I have wanted to upgrade the rear suspension on my Dakota for a while. The 3 ton springs were bone jarring and after a long trips you needed a chiropractor appointment.
I removed the old springs and replaced them with trailing arms that support the monster bags at the outer end. Built a big track bar to keep it all centered and its been great to drive.
I also swapped out the 3 ton Isuzu rear axle for a shortened 14 bolt with better gearing (4.11). The old gears were only good for about 50mph tops and now it tops out at about 75mph so at 50 its only doing about 2200RPM which should improve on my 23mpg.
http://www.canev.com/Dakota.html

BFN
Randy

 

Thats so nice

 

heck yeah! im drooling

oh and ev, your flares are they flat black?

 

On the 08? Yea, flat black. Just put them on and have not decoded if I will paint them body color or leave them.
Once its back on the road I will see.

BFN
Randy

 

Wow dude I'm so jealous a cummins Dakota the izusu is very awesome but the cummins just blow my mind I would love to have a cummins Dakota

 

looks pretty slick, i may have to paint my flares in my sig picture although it is not the most recent pic of my truck. its had a lift and few other toys since then. i think the flares wood look cool flat black on mine