I bought the trailmaster 3" lift kit from 4wheel parts wholesalers for
117.99. The kit came with 16 lift blocks and the bolts to put them in, a
steering column extension, shift boot & screw on extension for the trans
case, a weld in extension for the automatic shifter linkage and a couple of
braces for the bed. I started out by spraying liquid wrench on all of the
mounts each day for a couple of days to loosen them up. When I went to do
the lift they all came off easily except for one. I started with the bed
and loosened the four bolts on the pass side using an impact gun and a
breaker bar if necessary, I then removed the four on the drivers side. I
then had too friends lift up the bed while I slid in the spacers and their
bolts. I then did the same for the other side of the bed. It took about 20
minutes to do the entire bed.
I then moved on to the cab. I ran into some trouble with the mount behind
the wheel on the drivers side. The part the you screw into came loose
inside the body where I could not get at it. After looking at it for about
10 minutes I took out the fender to see if I could get at it, there was a
small hole just big enough to fit a screwdriver in to brace the bracket so
it would not spin. While playing with it we popped it back into its
original position and it no longer spun. Before jacking up the cab I took
out the bolt in the steering shaft so it would hopefully slide out and I
also took out the shift linkage for the trans(Auto) its just held in my two
rubber type grommets and after playing with it it popped out. After loosing
the bolts on the drivers side I took out the bolts on the pass side and
jacked it up with a hydraulic jack with a 4x4 between it and the body. I
then put in the blocks on the pass side. I then moved on to the drivers
side, we jacked it up and put in the blocks same as before. After that I
took a look at the steering shaft and noticed the old piece did not come out
and it wasn't planning on it anytime soon it was rusted into place. To fix
that we VERY SLOWLY jacked up the drivers side until the old piece slipped
out. We then put the new one inplace and let the jack down. I took the
shifter linkage out to my mechanic and asked him to weld in the extension
(he did it for free). I then put the newly extended linkage back in.
I then noticed that the fan was hitting the lower radiator hose and the
auto trans cooler line. To fix this I tried to find a new fan. I my search
for a new fan I learned that the Dakota has a very hard to find fan stock
not to mention an even smaller one. I thought I found one at western auto
but as I was about to put it on I noticed that the stock fan is a reverse
rotation fan. I looked at the box for the fan I bought and saw that they
did make a 18" reverse rotation clutch fan that I needed. So I went back to
western and asked for the other fan. The guy behind the counter told me
that the fan was not in their catalog and that they could not order it
either since it wasn't there. After arguing with the guy for ten minutes
about why he couldn't get something when I even had the part number he told
me that it was a misprint on the box and that that fan does not even exist.
I said screw it and decided to try summit. I explained to the guy exactly
what I needed an 18" reverse rotation clutch fan he found me one and told me
I'd have it in two days. Its part number FLX-591B and costs $28.99 (Summit
Racing). To take the fan off I had to remove the serpentine belt, after
consulting the list I found that I had to hold the pulley and screw the fan
off. I held the pulley with a set of vice grips and unscrewed the fan with
some channel locks since I didn't have a wrench big enough to fit the bolt
its about 1 1/2 ". When I got the new fan I put it on and it cleared the
hoses fine but it was kinda close to the pulleys but it fits.
That about covers it if you have any more questions or I missed anything
feel free to ask...
Chris lang
-----Original Message-----
From: Dkota4by4@aol.com <Dkota4by4@aol.com>
To: dakota-truck@buffnet.net <dakota-truck@buffnet.net>
Date: Tuesday, August 25, 1998 5:50 PM
Subject: Re: DML: Re: dakota 4x4
>Chris,
>
> I would like to hear the full story. I am considering doing this mod
>myself. Maybe a body lift group buy?
>
>Russ
>
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