Welcome to DF and the Dakota Family!! Only a hand full of us have been lucky enough not to experiences the bouncy ride...

Ranchos will work on the 06s. The part number is RS5757.

As for the difficulty, it all depends how mechanically inclined you are. The worse part that most have said, is the spring compression.

 

dakota Jim. I have the RS5757 (rancho struts) in a box right now in my garage. I am fixing to change these out this weekend. If I have time, I will take some pics to show you what this process looks like. The spring compression is the only thing I am not looking forward to. The rest is just a ratchet and a hammer!

I can only hope these new struts help my ride significantly. I go through about 3-4 cycles of bouncing on bumps going only 35-40mph! It's like I am driving a whale

 

Yeah I have a 30 mile round trip every day on the interstate and I can't take the bouncing over every bump and it's like 3-4 cycles. I'd appericate it if you post up some pics. I'm pretty decent with a wrench so I think with a little guidence I could do this myself

 

Uhhh not quite. Add ball joint separator if you are 4x4. And the nut that sits on top of the strut assembly uses a special tool too. A standard socket or box end wrench will not seat fully, and you may end up stripping the nut. I did, and had to cut the damn thing out with a small cutting wheel. Also, some people have complained of the lower strut bolt rust welding themselves in place. This process is a bit of a PITA, and not for the faint of heart. If you're not sure, take it in and have it done.

Oh did I mention the upper bolts on the rears use a special wrench too. Easily solved chopping a cheap box-end wrench in half.

 

Sorry, forgot the ball joint separator. What type of tool am I going to need for the top of the strut assembly. I have done a top of the strut mount lift for an 06 dakota before and did it with regular hand tools. I don't really have to worry much about rust as I am in Phoenix. Any heads up for this weekend is appreciated though :-)

 

The top strut nut CAN be removed with standard tools, but like I said, it won't seat fully. One of mine came off just fine. But I stripped the 2nd one. If you use a lot of penetrating oil, and don't have rust issues, you will probably be ok. However, the "real tool" is the only way to guard against failure if you do have a problem.

 

Has anyone priced what is SHOULD cost to have a shop do it??? It sounds like the right idea so I am not cutting box end wrenches and making tools to help with the five out project!

 

I have an 07 and I recently replaced my front shocks with the Monroes, I thought i had seen shops charging 300,. I would have been happy paying 150. Here is a review that i wrote...

Well, I just put in the front struts today,. I cant say they are 1000x's better but they are certainly a lot better than stock (what we should have had from the start).

I just had the dealer check the shocks before I purchased the Monroes and they said everything was fine. After taking out the passenger side i checked it and you could push it in and it would not extend as the old drivers side and the new shocks did. Its sad when a blown shock is considered normal for our Daks.

Onto the install.. I would not recommend this to anyone. You do need more than 1 set of hands as I found the Shop manual to be lacking in its procedures. I thought it would be fairly easy to remove and replace but a couple things to mention.

1. You are suppose to remove the lower end link bolt to allow the control arms to swing down to allow the strut to come out... unfortunately this was not the case,. not only did i need to drop the bottom end link on both sides and move the sway bar out of the way I had to remove the upper control arm bolt to allow it to move UP and the rest to move down to allow the strut to come out.

2. I understand there is a correct tool for everything but dang I have pass through wrenches and was able to use two ratchets when removing the the bolts as almost all were attached to swivel joints but dang....

3. Both shocks were so rusted in we had to grind one bolt off and the other we just ground the threads off before taking the impact to it and yes they will turn as you try to remove the bolt holding it in.

4. You may want to verify the shock or strut alignment prior to putting the strut back in as you do have a specific way to attach the new monroes and the spring but you do have some play in the alignment bottom of the strut to the alignment of the top so you could find yourself not lining up exactly on the U part of the strut as you try to put things back together.

It certainly can be done and I imagine one person could do it but my limited skills required 2 of use and a lot of time (took about 3-4 hours).

BUT,... I do think they are way better than what we got from dodge.

 

Agreed 07qc Dak! The only thing that was worse for me, was installing the top of the strut mount lift. That only required that the lower arm be moved further down!

 

Rear shocks i always do on a pickup truck, its fast, 15min job, all you need is a few wrenchs or ratchets and you do the job with the truck right on the ground.

Struts however....I wont bother. I'd rather pay some tire shop the labor that runs a special.

I just cant justify putting new struts in yet...I have about 40,000 miles on the truck, but I dont want to even think about it until 60,000. Unfortunately, when I hit rough spots in the road, i am jarred to death, and It feels like the front end is taking a beating.

But still....I soldier on in the name of denial. Here is to another two years or garbage struts!