A week ago, I traded my 06 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited for an 05 Dakota Quad 4.7. Now that I have read this forum (and others), I think that I made a bad decision.

How is the 05+ dakota the most neglected truck in the world when it comes to aftermarket? It has the power and size that it needs to be a beast.

Anyways, I haven't even seen any custom lifts besides the Dakota MX warrior and some other dodge concept. You mean to tell me that nobody has done a SAS on a newer dakota, or even just put some bigger leafs and custom coilovers? I assume that it is mainly the steering issue?

I am going to do a custom lift around 6" with 35s and I plan on documenting it well to help the community, but I would like to get as much info as possible before starting the build.

For starters, what is the width of the rear 9.25 and is it common with the previous dakotas?

Sorry for the rant.... Thanks

 

Most of us just did 2" leveling kits and 1" or 2" rear blocks, and then bigger tires.

Boring.

The rear is no problem, can add leaves, put a large block, we have shocks available to accomidate a 6" lift on the market, through rough country, but can also use ford super duty shocks if someone was doing a lift of 2"-3" in the rear.

The front is the problem...

We are dealing with rack and pinion steering, and a front wishbone suspension that is usually on a 4x2, on our 4x4s

But, other companies have made lift kits for trucks with the same front end as ours, so I think it also has to do with the popularity of the truck.



What are you thinking? Solid front axle?

 

What solid axle would you use? An old SFA Ram I think would be way too wide, and a Toyota or Ranger too narrow.

Ram struts are signifcantly larger than Dakota struts.

The front end is already weak, and flexing the ball joints and tie rods will shorten their lives even more.

I think the best custom approach would be tubular a-arms with aftermarket ball joints. Custom offset hubs/spindles, a differential drop, probably a custom front prop shaft, better CV axles, and some steering modification to avoid bump steer. Not impossible, but way expensive.

 

I wish you luck too, I believe our axles are wider than the 2nd gens, I'm thinking some of the older full size trucks might be about the same width (they've all grown over the years). Also the 2nd gens use a different bolt pattern than we do.

I think most on here have shyed away from a true lift due to the expense of having to do a custom set up. As mentioned lift kits have been made for other trucks with the same type of suspension setup we have in the front (the new Sierras/Silverados come to mind) but we somehow ended up as the red-headed stepchildren of the industry as far as aftermarket support is concerned. I think there's a market out there for a good lift but the suspension companies disagree. Beyond that I haven't done too much research into it myself, I'm planning on going lower

One company does have most of the parts for a suspension lift out but I would recommend against it as it's put out by Chassis Tech which is a division of AIM industries (Plenty of horror stories to be found on them, I linked a few in another thread recently they even tried to sue a forum for users recommending against their products).

Welcome to DF! If you are successful patent it and make a kit

 

Thanks for all the info guys. I understand that the IFS is weak and the steering would be a big deal. I would get rid of all of that and put a solid front axle (probably a Dana 44). Then I would have to choose between leaf springs (easier) or a 4 link front with aftermarket coilovers (bad@ss). Also, the steering would have to be completely changed out to some box hydraulic steering or something. I have a bunch of mechanics that work with me who could help with the custom stuff. I would prefer for the wheel well to be able to take the tire so I am not going too big. I don't like the lifts where the tire has to remain below the wheel well it is so big... Any info at all would be helpful as I am now looking for donor axles.

Thanks

 

If we could get some longer upper control arms, (which AIM Industries already sells for our trucks) we could put a bigger "leveling" kit in (or that style lift spacer), then all we would need is a diff drop and tie rod ends that are angled to correct geometry, like on alot of lift kits.

If we could get those few items fabbed, 4x4 and 4x2 guys could probablly have a 3"-3.5" lift kit.

Then throw in your 2" block or add-a-leaf to the rear end and call it a day.

This seems impossible? I can't believe we don't have a kit yet.

 

I can't believe that they don't have a kit yet, either. However, from an individual fab standpoint, it would make way more sense to do an SAS if you were going to fab that much stuff anyways...

 

Hey everyone,

Just an update. I think that I am about to pull the trigger on one of those new Jeep JK Rubicon front axles. I just need to know the width of the rear 9.25. I looked through the fsm but couldnt find it. I guess I will just measure but I really want to make sure. I think that the JK 44 may be a bit smaller which is ok because I need adapters for the wheels anyways and that would add 2" to the width. It is a dana 44 with 4.10 gears and an electric locker. Here is a bit of info on it:

http://blogs.4wheeloffroad.com/62325...les/index.html

Let me know what you think... Since the truck is so new i really dont want to do a junk yard axle...

 

Sounds like a good option, the only thing I might worry about is extra stress on the steering rack due to the wheels being 2" further out from the pivot point. I don't know if it will really add much more stress but could be something to keep an eye on. Keep us updated!