2005-2010 Dodge Dakota/Mitsubishi Raider 2wd and 4wd.

A lot of people have done it and been successful despite the driveline angles, but no one has any tips on how. The kit I used is the Rough Country Dakota/Raider 2.5" leveling kit. Part #397.20. Any 2.5" spacers will work though. I'll edit in the pictures later.

PRE-INSTALLATION

1.) Have 2 lower control strut bushing kits on hand (Dorman/Monroe part#908962), because this will be the main thing to hinder you. Common Dodge truck problem since they made the switch to IFS with struts. This is the bolt, nut, and bushing.

2.) Jack up your front end from the lower control arm, check your ball joints, tie rods, and wheel bearings to make sure you won't need any surprise parts once you're part way through install. Now is the time to have them on hand for when you have everything torn down.

3.) If you have push in stud type spacers, if you have a welder it doesn't hurt to tack them into the spacer, this will save you some headache later if the studs are loose fitting in the spacer. Don't forget to throw a bit of paint over where you tacked so it doesn't rust out.
100_4327_zps4597d498.jpg

DISASSEMBLY

1.) Lift from the center of the lower front cross-member, place a jack-stand under the cross-member just inside of the front lower control arm mounting point on each side. Make sure it's high enough that you will have clearance after you're down, the tires should be 3-4 inches off the ground.

2.) Tires off, both sides. Remove sway bar links on both sides (top nut 16mm wrench and 15mm wrench, lower nuts 10mm socket and 18mm wrench), and lift the sway bar up and out of the way.

3.) Remove tie rod ends (21mm socket), leave the nut a few threads on and hit the knuckle right near the tie rod until the tie rod taper drops free, remove nut, then use a length of wire to tie it to the sway bar to keep it out of the way (both sides)

(4x4 only) Remove CV shaft nut from unit bearing, this will save you the hassle of trying to fight your CV axle splines back into each other when the knuckle slinks forward. 34mm socket I believe.

4.) Remove the 3 nuts from on-top of the strut, 15mm wrench.

5.) Place your jack under the lower ball-joint and apply a little bit of pressure. Remove the upper ball-joint nut (21mm wrench), leave it threaded on 1/4" and give the knuckle a few good hits until the taper lets free, and the knuckle will shoot down under spring pressure. Remove the nut, let the knuckle hang free.

6.) Remove the lower strut bolt, this one tends to be a tricky bugger if your bushing is frozen. 15/16" socket (or 24mm), and a 21mm socket. A big breaker bar or impact gun helps here. Remove strut.

100_4331_zps653fbf90.jpg

If the bushing is frozen, once the nut has been removed and the bolt won't play along, you're in trouble. I'll address the steps for that later.

7.) Clean off the top of the strut, install spacer.

8.) To get the strut back in, wiggle in the top first and loosely install the 3 nuts (15mm) then finagle the lower into place. Get a pinch bar to make doing the lower easier.

9.) To install the upper ball-joint back into the knuckle, put your jack under the lower ball-joint, attach a ratchet strap to the axle/stationary frame of the jack, then to the upper control arm. As you jack up, the lower control arm goes up and the upper comes down, align the taper of the ball joint, install nut. The control arm WILL be rubbing the spring, but once on the ground it will be plenty clear.

10.) Install tie rods, sway bars, all the other crap that came off. Anti-seize where you can.

11.) Go for an alignment, your camber WILL be out. It will wear your tires outside quickly.

Rear part of the kit is fairly straight-forward. Just blocks, U-bolts and shocks. I'll post that up later. The 2.5" level kit gave me 2-1/8" worth of ride height on a 4x4 truck with the 4.7L engine.


SIEZED LOWER STRUT BOLT

Alright, so your lower strut bolt is frozen. Plenty of fun. Chrysler service manual calls for a ball-joint tool and cup to remove it, but you need the bolt out first.

Get a big breaker (preferably large ratchet, 2'+ handle), and a 21mm socket on the bolt and try and spin it free of the bushing. If you get it free, it sure as **** won't just come out, so start knocking it out with a big hammer from the thread side, you won't be re-using it. If you cut the head and thread off to remove the strut, make sure you knock it out still from the threaded end. The side side with the head has a shoulder about 1/2" long inside the bushing.

You can push it through with an air-chisel fairly easy if you put a 12mm socket on the end, and put a pointed tip in your gun and have at it. The socket will keep the tip on the end of the bolt and prevent it from falling off over and over.

Once the bolt is out, you can either pound the bushing out of the control arm with a large hammer, use a ball-joint tool with the appropriate cup, or use a 8"+ C-clamp. New bushing presses in fairly easy.

 

Actually I made a write up several years ago....

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/3rd-gen...installed.html

 

Didn't see it, oh well. Someone delete this.

 

Haha...no it's cool. As long as these are pics of a 3rd gen (2nd gen in your profile pic).

 

Thanks for both my rough country kit should be here friday so it will be going on this weekend and this will be helpful. I'll put up some pics when I'm done

 

How do you get the arm low enough to get the strut back in place mine is way too tight to push it down another 2.5 inches. Also the holes on these spacers are opposite of how it was factory so I don't see how its going in unless you reverse the strut? Apparently this is the only write up in the entire internet for Dakotas and Rough Country is too dumb to send instructions not for a ram

 

Yes the strut turns 180 and goes back in. If you take off the CV axle nut and knock it back out of the spindle the strut basically slides in.

 

Thanks I got that figured out but now I cant get the spring to compress enough to put the control arm back together. If you jack from the lower arm it lifts the entire truck. If you jack from the rotor its goes wild and shoots out. Spring compressor?

 

I had this very same issue with the jack lifting the truck... Sadly, the RC kit minus the shocks are still in my garage. If you figure it out, let me know. My mechanic tried everything, even the ratchet strap trick that other members said would work didn't work.

 

I figured it out. Took about 7 hours minus a few breaks for dinner and to take a break from getting annoyed at the install. Honestly now that I've done it I could do it again in 2 hrs. Just took a lot of trial and error. The key was the pry bar. Instead of racheting to the jack I went from the upper arm to the lower control arm. Pulled it as tight as I could, then used my pry bar to pull the upper bar down further. I was pulling about as hard as I could. Then I'd tighten the strap to hold it there. Put the jack on the bolt below the rotor. If u have a helper they are very useful at this point. I had my girlfriend crank the jack while I guided the bolt up to the arm. Once it was close I cranked as hard as I could again on the pry bar until I could feel thread and get the nut on. At that point the hard stuff is done.

The only issue I had is when taking off the calipers the pads fall off. I either didn't get something right putting them back. Or I accidently turned the wrong bolt once and bled out some fluid. So now my brakes are softer. I'll mess with them this weekend.