lol yeah i dont think a company with a good rep for good quality parts will make a lift for our trucks 2WD/4WD...but we'll see!

 

if you guys are willing to drop almost 3 large on a piece of crap toss together by AIM than why not pool a fraction of that together and send to me so i can finish this damn long travel thats been on hold forever now. lol

Granted my truck is 2wd...and if you look at all the trophy trucks around they are too....so therefore the kit will be for a 2wd but the ONLY difference is the addition of CV axles. ALOT of prerunner/trophy truck companies make custom high angle CV assemblies for sandrails and class 5 vw's

so either way....the 2wd kit im building will fit a 4wd but taking care of the cv situation is all on you.

i was hanging out with Jerry of Camburg motorsports during his shop tour and i drove my truck down to cali from las vegas. at the end of the tour i pulled one of his master fabricators out to the parking lot and pointed out my concerns and asked all the questions i could think of at the time....he giggled and said its pretty much a glorified toyota front end. He also said that people dont make kits because the demand isnt high enough...and because no one is actually willing to tear apart the truck when ALL thats needed is a simple jig, some bent tubing, and some handy welding skills....which i seem to have all of the above...except for money lol.

so its not that our trucks CANT be done up. but there is no money flow and no companies willing because they see things in the big picture as how many kits can we sell....i see things more of being the first 05-06 dakota with a baja capable long travel suspension. I realize alot of you just want to lift your trucks for that aggresive look. but in reality, companies like rough country or superlift, make a good looking kit, but the second they hit the dirt it rides like crap. yall should youtube or at least browse Camburgs site. The kinda trucks they build, is what im doing to my dakota. I work part time and go to college full time so the cash flow is about 0....ive got measurements and parts to start wipping up longer control arms but being my truck is my daily driver....i cant really leave it torn apart for fabrication reasons.

Long travel kits DO lift your truck some....but more than that. they extend the track width which is most important for high speed off road stability. as well as give un bindable suspension flex. with the addition of fox, king, or my local FOA shocks. these things can soak up woops going 80mph and ride like a caddi.

Holy long post lol sorry. those are my thoughts....for your own sake. PLEASE stay away from AIM

p.s watch the feature video on camburg's home page. thats the kind of stuff the kit im building will endure.

 

you just gave me a chub with all this talk of a lift kit in the future

 

well like i said. what im designing being that i live in nevada where the desert racing scene is huge. the kit im more interested in making is for 2wd and only provides MAYBE 4-5" lift. its all about usable up and down travel and high speeds.

 

thank goodness i have the 2wd. i live in orange county so we arent too far from eachother just let me know what happens when you find out

 

good! then ill have to keep you updated and if everything goes as planned. ill whip ya up a kit for cost of materials and just sling me some beer money lol. As it stands here is what im doing:
FRONT
-3" longer tubular/plated lower control arms with 1" uniballs and limit strap tabs and poly frame pivots...(this will retain factory eccentric bolts for camber adjustment
-3" longer tubular upper control arms with 1" uniballs and poly bushings on the frame mounts.
-removal of factory tie rod and tie rod end, replaced with 3" longer tubular tie rod and heims end.
-(still debating whether to delete factory coil hat and include a weld on shock hoop for more travel. or go with adapter plate for around a 10" travel coilover to make it more of a bolt on setup.)
-2 gusset plates that are to be welded on the spindle arch for added strenth.
REAR
-custom 64" long travel leaf pack (hope you dont plant on towing much more than a single axle trailer)
-custom shackles to give about a 4" lift. these will be boxed for added strength
- custom axle flip kit (to move the axle on top of the leafs, those into prerunners will know this allows for maximum use of all the potential travel the leafs have to offer.)
-(still debating whether to retain bed space and go with a under-bed cantilever shock setup, or cut 2 holes in the bed and include a bolt in bed cage to allow long travel shock to be ran up through the bed, losing SOME bed space but not alot)
- 1.5" cnc spacers for the rear to pop those tires out a little more for added stability


Thats what i have so far. ALL the suspension arms will be made out of 4130 chromoly which is the industry standard for off road racing. The shocks im using are from FOA and are similar in design and strength to Fox or King but about a 1/3 of the price. You are more then welcome to run fox or king or SAW whatever your preference. and for the kit to function at its best. youll need to ditch the front sway bar....trust me once you do you wont go back. ive had mine off for a while now and im still on stock suspension. soaks up curbs and speedbumps at an angle with NO whiplash. but i advise to keep the rear swaybar

Being from Kali im sure you are somewhat familiar with the baja scene....so thats whats up lol. as of now i have some mock up upper and lower arms for test fitting. wont make the prototype R&D arms until i can get a jig going to so i can whip them up on the bench in a day.

Once the kit is done ill anticipate putting about 1500 miles on it on and off road to work out the kinks before i offer it to yall. dont wanna bunch of **** breaking and then ppl mad at me lol..or worse...law suits.

 

heres my mockup arms installed...these were my original idea of 4.5" wider..but would require fiberglass fenders due to the tires sticking out so far. had to support the tire with lug nuts because nothing was hooked up.

 

Looks good, would like to see what a final product would look like. Interested in lifting my truck but nothing available at a " decent cost". Almost temps me to just go to a 1500 or 2500 just to have a better aftermarkket...

 

Thats going to be awesome! Im warming up to the idea of lifted 2wd trucks. In reality, you only need 4x4 if youre going to be doing some deep mudding or rock crawling. A lifted 2wd would be awesome for anything with some decent amount of speed but when you need the added ground clearance.

 

which is funny because every trophy truck in the baja 1000 is 2wd and they go through silt, mud, sand, rocks, you name it. AND they dont sit that high off the ground. they have huge underbody skid plates and hydraulic fox bumps so they just float over the terrain.