I was jacking it up from the side. I placed the jack under the center of the truck and what I thought was the frame rail, but only the body was raised by the jack., so I've begun to wonder if this pickup has a full frame. Does anyone know?

 

Did you look under it and see? Pretty obvious.....

 

I have, but I just assumed it was a full frame. I'm going to look closer later today when I have time, but I thought I might find my answer here first.

 

To my knowledge, all Dodge Dakota's were body on frame construction. There are no unibody Dodge trucks that I'm aware of.

 

Thanks

 

i just went and looked under my 1997 Dodge Dakota. It looks like it has a full frame, but when I stick a jack under the frame by the extra cab section of the body, it only jacks up the body. The wheels don't leave the ground.

 

If you truly are on the frame and it only jacks up the body, sounds like your frame is broken. Or you're not actually on the frame.

 

Just so I know I'm thinking Right. When I rotate the tires on my girlfriend suv. It's a 1995 GMC Jimmy. I place the jack between the front and back doors, under the frame. Basically centered. I jack up one side of the suv. Something similar should be happening with this Dakota. Right? If so I need to jack it and then get under it and look at the frame. I don't see how it could drive straight down the road if it had a busted frame. Which it does drive straight down the road. You can take your hand off of the wheel and it goes straight.

 

The wheels will stay on the ground until the weight is taken off of the suspension.

 

So if I want to jack the wheels up I have to jack from the axle?