This is extremely long but gives alot of info on how I did it.
Ok, I sent the pics to Preacher to post on his site and I am about to
send them to Trevor to post on his site also. FYI, the lugnuts are
manufactured by a company called Mr. Lugnut based out of LA. In order to
order directly from them you have to order $100 or maore but since I
kept having problems with thier distribution channel I got the guy to
send them COD. I understand that anyone can purchase directly from them
and not have a minimum order if they pic them up direct. Maybe someone
that lives in LA could buy a bunch to ship out if anyone decides to use
them. I have included pics of the lugnuts and a pic of how the front
tire tread just barely gets under the wheel well but the sidewall sticks
out.
As far as the lugnuts go if you want to do this on a gen II dak you have
to use these lugs and a 1/4" spacer. When you see the pics you will see
that the lug is a bulge type like the facotry ones but has a shank that
extends from it to go into the stud hole on the wheel to make up for the
loss of stud due to the spacer. The shanks fits the hole snugly exactly
like it should and misses going all of the way through by a 32nd of an
inch. I would recommend these to anyone using r/t wheels on thier daks
including r/t owners. They are very snug fitting and don't seem to have
any play (something I would never use since it would have been unsafe).
The part # from Mr. Lugnut is 5390 series in the 1/2" x 20 thread size
and you will get exactly what I have.
The spacer I had to use is a 4-lug spacer since no one make a 6-lug in
our bolt pattern. If you use this and it fits snugly around the center
hub grind down the inside edge fairly good and about a 45 degree angle.
This is to clear where the hub meets the area where the studs attach. On
my dak, both the factory and aftermarket rotors are slightly tapered and
if you do not mill them out the force from the wheel being tightened
down will crack the spacer making it very unsafe and also causing the
lugs to loosen up. I will be using this temporarely until the custom set
i'm having made out of 1/4" plat steel comes in. I designed these to
only have a 1/16" clearance around all of the studs, not to extend much
beyond the edge of where the studs mount on the rotor, and to have
plenty of space arond the center hub as to not have any chance of
interference. (this was designed around a '96 dak others may need to be
modified)
The front tire sits exactly 3 inches below the wheel well arch and the
rear 5 inches. I'm going to put a set of 2" blocks in the rear to see
how I like it before I get a set of shackles. This would put an even 3"
front and rear. I'm not sure about the 1" eibach springs, or any for
that matter, sinve they seem to lower the front by a little more than an
inch, as told from experience of a another dml member, that they might
hit the top edge of the wheel well arch. If it looks like it will then
i'll just live with the rear. BTW, this is using the stock r/t tire size
of 255/55/17's other sizes might ghive you an advantage. The tires rub
slightly in the rear of the wheel well but only on the rubber lining. I
will warn you the upper a-arm is close (2/8") but it cannot hit the
wheel. It gets a little closer in the rear when the wheel is truned all
of the way back toward it but on ine it still will not hit. You could
guarentee this byt grinding of the top edge of the a-arm by 1/8" no
more.
Sorry for such a long post but hope the info helps. I will send out
drawings of the wheel spacer to anyone who sends an address to me by
email but it might take a few days to warn you. Remember though, this
was done on a '96 regular cab dakota so your situation might be somewhat
different. I feel though if you plan through it and make sure the test
fit works even when bouncing the trucks up and down the someone looking
under there you will have very few problems getting this to work.
If anyone has any further questions please email me privatlely. My only
other feeling is to avoid using a spacer is to test fit a rotor,
caliper, and spindle from a '97+ dak and you should have clearance. This
is only from odservation as I do not have the resources or funds to try
this out at this time. If I ever can get my hands on a junker dak and
the parts from a newer dak than i'll test it out.
One last thing, You will have to use a hammer to reshape the wheel
bearing cap so that the r/t center caps will snap on. The cap is domed
in in the middle and it sticks out to far by about 2/8".
Hope all this helps.
Jeff Durling
'96 RC Sport-318
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