Thanks. If your truck has rack and pinion steering, there is no suspension lift available for it. I think the kit I have only fits 97-99.

 

Interesting. I may have to give the Heim joints a shot. One more question. Are you running a track bar (Panhard rod)? I don't think I'm going to need one, but I don't know for sure yet.

 

any time man, and as fo the IFS lift for R&P steering, looks like im up a particular creek with out a paddle.. oh well though.. ill just stick with the body lift..

 

At first I didn't setup the track bar, I didn't think I needed it, but there was a tad bit of wobbble while going fast on speed bumps ect. I used a D44 from 89 Jeep Grand Wagoneer which came stock with a track bar. After a few months I just made a few brackets and welded them up and just bolted on the stock track bar which clears everything perfect. It holds nice and tight on hard/fast bumps.

 

Thanks. I guess I'll see how it works, then make a track bar if I need one.

 

Here you go. I bought the spring perches from Ruff Stuff Specialties (great people to deal with, BTW. I can't recommend them enough.) and just welded them on top of the axle (donor truck was spring under axle) after carefully setting the caster angle to 6 degrees. Like I said earlier, the sliders just welded under the frame rail. Because they hang off the inside of the frame, I made some gussets out of 1/4" flatbar and welded them to the inside of the frame so the sliders would be fully supported. I still need to make a small piece to put in the gap at the front where the frame curves upward.

IMG_0179.jpg

You can see in this picture that I also made my own zero-rate add-a-leaf by cutting the ends off an overload spring leaf and adding it to the spring pack. This gave me an extra 1/2" of lift (which I would have been fine without) and enough tie rod clearance to be sure it wouldn't hit the springs. Depending on any caster adjustments I need to make after taking it to the alignment shop, I may remove them later.

And here is the slider:

IMG_0181.jpg

I haven't modified the transmission crossmember for driveshaft clearance yet, which is why the front driveshaft isn't installed. Once I do that, though, it will bolt right in.

Looks like I need to get everything painted before it gets too rusty.

 

Cool, I'm definitely interested in seeing how the sliders do. Some say they might limit articulation.

I was more interested in the drivers side axle mount, I had to do mine half on the axle tube half on the housing. How did yours come out?

 

I did the same thing. I trimmed the side that went over the housing, then put the other side right up against the housing and welded them both, one to the tube and one to the casting. The side that I welded to the casting came out just as nice as the other. I'll try to get some pics later.

I don't really see how the sliders would limit articulation, but we'll find out. And I have a forklift at work, so maybe I'll try the lift one wheel thing.

 

I finally drove the thing today (just the 5 miles to work and I didn't take the freeway) and so far, it feels pretty good. The steering wheel is a little bit crooked, but that's just an easy drag link adjustment. The Ramcharger springs that I thought might be too stiff feel just about right.

Can't wait to go wheeling (um, after I modify the transmission crossmember and get the front driveshaft in).

 

So, just a little update, since I've been driving it for a while.

The Wagoneer dropped pitman arm is definitely the way to go. My turning radius is back to normal and steering effort is still good. It doesn't feel funny at highway speeds or anything, either (tested to 90MPH). It also allowed me to use a larger/stronger Wagoneer drag link end in stead of the smaller/weaker TJ end. The drag link angle causes a little bit of bump steer, which really doesn't bother me, but I may install a steering arm spacer block, just to make it perfect.

The stock front axle is bolted to the motor mounts and adds rigidity to them. When I removed it, I didn't replace it with anything and it didn't take long before I noticed a broken motor mount on the left side. I jacked up the engine, welded the mount, and made a little crossmember that bolted in between, where the stock axle used to attach. I've had no problems since.

The stock Dakota driveshaft bolted in, but wouldn't rotate without binding from the excessive angle. Some careful grinding got it to just barely work but I knew it would bind again as soon as the suspension drooped, so I ordered a new non-CV type shaft from Tom Woods with Super-Flex u-joints and that worked perfectly (after I changed the TC output yoke to a non-CV type). The Super-Flex joints cause a pretty bad vibration at anything over about 15-20MPH but if I'm going any faster than that, I probably don't need 4WD.

At first, I had concerns about the durability of the leaf spring sliders, since they have plastic blocks sliding on metal rails. I'm happy to say that after driving it daily for months, the sliders look just like they did the day I put them in. I'm pretty sure at this point that they'll last forever. The only minor problem I had with them is that the spring leaf hit the front part of the slider, so I had to modify them for clearance. This happened ONLY because I used Dodge front springs that have a downturned eye in the rear. I would recommend to anybody else to use Chevy springs instead so you won't have this problem.

Speaking of springs, the 2.5" lift Ramcharger front springs I used gave me approximately 8" lift over stock. This will be nice in the future when I get some bigger tires, but it's about 3" too high, IMO, for the 33s I'm running now. If I were going to do it again, I would probably use stock Chevy springs for 5.5" of lift and no slider clearance issues (not to mention, they're widely available and dirt cheap).

After installing the front axle, the brake pedal was a little lower/softer than I like. This was because the stock Dakota 15/16" master cylinder didn't move enough brake fluid to properly operate the larger brake calipers. I installed a RAM 2500 pickup master cylinder (1-1/4" diameter) to see if that would fix the problem, which it did, but it made the brake pedal too hard. The next step was changing out the calipers for larger Chevy K20 calipers, which helped somewhat, but not enough. Finally, I installed a 1-1/8" master cylinder from a Dodge D150 pickup and now the brakes are perfect. I did have to cut off the flares where the brake lines go into the master cylinder, replace the nuts with SAE threaded ones, and reflare the lines, but it wasn't a big deal.

I've since replaced the rear axle with a 9.5" 14-bolt Chevy. Now I have the same 6x5.5" bolt pattern on both axles without having to use any adapters. And I gained a bunch of strength in the process. The swap wasn't too bad. I basically just cut the old perches off and welded new ones in the right place. I had a custom brake hose made to go from the frame to the center of the rear axle and the stock Chevy parking brake cables worked fine with minimal modifications. Now, I also have 3/4 ton brakes all around.

About the only thing left to do is get rid of the blocks and add-a-leaf in the back. The easiest thing would be to replace the springs with 8" lift springs, but 8" Dakota lift springs do not exist, even custom-made, so that option is out. My plan is to move my spring hangers forward and use 52" Chevy rear springs (which are available in almost any lift at reasonable prices). At the same time, I'm going to flip the rear shackles, so I'm hoping to get away with using a 6" lift spring. Time to do some measuring...

Anyway, that's it for now. I'll update this thread when I do more.