I still say all you need to do is get the travel and rebound info off the stock shocks and find a 'universal' aftermarket replacement within those same parameters. Whether that be Bilsteins, KYB, Ranchos, or whoever. Wala!! You have new shocks.

Or, if you've lifted the truck, add the increased height to theOEM travel number and bolt those babies up.

Or...am I messed up? [&:]

 

That strut design would make this a huge pain.

 

Racin - I agree completely. I'll put in a call to my freind this week and let you all know what I find out.

I do have one other question for the guru's on this site - does the durango and the dakota share the same part number for shocks? I know that the gen 2 shared the same frame and alot of the same components, but do the gen 3 share as well?

 

I can tell you that I poked my head under my friend's 07 Silverado the other day and it looks like they're using a similar front suspension design. Might be worth a shot to see if shocks for those could be adapted or not, sadly I didn't spend enough time looking to tell if they mount the same as ours at the bottom (was getting dark out). I can say it's implemented MUCH better in theirs, his rides and handles great.

 

Thanks for the info. Now does anyone know if Dodge still uses the same platform for both of the vehicles? If so, the Durango shock maybe the answer to our question.

 

yeah but its w/e they don't really have any realy market for Dakotas...they have simple parts but not really alot...i mean they should make a division or two just for trucks, i mean they should make parts for the dakota as they do hondas...there is a lot of money to be made in this market if someone will step up and do something!

 

It'd be nice just to have a spare strut somewhere and go part comparing with other trucks and SUVs.

That's the advantage I like about jeeps...someone's tried junkyards parts and swaps for everything. Maybe one day our gen may get more support in this area.

 

I read on another forum that nissan frontier guys are able to take the front suspension from a titan and use it on the frontier. Why can't we take a ram front suspension and modify it to fit our trucks. Maybe not the differential or axles but how about the shocks, upper and lower controlarms, and the steering knuckles.

 

My buddy got back to me tonight and said that Rancho makes a shock for our truck. He said it's a 1500 series and is "soft" compared to Rancho's normal off-road line up. He said the Rancho rep he talked to said they had a 4500 series currently in R & D, but it wouldn't be in production until sometime after the begining of the year. He cross referenced the Durango shocks and unfortunately they won't work for us.

He told me that he wasn't done looking for me, but would have to take a break for a few days since he spent all day on this - he got behind on his normal job duties and has to play catch up.