then to fill them, I'd have to be running some very fat tires. . . Icelandic 4Runner type of fat.
I'm basically back to the drawing board for what I want to do. I don't want to trad-in this Dak for a 4wd model, but I may have to.
The main reasons for this are:
Be able to Play in the Southeastern mud and sand and Georgia clay again.
Stop having to replace front-end components damaged by driving on the crappy roads around here. My old 4Runner (1987, 22RE) never gave the slightest complaint. I've broken different suspension pieces up front 3 or 4 times in the last 2 years in this Dakota though.
Gain some ground clearance so I'm not plowing North Florida sugar-sand (almost like talc) when I go camping.
Gain clearance for some larger tires, 32" maybe.
Lowest reason on the list is aesthetics. I like trucks that sit high. I hate body lifts, though. I had a bad experience. (I also learned why double-blocks are bad, on the old-school high lifts, back in the 80's.) I'll leave it at that.
I'm just so close to paying-off this truck, I don't want to start over with another. That would just delay the time until I would be able to afford new toys like lift kits, TIG setups, beverly shears, new bows (www.horsebows.com), etc.
Ok, I'm rambling. 3 hours of sleep spread across 2 days is very bad for not doing that.
While I was at it, I checked the supports and joints for the body panels for the front fenders. I won't be able to fab the Power Wagon styled fenders I was thinking of. They work so great on the old Power Wagons because the cab and bed are so much narrower than the fenders. I made some mock-ups to try the profiles I was thinking in my head. Again, no joy. I'd have to widen the truck about 4-6 inches per side to do it. Then to fill them, I'd have to be running some very fat tires. . . Icelandic 4Runner type of fat.
I'm basically back to the drawing board for what I want to do. I don't want to trad-in this Dak for a 4wd model, but I may have to.
The main reasons for this are:
Be able to Play in the Southeastern mud and sand and Georgia clay again.
Stop having to replace front-end components damaged by driving on the crappy roads around here. My old 4Runner (1987, 22RE) never gave the slightest complaint. I've broken different suspension pieces up front 3 or 4 times in the last 2 years in this Dakota though.
Gain some ground clearance so I'm not plowing North Florida sugar-sand (almost like talc) when I go camping.
Gain clearance for some larger tires, 32" maybe.
Lowest reason on the list is aesthetics. I like trucks that sit high. I hate body lifts, though. I had a bad experience. (I also learned why double-blocks are bad, on the old-school high lifts, back in the 80's.) I'll leave it at that.
I'm just so close to paying-off this truck, I don't want to start over with another. That would just delay the time until I would be able to afford new toys like lift kits, TIG setups, beverly shears, new bows (www.horsebows.com), etc.
Ok, I'm rambling. 3 hours of sleep spread across 2 days is very bad for not doing that.
