Hi, been kinda lurking on the site. I would stop work on the truck until it can be taken to a frame shop, and get the frame straightened before proceeding. It shouldn't cost more than a few hundred to do so and will prevent problems down the road. Notice that where you measured from is right at the front mounts on the leaf springs, and the leafs locate the rear end on the truck. This is going to affect rear alignment and cause the truck to go down the road sideways. With the bed off, getting the frame tweaked will be a lot easier on the frame shop, thus cheaper to have done, plus all the parts you install going forward will bolt in correctly. Bolt them in now then have the frame fixed down the road, everything that gets bolted in now will likely be pulled out of alignment. This should be a really nice truck when you're done with it.

 

Hey Vimes, I agree with most of what you are saying, but I don't think that the frame rails are bent.. Just the two front bed mounts are shifted. When I took measurements from the center line that I marked down the cross members, everything was perfectly in line except for those two front mount "arms". I ran a string from the center of the rear cross-member to the center of the back wall of the cab and all my marks lined up perfectly. Diagonal measurements from the bottom corners of the rear window to the rear corners of the frame rails were exactly the same. I also measured diagonally from the rear edge of the frame rails to the center line marks and at each mark they were the same. If the frame rails themselves were bent, those diagonal measurements would be off.

I will take it to a frame shop once it has passed inspection and I can register it but if I did it right now, it would cost $200 for an in town round trip tow. Call me a cheap bastard, but if I can get it to pass inspection (They are mostly looking for safety equipment such as airbags, seatbelts, and stolen parts) then drive it to the frame shop after for an inspection/quote I would save that $200.

I did some frame pulls using a come along on the driver's side bed front mount and with some heat applied, managed to get it to move back 3/16th. Then I set the bed back on it and everything lined up. Bed is square to the cab, the bed to cab gaps are equal, and the bed is centered at the rear cross member. All bolts fit, though the driver's side front was tight all the way in. I will be taking it back off to get it moved a little more

The rear axle is misaligned though. Once I confirmed the measurements on the frame rails, I measured from the inside edge of the brake backing plates to the frame and on the driver's side it is 1/4 inch further out than the passenger side that took the hit. It would need to shift back 1/8th inch toward the passenger side to be even. I called up a local spring shop and they told me to take a close look at the eyebolts and shackles because it isn't common for leaf springs to bend laterally. Sure enough, I think I am going to need to replace them. Here are some pics, note the grease pen marks on both of the shackles. Insurance claim estimator's marks?






Driver's side front eyebolt. Spring looks slightly rotated


Driver's side shackle looks bent clockwise. upper bolt looks straight.

lower bolt appears bent.

Passenger side shackle. Spring looks rotated clockwise on the bolt. lower bolt could be slightly bent down.

retainer clips showing evidence of shift.

 

Those spring shackles are made of pretty hefty steel and they were twisted and bent in the accident. I can't see how those frame rails wouldn't be tweaked. I don't know what else you have to drive (if it's something that can tow) but a U-Haul car hauler wouldn't cost too much. If nothing is wrong, then you'd likely just need it the one day. Just a suggestion, of course.

 

Long overdue update:

So, I have been slowly plugging away at he truck but a bit lazy on the updates.. The holiday season took it's toll and Laziness or exhaustion set in. But I have made some progress and things are looking good so far. Here's what I got done.

After looking at the springs for a while I decided to just remove them and take them to a local spring shop for their opinion. Right off the bat, they said that the passenger side main spring leaf was no good. Either the impact or the tow truck driver had pulled the spring towards the rear of the truck unrolling the eye. You can see what he was talking about in these pics.


Driver's side

Passenger side (impact side)

So now I had to choose between getting new springs or finding a pair in the junkyard. I found that General spring had the best price at 360 shipped for the pair. They also mentioned that there is no difference between the 99-2004 years in the design of the spring, just different load rates.

I then went junkyard digging and found these from a 2002 quad cab..


