Hello everyone,

New to the forums. But anyway, I have a 2008 Dakota 4x4, and have had it for about 2 1/2 years. It is my first truck, after going through some horrible little cars. The truck has been a surprise for a mid-size. The hauling and towing capabilities came in handy and it did more than I thought it could (long story).

I am finally getting over my warranty concerns and would like to personalize it a little. I have attached a picture for reference.

What are some good upgrades to start? It is the Bighorn package and the bed cap came with it, so I have done nothing to it.

I do some light off-roading with it in Arizona and now in West/Central Texas, so I am looking into lifting it a little bit. I don't know much about this though. I called around town here and found a shop that can add up to 2 1/2 inches to the front and 1 inch in the rear, for $300. Is this worth it?

Thanks for the help in advance, and for putting up with my stupid questions.

utiZf.jpg

-Lou

 

Welcome to the forum! Nice looking truck there....kinda remonds me of someone elses on here.....$300 for the front leveling kit and rear blocks (or springs, however they are going to do it) sounds like a fair deal to me as long as that includes the parts. Is it a V6 or V8? V6 narrows the choices for engine mods, but I would definitely start with a cold air intake and performance exhaust. If it is a V8, I strongly encourage you to invest in a superchips tuner. Do some searching around the site for things. There is plenty of good advice on mods to be had. Again, welcome to the forum!

 

Welcome. I am an 08er as well (2x4) My first two mods were dual exhaust and mud and snow tires. It made the truck look and feel like a whole different truck. My next mod was the CAI that's homemade and wow what a big difference.

 

I wouldnt go over 2" Since its a 4x4, As it can cause problems with the CV's I hear.

 

Welcome!

Not sure if your version of light off-roading is National Forrest roads or making your own path through fairly level terrain, either way if you've considered upgrading your shocks and struts to Off-Roading quality than FYI right now a set of 4 Rancho's RS5000 will get you a $50 rebate back (the set of 4 will run you ~$300 +installation...). I believe the rebate ends in June?

One of the mods I did and really liked was to add the rear mud/splash guards, I personally don't like how the truck looks with just a set up front. You can have them painted to match if you wanted.

Here is one of the only pictures I could find showing them, looks like I need to snap some and update my album...

 

Welcome to the forum. If you are looking for more lift for larger tires, I would go with 2" front, 2" rear, and 3" body lift.

I have 2" front, 2" rear

and a 3" body lift for sale in the sales section.

 

Man, I sure like that bedstripe...here is my rear splash guards...

 

Welcome aboard, I'm sure you've gotten some ideas for your truck already by browsing around a bit. You can paint the rear splashguards yourself, they're not expensive.

Dakota rear splashguards

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Thanks for all the info, those are all nice trucks you have in your posts. I thought about trading it in recently, but decided against it. It runs well and is coming up on 50k miles with zero issues so I might as well ride it out for a while.

It is the V6 and I regretted that as soon as I bought it, and was one of the reasons I considered getting rid of it. But I just put it through a decent length road trip and bonded with it so I am sticking by it.

In Arizona, where I permanently live, there are plenty of dirt roads and flat scrub desert that I push it through, but its always dry, of course. Here in San Angelo, TX, it is wetter and muddier, so that is always fun. So I am not planning to use it to climb over rocks or anything, but still pretty rough ground. It is a rush bouncing over ruts and dips and seeing a cloud of dust in the rear-view. So happy I got a truck.

Thanks again for the welcome and the tips. I will go with the lift they offered and then go from there with everything else. I do like the rear mud flaps a lot (I always wondered why it only came with front ones) and that bed stripe is awesome as well. Where did you get that?

-Lou

 

Rear splash guards is my next cosmetic mod..they make the read and look more aggressive and clean at the same time. They are $40-50 shipped but that's Mopar so its a good price