I'm pretty sure someone has played with this but after an hr of searching this forum I cant find any info.
Its raining today so I pulled my truck into the shop and started looking at the front suspension.
After about an hr I had a Dodge 1500 front knuckle bolted in place of the Dakota one.
It allows the tie rods to be flipped which straightens them out.
It also puts the upper control arm almost level.
I have already dropped the front diff 2" to clear my engine so the axle shafts are now level.
The Dakota brake caliper bolts on and the wheel bearing bolts in.
It looks like the caliper is about 1/2" farther away from the center of the rotor so 1500 rotors might be needed.
The ONLY problem I can see at this point is the angel of the lower control arm is at a bit more angel but not really any more than I had with the Dakota setup and a 2" leveling spacer.
I have a 3" leveling kit on the way which will put the lower control arm at more of an angle but isn't the 3" kit used on the 2WD trucks with no problem?

Someone please point out my oversights here.

Thanks

 

might have a problem with the CV angle with either binding at full articulation not to mention boots falling apart on you. whats the angle look like compared to prior?

 

3" Can be used on 2WD, But still posses Wear issues, Just not Extreme CV Bind since it doesnt have any.
The CV's is what causes 4x4 to have more issues then 2wd over 2-2.5" Kits, Other then that the suspensions I think are close if not the same.

If you have lowered the Diff 2", then it would only be like a 1" lift on the CV's which shouldnt cause them issue.

 

very interesting..post some pictures. parts are from a third gen Ram (03-08)?

 

 

You must have missed this line of my post.

"I have already dropped the front diff 2" to clear my engine so the axle shafts are now level."

Yes the parts are from an 08 Ram 1500.
I'll get some pic's if it works but so far I just bought the drivers side parts for mockup.
I really like the level tie rods.

 

Here is the stock Dakota at ride height with a 3" leveling block.
DSCF1586.jpg

Here is the same ride height with the Ram 1500 knuckle.

DSCF1587.jpg

You can see the tie rod is almost straight on the 1500 and the upped control arm angle is much better on the 1500.

 

How did you drop differential? Got a pic of that setup?

 

Not going to help anyone else much since we fabed new mounts for the Cummins and incorporated the diff drop into those new mounts.
There are a couple of pic's on my flickr page that show the diff mounts.
It should be very easy to fab up drop extensions for the stock Dakota mounts though.
Then a 3/4" spacer in between the front drive shaft and the diff to take up the extra length.
You might not need that spacer as I ended up moving the transfer case back a bit to get the NV4500 trans shifter so it was not right under the dash.

 

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