Old springs in background, new in foreground

Pretty dang clean

Notice the straight bottom leaf on the new springs vs. the slightly curved bottom leaf on the old ones. I assume the new springs are weaker because of that? I dunno, I'm no expert on springs so if anyone could let me know.. I'm keeping my old ones around just in case I need to rebuild the pack with that leaf switched out. Also, the junkyard springs were $80 for the pair. I decided to go with them instead of new just to get it rolling again. If they are shot, I can order new ones and put them in later on.

So then I ordered a set of bushings, shackles, ubolts,and hardware for it. This is when the holidays hit and I kinda got off track, but I'm guessing it happens to the best of us, right? Funnily enough, I ended up spending the latter half of Christmas day knocking out and reinstalling the bushings.





In hindsight, I should have gone with Poly bushings, the steel sleeved rubber ones are a bear to R&R.

 

And here it is reassembled and waiting for the bed to be reinstalled:






After everything was torqued down, I did some measuring and the axle is now centered to the frame, no more 1/4" shift to the driver's side. I also measured from the center of the wheel to several points on the frame up under the cab and each time, the measurements were dead on.

The plan right now is to get it all reassembled, then take it to get aligned. I believe the frame is straight, but if it isn't, the alignment guys will find it, then I can take it to the frame shop. I did a string alignment to check the rear track vs the front and everything seemed to line up perfect, but I will take it in just to be sure.

I found out that AZ has a 3 day permit you can purchase to do just this. It allows you to drive to and from a shop for repairs and also to and from the inspection location. So, I won't be needing a tow.

 

Awesome job so far!!!! Can't wait to see it completed.

 

Long overdue update...

Well, I was sidelined from this project for several months due to needing to have surgery. I had fast developing cataracts in both eyes and it took a few months to get all the testing and insurance BS taken care of but there is good news!

The truck is legal!!!

I took it in for inspection to get the salvage title switched to restored salvage. I was thinking it was going to be a pain in the butt, but the officer just inspected it for safety equipment then signed off on it. so I am driving it around now but not full time yet. It still has some issues to work out.

I had to swap out the power steering pump because it was groaning constantly and sometimes the pump acted like it was running dry even though there was plenty of fluid in it. I put a junkyard PS pump in out of a low mileage Durango and it quieted down, but it still feels like it is running dry every once in a while. I am suspecting that I have some sort of leak on the return line which is allowing air to be pulled into the pump instead of fluid. There are no fluid leaks though, and it only happens after I have been driving it for 10 minutes or so. It's a gearbox system, so there might be something wrong with that also.. could use some suggestions..

I installed a cheap Chinese android head unit along with an MTX amp, Pioneer sub, and new Cerwin Vega component speakers in the doors. I took the speakers that were in the doors and replaced the ones in the back which were shredded. I did this while I was recovering from the surgery because it wasn't too labor intensive. Sounds great now.


I found a good set of the bigger folding mirrors from a 2001-2003 Durango and wired those in. The plugs are different, but if you compare the wiring diagrams of the older and newer Dakotas, they are easy enough to figure out.


Replaced the lower bumper cover with a painted one that was in good shape. The mounting tabs on old one were torn and the previous owner tried to glue it back into place


I used a plumb to measure off all the body mount bolt heads and marked them on my garage floor. I then measured between those marks and they all matched from the left side to the right. so I am confident that the frame is straight.

While I was under there, I spotted the problem that was making it look off.. The rear of the cab wasn't centered on the frame. It was shifted to the passenger side by 1/4 inch. After centering the cab on the frame, I re-centered the bed behind it and now the axle doesn't seem like it's poking out the driver's side anymore.

It was also shifting really hard and late. A quick adjustment of the throttle kickdown cable fixed that problem.

Problems I still have:
Power steering system intermittent groaning.

CV boot on passenger axle torn (this happened the day after I got it inspected. splattered grease all over the place.)

I also noticed oil dripping off the bell housing. I suspect it's gonna need a rear main seal.. I checked the oil pressure sending unit to see if it was leaking there and running down but it is dry.

After those things are taken care of, it's time to get started on the bodywork. I priced out how much it would cost for the paint to just color match the bed to the cab and also to paint the whole thing pearl white and it's not that much of a difference $300 and $450 respectively.. So I think I am gonna do the pearl.