so i guess from what im reading is that all the major lift companies arent selling kits for us because our steering problems? if thats the case why doesnt someone do a hydraulic steering fab up or maybe even just some beefed up parts to fix that problem? ive seen some daily driven off road rigs that have a simple setup with some beef tie rods and stuff. im sure if we did that we could do ex. control arms or even a coilover lift in the front.....right?

 

it's all about the moneys. to make it work would be mucho expensive and not many people are gonna buy a lift kit with a 5K price tag. Hydraulic assist or full hydro on an independent suspension sounds like an easy way to kill lots of other components, then there's the DOT standards and all that BS. the list goes on.

 

yea i was kind of thinking about that in the back of my head. so what exactly is the issue with our steering that is not letting companies produce a kit?

 

I don't think steering is the real issue. I think they've just cut the dakota out b/c of past kit sells. Everyone will cry for a kit but not enough people buy them to counter the engineering and manufacturing to actually produce one.

If you really want a kit, I'm convinced that most of the components from a second gen will work (Rancho's 2.5 that is). The biggest obstacle to climb is lowering the drivetrain. Only parts I'm concerned with are the new knuckles and lowering arms. The brackets to lower the axle I'm positive will work. Obviously, the coils wouldn't work. To raise I think the combo of R/C kit and TM could then take care of the rest. The steering from a rancho kit is solved by flipping the linkage on top of the knuckle.