Im in!

 

im in too was thinking a 4 lift in front and 6 in rear would accommodate most applications. there was a Dakota (2nd gen) in the shop a few months ago that had relocated upper ctl arms and lower to lift the vehicle with a longer shock set for the lift the travel wouldn't change with a setup like that so you wouldn't need a different knuckle. Any thoughts?? Oh but the cv shafts were the extreme angle cvs. Unless someone goes the route of a diff drop. I would be pumped if someone came up with a way to legitimately lift our trucks cause the setups we have know are all hokey pokey just my 2 cents.
Lance

 

Well, here's my thing: I feel that we should engineer something similar to conventional lifts that are out on the market. I feel that a crossmember, diff drop are in order.

 

I agree about all the other lifts. But if you did a relocated upper and lower control arm kit. You could Do a different lower cross member. Brackets to lower the upper control arm with a longer shock. Also if you did a diff drop you could retain factory cvs and with this setup retain stock ctl arms and spindle all that would need made are diff drop brackets new crossmember for drop and longer shocks which would keep the cost substantially lower to keep more people interested vs trying to engineer new knuckles. Downside would be that travel would be almost identical to stock. If you get too crazy and have to make new knuckles and ctl arms. Guaranteed there would be a lot of talk about buying the kit but only a handful of people have the scrap on hand to pony up for it. I would trigger up either way i dont have a preference but whoever develops this kit cant just sell 5 kits to even break even especially if you have to make new knuckles.
Lance

 

me i suggest 2 types of kit

1st that offer the 930cv joints optionnal for the 4wd. Longer control arms limit straps and fabtech ajustable coil over

2nd that use knuckles already used in a suspension lift kit if we can find withc one exactly and order a big quantity of them with rotors ans knuckles(i 80% sure its 2006-2008 ram 1500) and custom made the rest.
drop diff for second gen dak should fit (rancho tuff country)

 

loving the ideas guys! heres my concerns and problems:

@o6dakota: you nailed it. only a SMALL handfull have money on hand ready. and even those few theres a another few that are weary to buy a new product.

also. dropping the control arms as a whole = very hard to do while keeping factory alignment. dropping the lower arm, diff, and somehow doing a taller spindle i would call stage one cheapest for a 4wd dakota.

@dakkkota: im begining to believe the ram theory. im not about to buy a ram kit and hack it up like someone else has already tried *cough* id rather take the "idea" from the ram kit and do a bolt on dakota "made this way" kit where nothing is cut in half and re-welded.

also: long travel 4wd trucks are not uncommon. check out total chaos' 4wd tacoma's they stand taller than us AND cycle double digit numbers for travel. The problem is people not wanting to drop the dime on 930 cv's. They are about 300 a pair. but with long travel, there would be no frame modifying. the control arms stay where they are and are just made longer. think of a lever. this way would be the best for you 4wd guys. and almost a must for us 2wd guys.

again money is a huge roadblock in my book. the shop space is ready, the materials and tools and equipment we have. the 4wd truck we dont but i think i can do most of it off my truck. and my trust in my welds is not even a problem. so lets keep discussing budgets (what you guys are looking to spend) and different ways to go about making a kit to where yall can install it in the driveway and not require TOO MUCH cutting or any welding if needed.

so far ive priced out just the stuff for my 2 upper long travel arms. parts came out to be 400 and metal is around 100....not including time and labor.

 

NEW IDEA!!!! an even cheaper way to get a couple more inches.

2wd: ive noticed the upper control arm comes into contact with the coil at droop and the upper balljoint is a pile of crap. SO how about this:

"2wd cheap mans kit"
tubular upper control arm with a uniball for the spindle end and heims for the frame side. it might be .5" longer to clear the coil. and im thinking heims tie rod ends to solve that binding problem. than ill include a taller coil spacer. think 2 leveling kits stacked...except ill make one with my signature raw fab look lol. im thinking this might allow a 4-5" lift in the front.

same kit for 4wd except you would need to buy 930cvs for JUST the inboard side of the axles.

 

whats a set of 930 cvs run i would be interested definitley i would love to get 4 out of the front i already have 2 blocks in the back and oversized tires that would level out perfect.
Lance

 

930cv's will run anywhere from 200-300 each depends where you go.

thats why i said most of you guys wont want to go the long travel route.

 

ok good news. me and the co-owner of PD (projekt dirt) spent about an hour just looking under the truck for ideas. from the looks of things. we can go up a couple more inches from where im at now (strut spacer) before things start hitting. SO were going to replace the fat, oversized factory strut with a nice adjustable off road coil over. my choice is FOA because they are cheap, proven, and LOCAL to me. and since coilovers feature heim ends for mounts. thats not going to work with bushing control lowers and triangle bolt upper mounts. and the tie rod end almost comes into contact with the spindle casting. so heres what we came up with...

• (2) adapter plates to convert the upper "3 bolt" pattern to a heims (refer to picture, the 2 plates on top)
• (2) female heim tie rod ends with hi-mis spacers which will have to be flipped to the top of spindle and the spindle will have to be drilled out to remove the taper
• (2) flat lower control arm plates to convert from "Y" style strut mount to heim coilover mount. The sway bar MUST be removed because the conversion plate will need to be bolted through the factory strut location as well as a bolt through the sway bar hole to keep it extra beef
• OPTIONAL (2) coilovers included from FOA which will need to be nitrogen charged because we cant ship with them loaded up. OR you can furnish your own coilovers as long as the heim mounth width is 1.5" and the eye to eye measurements are the same...(which ill get the measurments once i start tearing things apart)

this sounds like a VERY do-able and VERY cheap 4-5 maybe even 6 inch lift for 2wd FOR SURE...and MAYBE 4wd. the ONLY thing that might bind on 4wd would be your guys's CV's but ill have to send a kit to one of you and let me know how it works.

the 2 plates in the top of this picture show the adapter plates to convert the top of the strut hat from 3 bolt mounts to 1 bolt heims mount for a coilover


tie rod end will be similar to this


heres the coilover from fabtech featuring the adapter plate bolted to it...