I did a quick search and I'm only finding lifts and shocks. Not interested. I want to reduce body roll and improve turn in. I know it will never be a Viper especially since the damn thing weighs 4700 lbs.

Shocks and struts would help somewhat but does anyone make stiffer polyurethane bushings? The shocks will eventually need to go as they are too soft.

 

After market shocks will most def help with body roll.
Not sure if anyone makes heavy duty sway bars for our truck, but i have been looking for those myself.

I guess you can always start cutting off chunks of metal as a weight reduction JK..

 

What the hell? I bought an '02 Sentra Spec V (intro year). The motor blew twice. Once at 25k and again at 93k. There were no aftermarket parts for it. The Dakota is in its 3rd generation with 2 yrs under the hood. I made sure of that after the Nissan crap.

Someone needs to get on the ball with the aftermarket pronto!!!

By the way, I've not seen a 3rd gen marked as Sport. Is it just my area or has it been discontinued?

 

It may just be your area, I see them around here every now and then. Here is an '08 sport on ebay...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Dodge...fCarsQ5fTrucks
And the aftermarket is definitely slacking when it comes to these trucks for some reason. I guess they think there isn't enough demand. Their loss.

 

Wow, ok. I've only seen 1st and 2 gens with the sport tag. Now if they left it off or ripped it off, I don't think I'm smart enough to notice.

So, what's the difference between an ST and Sport? I think I answered my own question.

http://trucks.about.com/od/2007dodge...ta_pricing.htm

2008 Dodge Dakota Sport Extended Cab and Crew Cab
The Dakota Sport trucks kick up the standard features one more notch:

•a body-color grille with chromed billets
•Sport decals
•17-inch machined and painted silver wheels
•P265/70R18 BSW on/off-road tires
•3.55 rear axle ratio
•two-tone, embroidered cloth bucket seats with taller side bolsters
•a leather-wrapped steering wheel
Dodge Dakota Sport Options


•red or gray interior accents (on cloth inserts and stitching on seats, on center console lid and steering wheel
•18-inch black-painted wheels



Now I have a different set of questions.
1) Where's the Sport???
2) Painted grill,stickers, wheels, two tone seats, and a leather steering wheel. Is this a Dodge forum or a Honda forum? How does any of that make it sport, faster, or handle better?
3) Where's the tighter bushings, bigger air intake, cat back exhaust, or even light weight lugnuts?
4) Did I ask where the sport is?????

 

I thought that two tone seats and sport decals were good for at least 10 hp at the wheel. And don't those giant r/t decals on the 3rd gen give you about 15 hp by themselves? I think i figured out what my next upgrade is going to be now.

 

Damn, so it is a Honda site.

 

Unfortunately you missed all the aftermarket support by a gen. There is a lot of stuff available for the 2nd gens but we're pretty much the red-headed stepchild when it comes to the aftermarket. The shocks will help, I don't think anyone makes a kit of necessary poly bushings but you might be able to find enough to piece one together if you know all the right sizes. I tried to find a swaybar upgrade awhile back and had no luck, if you come across one be sure to let us know!

There is also the option of lowering shackles to level out the rear with the height of the front end, it's not much but it may help a little. I believe SpringTech makes them

 

I used to be an autoxer. Can't do that with a truck (by the rules) but that doesn't mean I don't try. Ever been to the Tail of the Dragon in NC/TN? 319 turns in 11 miles. I've been twice since getting the truck, both times I was slowed down by the crotch rockets. Did I mention it's a Quad Cab with the 3.7L engine? Stupid crotch rockets.

I got rid of the gay Wrangler tires with the rubber band sidewalls. I went with Kumho Venture APTs. As with autox, the tires are probably the biggest single improvement you can make. They've helped a lot. Should have jumped a size or two to a 255 or 265. But I wanted to keep the weight down too.

Anywho, as I was getting to, I haven't autoxed the truck so I'm not sure if it understeers or oversteers. It seems to want to understeer. Now that I think about it, it wants to understeer a good bit. Leaving the rear higher I would think would help get it to neutral or oversteer. In the Sentra I had the ream beam bent to take the tow out. I kept like 1/16th of an inch tow just so it would understeer a shade on the highway. Mess with the air pressure in the tires a little and I could "drift" in a FWD car. Gotta get that rear to rotate to do well in autoxing.

With a RWD/4x4 I'm not bending any ream beams. Any of you guys know if it's 4 wheel alignment or 2 wheel alignment on the Daks? The Sentra had no adjustment for camber; do we?

 

Our trucks allow adjustment of caster, camber and toe. Rear alignment is only possible by loosening the u-bolts, as with any stick-axle leaf-sprung vehicle.

Camber is adjusted via the cam bolts in the lower control arm.

There is almost zero aftermarket chassis support for these trucks.

I feel these trucks handle pretty well for what their size and weight, and once you get some decent shocks under them.

Most vehicles are designed from the factory to understeer for safety.