I have looked at the front suspension of our trucks and I honestly have no idea why there is no lift kit built for them. I heard somewhere that it was the steering system, and that I can see as being a potential issue, but I'm sure there must be a way to relocate that whole shebang.

There certainly is a flood of 3rd gen Dakotas hitting the road with the current incentives on them so maybe one of the lift manufacturers will be taking notice soon.

 

Don't get your hopes up. its been nearly 5 years, and no kits. I dont think this generation dakota will have another model year after this one either, its sales compared to the second gen dakota are horrible.

Once second gen dakotas went over to rack and pinion steering and struts in the front end, there stopped being lift kits for it. I think only early generation 2nd gen dakotas, with the steering box have some lift kits.

Lifting an IFS truck, with rack and pinion steering on top of it, is just tough. It involves alot, and its not like lifting a solid axle front end truck. It seems reliability suffers with IFS lifts.


I will put my money on one never going into production. Late model 2nd gen dakotas dont really even have a lift kit. What makes you think we will ever get one? lol.

Did you see Toyota made the 2010 Tacoma, BACK TO THE FUTURE MODEL? Its a 2010 Tacoma with a solid front axle, its awesome. Unfortunately it doesnt have plans to go into production, but if it did, I'd buy one.

http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2009/09...ture.html#more

I dunno if posting this link breaks forum rules but, if so get rid of it.

 

If that Tacoma had been on a lot somewhere when I was looking for a truck I would have snapped it up in a heart beat!

To keep this thread on track, I was looking at the newer Ford F150 lift kits and their suspension looks almost identical to ours.

 

Yeah i look at all these lifted trucks with solid front axles. I wonder why the mass change to IFS? Is it to make the truck more car like?

 

As was mentioned, the 2004to 2007 F-150 is IFS and has a rack and pinion steering system. Yet there are kits galore for them. My friend actually has a 6" lift on it that includes a rack and pinion drop bracket along with the transfer case drop bracket. My 1998 Ford Explorer had a rack and pinion steering system and I had a 4" suspension lift on it as well.

It may never be that our Dakotas have a lift manufactured for them. However I do believe that it is entirely possible to do.

 

Yeah but the F-150 probablly outsells the dakota 20 to 1. Maybe even more lol.

 

Undoubtedly, however there must be a market for this as small truck owners tend to look at off-road performance more often (proportionally speaking) than the owners of full-size trucks. Heck, the GMC Canyon/Colorado have similar front suspension and steering systems and have suspension lifts available. They are definitely not huge sellers.


Keep in mind, I know that our Dakotas are not really on the radar screen of the lift makers. All I am saying is that it is technically feasible and should someone ever make such a kit I would be all over it like white on rice.

 

soon as i start having problems with my ifs, im going to do a straight axle conversion with a 4 link setup and coils, similar to a jeep chrokee. alomost cant wait for that one, i have built one 4 link setup already on the rear of my 75, and love how it works...

l_88a3ad042d42410f8441abcf9ec77a531.jpg

 

Now there's a project!

 

i dunno how the dakota does south of the boarder but i now in canada they are everywhere 1st to 4th gen im sure if some one mad a lift it would be worth it for them lots of guys would scoop it up my self included