Hey Guys and Gals! I emailed the Dude that owns the
web site and this is his reply... he gives a whole
lotta info about what he's done to his truck. Seems
worthy of owning a Dak, I'd say! Happy Reading!
________________
Thanks for all the great comments on my Dakota. I had
the 79 Ford Bronco suspension on my truck last summer
and as you can tell by the photos, its pretty
bulletproof. I had problems with the front diff on the
Dakota, kept breaking them from the stuff we do. I had
toyed with the idea of the Bronco suspension until I
finally broke the driver's side A frame and axle on
the truck. Then I decided to go ahead with the
conversion.
The conversion was pretty simple. The Tuff Country
lift was cut out of the front end with a torch. The
Bronco front axle, shock mounts and radius arm
brackets were welded to the frame. Superlift 6"
springs were used in the front and did not need the
radius arm brackets that Superlift recommends.
The rear axle had to have the shock mounts welded on
and then it was bolted in with 4" blocks and a shackle
over completed rear end. The front axle was moved
forward 1" to keep from having to trim the back of the
front fenders. I'm running some "tall" 33's and they
do tend to still rub a little. I would recommend going
about two inches forward instead of just one. The
front
drive shaft had to be cut down just a bit, seems like
it was about an inch or two, can't remember now for
sure and the rear driveline worked as it is with a
conversion U-joint going from the full size Dodge to
the Ford.
If anyone needs to know the name and number of the
U-joint I can get it for them. New emergency brake
cables had to be made for the width of the axles.
The place that did the work did some conversions on
the tie rod too which stops any understeer or slop in
the steering.
I had a place called Advanced 4X4 here in Salt Lake
City do the work but would not recommend them. What
was supposed to have taken 10 days to 2 weeks to
complete took all summer long, about 3 months. The
cost was supposed to have been around $1500 and ended
up costing $3000 plus the $500 I paid for the Bronco
parts. I pulled the front axles and changed the
u-joints there and did all that work too. So total
cost was around $4000. Advanced 4X4 did a good job
once it was all said and done but there is no telling
how
many times I was lied to in the process of having this
all done.
The truck handles like a dream. The ride is stiffer
than the independant front suspension but I knew it
would be and like it better. It corners better than it
did with the 4" Tuff Country lift. I really don't
think you could roll the truck by sliding sideways on
the highway. Utah's Highway Patrol sure gave me fits
until I put some fender flares and mudflaps on
the truck to comply with Utah law. One Highway
Patrolman measured the truck for about half an hour
and finally told me I was probably right on the
legal limit of 8" here in Utah. Actually I'm a little
higher but when you look all you see are the four inch
blocks so its kind of hard for them to ticket me
on that. The Highway Patrolman did comment that he had
stopped a lot of vehicles going and coming to Moab and
this is one of the best built he has ever seen.
I have a lot of other photos I'll be putting on my
website, just haven't had time to get them on there
yet. If any of you guys ever want to get down to Moab,
call me and maybe we can hook up.
Jay
-----Original Message-----
From: Peanut [mailto:peanut3576@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2000 12:48 PM
To: jaymc@sisna.com
Subject: I saw your web page
Hi there! I belong to an email list for Dakota
Trucks.. one of our members saw your web site and
posted the address to the rest of the list. I went to
your page and must say that I admire what you and your
truck have been through together! Anyway, I just
wanted to give you kudos for the beautiful pictures
and let you know that I am not the only one impressed.
Jodi Lewis (aka Peanut)
98 Dakota Sport
V6, 5 speed, TEAL!!
P.S. In case you are interested, the email address for
the Dakota Mailing List (DML) is:
http://www.cs.fredonia.edu/~stei0302/WWW/DAKOTA/dakota.html
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