Okay. So, I'm no stranger to working on cars/trucks

Oh, Hi guys!
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Anyway, what I am a stranger to is doing any work on this dakota platform. Never touched one. The issue is, I can never leave well enough alone. I'll be coming into a 2004 4x4 4.7l Dakota in the next few weeks and already have started scheming.

I have a few things bouncing around my head, so here we go:

1. This whole torsion bar thing is highly intriguing. From the reading I have done on this and other sites, I can reasonably gain about 1.5"-2" from the stock torsion keys. this is enough to level the truck, most say. Yes, more stress on parts, yes, harsher ride.

Am I missing anything on that?

2. Rear suspension. Do most people just level the truck? I have seen mention of blocks, or some chevy shackles or something to pop the back up a little bit and get back a little of that factory rake. Is this necessary? I dont tow or haul too much, so I'm not sure worried about it, but would certainly appreciate having the ability. What about adding some monroe sensatrack load leveling shocks? When I tossed a set on the wag it brought the back up a solid inch, and now it hardly squats at all when i hook up my camper.

Basically, what do we all normally do the the rear, if anything? I'm willing to spend a few bucks and a few hours working on it, but dont want to do anything too invasive because this is just a DD truck with a low initial investment.

3. Tires. I'm seeing we can fit something around the 32" size on a stock truck? So it's safe to assume with 2" lift, 32ish tires will also be good to go? My truck doesn't have flares, so they will be out of the way. What can be stuffed under this truck with just a torsion crank and a little boost in the rear?

Note: I plan to keep stock 16" wheels, I prefer the "stock but enhanced" look.

I know nothing about metric tire sizes, so if there is a size folks are running on stock wheels with stock backspacing, it would be good to know. I'm a fan of 33x10.50's on my jeep, but I'm not sure if anything close to that will work on a dakota.

Thanks!

 

Nobody can give me info on what the common practice is after cranking up the torsion bars, or what size tires will fit under the truck at that point?

 

Per the FAQ thread and other threads in the forums there are those that claim after cranking the Torsion Keys you'll get about 1" -1.5... about .5-1" is more like it.. (It was on my 97 for one side and could get a little more out of the right..

As far as tires some say 32" can fit with minimial rub if at all any.. depending on tire i guess. I'm in process of upgrading rims tires myself and this was my question too..

33" if you put a body lift on...

Other than that its random on what the ill effects if any are.. I've rank cranked for 3 years.. nothing 'new' has poped up on my suspension that was not already there.

 

The solution is simple. Take the axles out of your Wagoneer and stick them under your Dakota.

 

Right?

So I'll take that as an offer for you to come help me with all the labor since you'vce been through the process. I'll provide the beer and pizza!

Currently the wag (1973) has a set of D44's from a 77 wagoneer and 74 Narrow Track Cherokee under it. For being a direct swap, that turned into a night mare of brake issues and other stuff. Direct bolt in axle swap took 15 months to get the kinks worked out and I'm still fighting with some weird brake stuff.

 

Wow. I'm an idiot. How the heck did I miss the FAQ? I did searching and found a few of the threads that are linked in there but never actually saw the FAQ sticky. D'OH!

Okay, so, from my further reading, if "some say" you can fit 33's with a crank and some blocks or shackles...I'm thinking perhaps some 265/75/R16's will fit considering they are something like a 31.6x10.5ish tire. almost like a plus sized 31. I know 31's will fit as we had a set on the truck at some point in the last 10 years.

 

32" with cranked keys.. (What I'm going to be doing) and 33" with body lift..

Remember 31" was a stock option just to give you some point of refernce.. so up to 32" seems legit. a few here and there rubbbed on full turn but that's it.. I'll take it..

 

Send over the beer and pizza and I'll think about it while I eat.

Before I had any lift or leveling or anything, I was running 245/75R16 tires on 8" wide aftermarket wheels with zero rubbing. So I'm pretty sure the 265s would fit fine.

 

Great! thanks for the help guys.

So by all this logic, a set of 235/85/r16's would fit as well, these are about an inch more narrow than the 265/75/r16's.

Have I mentioned that I hate metric tire sizes? I shouldn't have to do freaking math with percentages of widths and heights and whatnot just to know how big it is. Sigh.

Gimmie a set of 32x11.50's or 33x10.50s!

 

So will 265/70-16s fit ok on a stock height 2WD V6 Dakota ?