I have a 2003 Dakota with the 4.7 quad-cab 4x4.

Well Brief history....I live in Tri-Cities, Wahsington (Kennewick). took my truck out to the dunes and broke a cv joint. I replaced the CV joint with some brand i dont remember. Went back out again, this time the other side broke, caused all the bolts holes on the differential housing break. when i got it home the only thing keeping it up was the driveshaft. SO now starts the rebuild.

*edit when the first C/V joint broke i replaced both side. I got told that its best to replace both sides instead of singles.

1500-2000$ budget
basically i want to replace everything but at the same time do my lift and not sure about doing a straight axel or not.

1. So my question is where and what C/V joints would you guys recommend? hopefully stronger ones.

2. what shocks do you sugest? going to replace all 4 and something good for faster speeds off-road.

3. I know they dont make a lift kit for these 03's but i will do the brake conversion to the 02. WHich lift kit would you suggest? i just want to fit 10or12"x33". and are body lift kits worth the 250bucks?

4. Now i believe my last question is regarding the lift keys. I have adjusted my torsion bars up to the bump stops, i heard of people getting 3" from that but i only noticed about 1" based on the wheel well. how would lift keys affect that and achieve more lift? i dont see how. Also wtf is up with those bump stops on these trucks? one on top and bottom of the arm between the control arms? hardly any travel room.

Yes i browsed around and alot just want to have it phrased in my own terms and i appreciate any tips.

 

Well first jumping dunes can cause any axle to brake. IFS and even most solid axles.
If your going to abuse your truck like that just get 3/4 ton or 1 ton axles. Then your frame will be the weak point.

There are no upgrade CV axles. The most reliable place to by new ones and get them from Napa or Dealer.

Lift keys are really called Re-indexed keys. They rotate the bar so you can turn it more, which equals more lift.

 

Yeah, if you're already on the bump stops, you don't need to waste your money on reindexed keys! All they do is start the bar at a different orientation to twist them tighter. Honestly, if you're jumping your truck on sand dunes, it won't be long before you snap one of the torsion bars. When you turn them up your putting a higher preload on them... but that just a "pre" load, which means when you load them when the suspension flexes, your putting an even greater load on them. They aren't designed to handle that. It sounds to me for what you do that you need to get custom longer control arms and fabricate a coil over suspension. But that's getting into a lot of money. But, if this is the type of offroading you're into, you may as well spend the money to build your truck capable of doing it, cause right now its not, and you're just going to throw away money replacing the same parts that will keep on breaking.

 

well i guess to be more specific. I dont want it for jumping dunes and thats not even how it broke. THe dunes i was refering to have alot of tracks some sands and some just some crazy bumpy ones. I dont want it for the hardcore dunes just to be able to take big bumps faster and for climbing some hills. We have toyotas to break in the dunes lol.

My truck broke the first time out there looking for someone. Found a nasty hill i had to go up but we were taking it slow. There was a nasty bump at the bottom of the hill that we hit and it impacted the front end to much which in turn snaped the axel.