I have not yet given up on making the 3rd gen Dakota's ride very smooth.
Not everyone who has a Dakota plans to haul full loads & pull trailers.
SOME of us would like a Dakota that rides more like a Cadillac than a 2 1/2 Ton Military truck!

I know from previous post's and reply's that the MONROE struts / shocks make NO difference in the ride quality. (Stiffness)
I noticed that Auto Zone has added the Gabriel strut on their website for the 2wd Dakotas. Something that was not offerd when I first started this little quest. Gabriel shocks & struts tend to be tuned on the "soft" side, and I have had good luck & preformance out of the ones on my Trooper. (Now has OldManEmu Nitro's on it though)

Now, having all that junk been said, I KNOW FOR A FACT the COIL SPRINGS in the front are Wayyyyyyyyy stiffer than they need to be.
And THAT is where a whole heap of the stiff ride problem is coming from!
So,,,,,,I am thinking of this:
Find a Dodge Caravan (Or preferably a Town & Country van) in the salvage yard and get the front coil springs from it.
Use the Gabriel struts, and see how that goes.
.
For the REAR, I am looking into making a set of coil spring mounts and
completely removing the rear leaf springs all together. Make the trailing arms from tubing & use heim joints. Our machine shop can build all that for a minimal fee.
For rear coil springs I am thinking of factory orriginal equipment Isuzu Trooper rear springs. They are soft springs and ride buttery smooth.
If you ever get the chance, go test frive a '92-'98 Isuzu Trooper. They ride buttery smooth. If,,,,,IF someone has not swaped out the factory suspension for upgraded heavy duty stuff like mine is! But mine is an off road BEAST!!!!
Here is a pic of my 'Kota sitting beside my Trooper:

 

If your going through all that why not just link it and run coilovers so you can adjust everything?

 

Why not just get a set of springs from an 07 or older 3g Dakota? I belive the 08+ models had the stiffer suspension.

I owned an 05 and it was definately softer than my 2011. The problem with that one is it almost felt TOO soft. Shocks were just as bad if not worse than the 08+ also. It floated so bad I felt like I was driving a waterbed. I could drive over a bridge expansion joint or slow parking lot speedbump and the front end would dance up and down forever....

 

Coyote, pull off your front sway bar and then see if you believe the coil springs are too stiff.

Just to clarify, your opinion is that your current suspension is too stiff for your liking. By changing spring rate and pressure, and keeping the stock valving in a shock and/or strut, I think you will start hating life real quick. The only way to do this effectively is to consider what Cody suggested: get adjustable coil overs. This way, you can play with spring pressure and rate changes AND compensate with adjusting compression and rebound characteristics seperately.

 

Thanks for the advice guys!
So, stupid question here: Is it the 1 3/8" thick sway bar making the front stiffer?

I could not find any part# for coil overs for the 3Gen Dakota's, so I am going to asume they would have to be fabricated in. NO problem whatsoever for the rear. Not exactly sure how to do that in the front though. ( Mind you, I have not LOOKED at the front end enough to get an idea as to how to make coilovers work in the front)
ALSO: What coil overs I DID find for other applications were very expensive.

As to the model years suspension changing, that is interesting. O'Reilly Auto and Auto Zone both show the exact same part#s for the front strut's, front strut coil springs, and rear shocks for 2005 through 2010. ?????? Is it the rear springs that were thicker in 2008? I have allready removed my "overloads" at the bottom of the spring pack. Made NO noticeable difference.

 

Yes. Although many street guys will argue this, a sway bar on the front of a pickup is useless. Just need one on the rear. And taking it off will make a huge improvement. As for coilovers, theres no such part number because they are a universal application. If your going to link the rear for coil springs it would be easier to just weld tabs for coilovers. And yea theyre expensive. Gotta pay to play

Fabbing up mounts for coilovers i feel is just as easy front or rear...

 

The sway bar makes the suspension stiffer when you hit one of the two wheels up front. If you are compressing both sides of the suspension at the same time (speed bump, dip on the highway, etc) then the sway bar does absolutely nothing, exept for the rotational mass (no sway bar moves up and down....there is a fulcrum point, thus rotation). I have deleted both sway bars on my truck. Honestly, I couldn't tell any difference in the rear. You notice the front at low speed, tight radius corners (right hand turns at stop signs or traffic lights get the most body roll).

Advance Auto parts shows TWO different part numbers for coil springs (at least for an 06 Dakota ST and SLT, between the 2wd and 4wd. A logical assumption would be: the 2wd springs have a softer pressure and lower rate (more front end weight in a 4x4).

 

To DONKEYPUNCH:
I see that. But my truck is a 2WD allready! lol
I will remove the front sway bar just to see how it does. Wont take but a few
min. to remove & can / will reinstall it if not satisfied with results.

LOVE your truck BTW

 

I was looking around on e-bay and am now looking into the 2.5" front end lift
spacer and 3" rear lift block. My rear sits about 1/2" lower than the front anyways since I removed the overload springs from it. May go to 265/75/16 Standard load tires insted of the 255/70/16 6 PLY tires. That would give me a taller and slightly softer sidewall and thus MAYBE give more "cushion" for the small road imperfections.

Totaly unrelated: I plan on sawzaw'ing off my resonator
this afternoon. Might install a Afterburner muffler in a few weeks as well.

 

Thank you, its been a work in progress. If you can't stand the drive with out the sway bar, then look into getting a sway bar from a TRX4. It is lighter, meant for easier articulation in the front.

Also, you may run into issues with a 3" block in the rear. Since you removed your overload spring, I can't say for sure, but our shocks do not extend enough for 3" blocks. Everyone that has tried 3" blocks (who still had the .5" overload springs) have found out that the shocks are not long enough.