My 06 QC 4x4 has about 6500 miles on it now. I bought it as a new leftover. The truck has ridden the ****s since I bought it. I is going in Monday for all new shocks under warranty. I currently have the CCM Off road front leveling kit in between the top of the struts and the chassis. I'm pitching it and going back to stock height. Dodge doesn't want to warranty anthing thats not stock. I put 265/75 on it as well and I don't like the look with the front up. I went to have the wheels load balanced and they couldn't even attempt the fronts with the angle of the front shafts. Alignment guy took it for a ride and said it was the worst riding truck he'd ridden in 20 years. Last chance on Monday or I go Toyota after 5 Dakota 4x4's.

 

06blackdak, so the levleing kit you have is one of those kits that lower the entire strut?What front shafts are you refering too that prevented the balance? I had a power steering rack go and dodge claimed it was the TM leveling kit on my dodge dakota, but im trying to get to the bottom of this. So with the kit in, there is no way to have the wheels load balanced until you remove it?

 

Ok to clear up a few things, I did not notice a change in steering after installing mine. I honestly do not see any possible way the kit could hurt the PS rack if installed correctly since the suspension geometry stays within stock design parameters. Regarding the power steering rack, from posts other members have made it seems our factory racks suck to begin with so it's entirely possible your rack would have failed anyway MonkeyWrench.

I'm lucky enough to have a nearby dealer who is fair with warranty claims, they have actually replaced both my front struts under warranty while the TM kit was installed because they felt the shocks would have failed regardless after seeing how long it would take to get them (on national backorder at the time). It is very important on a 4x4 to install it using the new directions from TM's website: http://www.trailmastersuspension.com...ions/DL223.pdf Since the strut has a minimum and maximum extension and the spacer is installed inside the strut using this method it is not possible for the suspension to travel farther downwards than it could stock from the factory preventing axle bind issues that can occur if the spacer is installed on top.

 

I have a kit that sits on top of the strut and lowers the whole assembly 2 inches. Basically it sits in between the strut and the truck chassis. It doesn't affect the ride at all. however, When I took the truck to get load balanced the shop didn't want to do the front tires because of the angle of the front driveshafts. That could be a local thing here in Hilbilly land though, Other shops may do it differently than mine. I didn't care because I'm suremy shake is shock related now. The springs are so stiff the shocks and struts can't settle the truck on uneven pavement. Instead of a firm ride I get the **** shaken out of me even afterdriving over a McDonalds straw. The truck has been that way since new. My kit didn't affect the steering or ride at all. My service guy said that they would replace the shocks and struts under warranty even though the kit was there. It shouldn't have affected anything. (I also told them I had a good price on a new Toyota if they didn't fix it. After 5 Dakota 4x4's they listened quick) I'm getting rid of the kit though. I don't need it, and I don't like the way the truck looks like it is sagging with any wieght at all in the back.I'd say you got a junk rack on your truck though.

 

I did not get an alignment, but I will, I know I have to. I will post some pics. The ride its not bad at all, I used to have a 2003 ranger before this truck and that was a bad ride, I felt it would knock my teeth out every time I went through a pot hole.

 

I also Have the TM kit. I noticed no difference in ride. I would however get the new struts and put them in at the same time. Also my TM kit is installed the old way, not according to the new directions.

 

I tried to install this auto springs kit thats basically the same as a ready lift/ rough country kit with my friend today on his 05 dakota. We removed the sway bar link, removed the bottom strut bolt, disconnected the upper a-arm and knocked the ball joint out, unbolted the 3 upper strut mount bolts and yanked out the strut. We put the 2" spacer kit on the strut, threw her back in and started bolting the kit back up.

Leveling kits are just horrible. I never did mine myself,(i had a shop do it)but we learned that this kit really throws things off. For starters, to put the strut back on, the strut actually needs to be slightly bowed. Most wont realize this, but when mounting the top, then trying to get the lower strut bolt on, you need to give it a push to line it up. the strut bows quite a bit, for you to be able to get the bolt through. The ball joint on the upper a arm needs to be forced down way to far to be connected back up, and the a-arm practically swings into the path of the coil spring. When finally getting this stuff back together, the ball joint on the upper a-arm stays near maxed, pointing its bolt to the front of the truck. The power steering rack also is forced forward twoards the front of the vehicle.

My buddy decided to stop there. Even though, when the truck was back on the ground with full weight on the front end, some of these problems might has lessened slightly, articulation would still cause the strut assembly to bow when the lower a-arm drops. On top of this the sway bar would not line up correctly to install it back onto the lower a-arm. My friend kept saying "well ifwe remove the power steering rack from the arm, then we might be able to get it to line up. My response was, then we will never get the power steering rack to mount up again. The stock geometry was f*cked at best.It didnt matter how much we attempted to raise the lower a-arm up to try to get everything kosher. This was a full 2.5" kit Perhaps the TM kit since its only 1.5" is not as bad, but any extra length of the strut will cause all these problems to some degree. I'm sure we could have forced this puppy on if we reallly went nuts with pry bars and such.

I promised pictures of a 2.5" lifted dakota on one of these threads discussing this, but unfortunatley thats not going to happen. He took the spacer out, and the strut didnt bow, and everything went back together without the use of pry bars, or any forcing, the steering rack arms sat straight, no force on them, the sway bar lined right up, ball joints for upper arm lined up and sat right. Everything looked great.

I am not trying to step on any toes, I just wanted to share my experience.

 

Yikes, that's never good. As I said before though if you install the TM kit to the new directions it stays within stock geometry because the spacer is inside the strut. My dealer installed mine while replacing a strut under warranty and I asked the shop techs if they thought it could cause any problems they said they didn't see how it could other than making the struts slightly easier to blow.

 

Would our trucks need an alignment after removing and replacing the same strut? We looked and tested his truck when it was back together and it seemed normal, but you cant really tell by that.

 

Given everything you have to take apart to get the strut out I'd think an alignment would be a good idea but I don't know if it's necessary or not.