I ordered a pair of '06 Ram 1500 strut assemblies from LKQ-Savannah this morning and they should be here tomorrow. The only unknown right now is that they couldn't tell me if they were from an '06 DR6 (standard RAM 1500) or the '06 DR1("Job Rated", aka, leftover '05's) Assuming they're the correct DR6's, I'll start by measuring, swapping and measuring again to give before/after height readings for folks that want to try this for the ride and for the lift. Afterwards I'll work on my "stock ride height" experiment which will take a while but I'll report back when I'm done.

 

For the lowering part you might want to talk to brian at slammed1 suspensions. He might be able to get you the drop springs to bring it back down to stock height or even lower. Hoping all this works out so i can start the front strut swap this summer. Good looking out on thisman. Appreciate all the work you are putting into this.

http://slammed1.com/contact.html


Laterz.
-Dan

 

I'm pretty sure our frontdriveshafts are going to be a limiting factor. Anyone know if we can replace our stock CV joints with ones less suceptible to bindage? Anyone make custom driveshafts?

 

tell me if i am wrong, but won't putting the longer ram strut increase teh chance of binding(4wd) if there is no weight on the tire andthe strutis allowed to fully extend?

 

Probably will increase the chance of bindage if it results in any lift which it should. Thats why I asked about better CV joints or custom axles. Another option would be to use limiting straps to keep the wheels from drooping too much.

 

My project is on hold for parts, mainly to me not doing sufficient research. The struts from LKQ were the cross-pin style. They were nice enough to give me a refund but didn't have any of the others in their nationwide inventory system. I called Rancho to get their info on Ram struts and was told the 4x2's got the cross-pin and the 4x4's got the fork-mount. Went searching again and found a set at a parts-recycler in Detroit [:-] I'm waiting for a call-back now to find out what the shipping is going to cost.

 

Well guys, I gave it my best shot but no easy swap. Basically, the Ram coilover strut assemblyas a unit is just too long. I'd like to apologize for any bad info I gave out earlier as a result of jumping too quickly with incomplete information. I'm going to tryand summarize everything here and add some pictures to illustrate;

Summary;

The Dakota uses a coilover strut assemblythat's 19" from top of the top-mount to the center of the bolt hole in the bottom fork mount. The spring rate is approx. 485 lb/in and the motion ratio is approx. 0.6(That means that for every inch the strut is compressed the actual wheel travels 1.67")

The Durango's and Ram 2WD trucks use torsion bar suspension systems and are not compatible

The '06 up Ram 4WD trucks use a coilover strut system similar to the Dakota. The assembly is 22" from top of the top mount to the center of the bolt hole in the bottom fork mount. The spring rate for the set I bought from an '06 Ram 1500 4WD is the same as the Dakota, at 485 lb/in. (the spring wire is thicker but the coil diameter is also bigger, so it works out the same)

What this means is that to mount the Ram strut assembly on the Dakota, you'd have to push down on the control arms enough to get a 3" increase between the mounting points for the strut assembly. Because of the motion ratio of the Dak, that would move the wheel down approx. 5". This doesn't work for several reasons, which I'll list here;

1. With the lower control arm forced down until the ball joint binds, there's only 19-1/4" between the strut mounting points. I used spring compressors to shorten the Ram strut but ran into the next problem;
2. With the LCA forced all the way down, the LCA angle was so severe that it interfered with the bottom of the strut and wouldn't allow the strut bolt to be inserted. Even if this were not a problem we'd run into the next one;
3.With the LCA forced all the way down, the extreme angle of the upper control arm would put it beyond bind and would interfere with the larger spring on the Ram strut assembly.

With this said, I see the following options available;

1. Wait until the '08 Dakota TRX4 struts are available from Dodge and use those.
2. Wait until the Monroe 71111 struts are available and use those
3. Usea Ram OEM or aftermarket Ramstrut with an aftermarket 3"x12"x500lb/in spring and modified upper spring perch.

Someone mentioned the possibility of using a drop kit for a Ram. I looked at what's available from Slammed1.com but their kits use drop spindles rather than shortened struts. I emailed them to verify and will pass on the info if they do have shortened struts.

The first two pictures below are views of the Ram strut while attempting to get it mounted to the Dakota. The third picture is of the bare Ram strut inserted, with a 2-1/2" drop spacer on top of the spring perch. This is the idea with #3 above, where I'd move the bump stop so it's above the spring perch and bolt the top of the strut rod to a plate on top of the spacer. Personally, I'm going to eat my losses on the Ram struts I bought and wait a while to see what comes available from Dodge or Monroe.





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well it seemed hopeful. Thanks for tryin that out.

 

Yea thanks for trying.

 

Damn!! i was hoping that it would work. i guess ill get on the wait list for the monroe 71111.

nice try though. we all appreciate the thought, time,effort, and cash you put out.