yup that's me. i didn't wanna lay the hammer down on these guys and kill their dreams....but you are absolutely correct. dropping things and using spacers and such by use of brackets is no way to get any beneficial use out of the suspension. you actually have to redo most of the junk factory design starting with these crappy cast arms. but in their defense. most of them said they would be road queens so i could understand why they wouldn't wanna pay for something as intricate as long travel. skyjacker and all those companies are pretty much good for looking pretty on the street. in my opinion trucks equipped with Bubbas show and shine special ride quite terribly down the road. on and off road. the only thing the 4x guys gotta do is get some 930 cv to keep from binding. thats the only reason they want to drop the diff

 

I am not looking for rediculous flex, I just want the frame a little higher off the ground so that I quit dragging it when I go over the terrace in the pasture.

 

hrmmm leveling the fuel tank seem the way to go...cut the frame and remplace bodylift puck for a 3''x3'' square tube for bed....side to side

 

Well if the case is 90% of the guys who want a lift just want it to be taller and throw a set of bigger tires under it....it can be done the skyjacker way........it will just take some at home fabrication.....and just figure out the knuckle situation....some lift blocks in the back and some minor adjustments and you would have a lift.....If I had my own 3rd gen dakota I would try make one

BTW did you have a build thread for your truck? I would be interested in seeing what you have done.

 

im still in the process of building it...so a half done thread would be useless...also im still debating wether i wanna show the designs on the net for big names to steal or to just show the finished product.

id be more than happy to design just a basic 4-6" for you 4wd guys. problem is i dont have a 4by to mock with and i dont have the interest or money to do it on my own. if someone with a 4by is close to vegas and wants to swing by or send really detailed pics of everything in the front suspension. and pay for materials, id be interested in getting you guys up in the air. my money is slowly running out and if i dont get promoted to full time than my long travel will be put on hold and ill have spare time for you guys.

let me look at how skycrapper does their 4x4 ram lifts and post up some DETAILED pics of your diff setup and crossmembers and front driveshaft etc. anything you can think of. and ill start getting the juices flowing

 

Well when your done post up some pics...or one day Ill see it in person..I plan on moving back to Vegas in a year or so...

I was considering trying to work on my friends suspension...but the idea kinda fell through since he aint got the biggest bank account and its his DD. But your probly one step ahead having the equipment to do all the fab work. Plus Im out in BFE Hawaii...so no chance of someone volunteering LOL

I just installed a skyjacker lift on a 2010 ford...the way it was done was new kmembers bolted to the existing k memebers/lower a arm mounts dropping them about 6"s.....then spacers on the strut...and a new taller knuckle....now I was thinking if a fullsize ram knuckle could fit and is taller you could solve that problem....the diff was lowered by just a set of brackets and a spacer was thrown in between the drive shaft and yoke....

Fairly simple and it could be done....instead of struts...maybe could use an aftermarket coil over with an adapter to the strut mounting bolts....if they make a coil over that small......

I probly wont be able to build one....but I have some ideas Im willing to throw around!

 

yea im doin away with these crappy struts all together. the front will be these.

the picture doesnt show the coil...but theres a larger blue coil that goes into the threaded body for preload adjustment...

and the rears will be...

the smooth body version of the coilover shock.

i know what your talking about, the k members and all. to me thats just asking for trouble. your not gaining ground clearance or travel. all your doing really is spreading the axis points of the control arms farther apart...good for looks but back for actually trying to use the suspension. if you wanna sketch out some pics of the front end that you had in mind. maybe we can feed off each others ideas. ive got pretty much 80% of it ready to go as far as design. just gotta gather my pennies from the paychecks and get going.

pretty much the front end will look similar to this...here Camburg kept the factory mounting hat for the strut. but added an adapter to use for "eye" style coilovers.


im also thinking about going a little more extreme for added travel and cutting that hat off and running hoops. which isnt much more fabrication but unleashes tons more travel

as far as the diff goes....no lowering needed. gotta keep the crucial parts tucked up into the frame so it doesnt get smashed up. just need a pair of 930 cv's to solve that. those things are used in buggys and trophy trucks and take some serious angle abuse

 

DAMN! Some good looking stuff....Ive always wanted a prerunner..

IFS isnt my specialty ...since Im a jeep guy so you know more about IFS than I do

Since those CV's will solve the diff issues....

What if you could basically do something like what your doing....take some ideas off of quads or like prerunner ranger/taco suspension with coil overs. I dont really know how you lift IFS with coils.....push the A arms down? Would have to make like those bent A arms so they are level on ground.

The issues you would have to solve then would be the steering from binding....and making A arms...Im sure the 4x4 is similar to the 2x4....I know my hemi ram 2x4 wreck outside the hubs have splines to accept shafts and the suspension looks the same as 4x4 just missing a diff and mounts.

The skyjacker was just easy...put together stupidly but easy....like you said made to go high...but not good to go 4x4.

 

the front suspension is the same between 2wd and 4wd...hell. mines a 2wd and my knuckles are splined for a front axle haha.... in reality you could put everything im building onto a 4wd truck and only need to by the 930 cv assembly and some 3" extended 300m 33 spline axles.

steering is a breeze. pretty much everything from the tie rod out will be replaced with these



and the only way to TRULY lift IFS is to add taller coilovers or lower the mount for the factory coilover downward. the a arms dont HAVE to be parallel to the ground at ride height. that just allows for maximum travel...were talking like 19-30 inches. nowhere near daily driver status. im looking at around 18 i hope..

 

Keep up the good work with the long travel! I found a place that says they are realeasing lifts for our 3rd gen daks around March, and one of the kits would be a long travel. The guy said it would replace the coilovers with longer ones and give like a total of 12" of travel. 18 is impressive!