Dodge Dakota ForumDodge Dakota PhotosDodgeDakota.net Membership
  Forums   Forum Tools
10:19:58 - 03/29/2024

Lowered / Slammed Dakotas
FromMessage
Jeremy
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE


8/06/2003
23:39:50

Subject: Halfway finished with "bolton" 4link
IP: Logged

Message:
I got my 4link from chassis tech on Monday. It fits 87 to present dakotas. Its got serious fitting issues but they can all be worked out with a torch and welder. They've done all the geometry for you and actually its a pretty decent paralled 4link. If I wasn't riding 20's it would probably bolt straight on. The 20's cause for redesigning the bag mounts and cutting out holes through the bed floor for the links to come up through. They sent a nice panhard bar too. It comes with some stout heim joints if you like that sorta thing. ONly having one side together and not being able to test drive it, as of right now I would rate it a C+.



kota on 20s
GenIII
 Email User Profile


8/07/2003
12:51:51

RE: Halfway finished with
IP: Logged

Message:
my buddy bought one from them for his ranger. not too long after he was driveing it, and the panhard bar broke.

~Eric
Single cam, non-VTEC

Jeremy
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE


8/07/2003
13:39:52

RE: Halfway finished with
IP: Logged

Message:
This bar is thick as hell. I find it hard to believe it broke. Are you talking about the mount or the welds. I could swing this bar at a telephone pole and it wouldn't break.



kota on 20s
GenIII
 Email User Profile


8/07/2003
13:49:09

RE: Halfway finished with
IP: Logged

Message:
im talking about the bar itself.. it got ripped in half. ofcourse you can swing the bar at a telephone pole and it wouldnt break.. a telephone poll is made of wood. even if you took a ax to the bar, it wouldnt break. its impossible for the human body to generate enough force to brake a bar that big. but when you throw 4000lbs of force at it, amazing things happen.



~Eric
Single cam, non-VTEC

pappie1
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE
 Email

8/07/2003
23:22:33

RE: Halfway finished with
IP: Logged

Message:
I'll vouch for that....Tell us how it turns out! Make sure you do a couple of donuts in the parking lot before heading out to the highways:)



Jeremy
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE


8/08/2003
01:12:08

RE: Halfway finished with
IP: Logged

Message:
Telephone poles are stouter than you think. I have to climb them everyday. Not all of them are made of wood, the newer ones most towns are changing over too are galvanized. That happened to be what I was talking about, sorry about the cornfusion but I didn't want to sound like an idiot. Second on the list, this bar is made of steel and most all other companies use steel to make their panhard's so I figured almost any company you dealt with couldn't screw over a steel bar. I mean if your buddy's bar broke, Me think it was just one of them deals where sh** happens. I have to stand behind my c+ rating. If you have a welder and a torch or sawzall this isn't bad kit to consider. I mean I had to do a lot of modification to it to work but Aim industries told me when I bought it, it wouldn't lay on 20's without work. They also sent me the wrong pressure switch and some shallow c-notches. But I called Josh the next day and he said he would get it corrected. I'm just going to resell the notches since I won't be using them. In conclusion, from all the horror stories I have read on the web about Chassis tech I have been deliberant to purchase from them. I still won't touch their tanks/compressors or valves. But their metal brackets and bars are constructed well and have nice welds and they are pretty cheap. I would have to recommend them to anybody looking for good universal brackets. I'm still running their bags brackets on the truck and I have thrown tons of force on them 2600lb bags and the 1/4in steel plates are still holding strong. I will be sure to cut donuts and slam first gear to redline as I skid across the school parking lot with it pancaked.



kota on 20s
GenIII
 Email User Profile


8/08/2003
02:43:57

RE: Halfway finished with
IP: Logged

Message:
your not get what i am saying... i can take a 2x4 and hit a metal pole with it, and it wouldnt break. make a suspencion part out of it, and it will snap like a twig


anyway, im not trying to make you take the kit back or anything, i just stated my buddies experience with them, so you would be cautious.

BTW, when the bar broke, the rearend slid WAAAY over, causing the input shaft to tear the seal in the tranny, all of the gear lube (5 speed) in the trans leaked out, and fried the trans.
something else to be carefull about.

~Eric
Single cam, non-VTEC

Jeremy
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE


8/09/2003
03:24:12

RE: Halfway finished with
IP: Logged

Message:
Ok, now explain how a bar whose only intent on design is to hold the axle in position receives 4000lbs of force. That would be like the whole weight of the truck. The only force I see it handling is that of the axle and trying to keep it in place. It doesn't have to control the power of the truck that is transmitted through the axle, that's what the 4 paralleled links do. Thats why I compared the force it received to that of swinging it as hard as I could against a pole because I don't see it as a suspension piece in so to speak as supporting 4k lbs of weight cause thats not its job. It doesn't suspend the weight of anything only place the rearend I have read several of your posts in the past and like your opinions alot, but this one I have to disagree on.



kota on 20s
GenIII
 Email User Profile


8/09/2003
11:43:57

RE: Halfway finished with
IP: Logged

Message:
he had a VERRY FAST setup (could get the front tires off the ground without C02) and he was hitting side to side pretty hard around a corner.

come to think of it, i have another friend with a 01 fullsize chevy who's panhard bar broke too. not sure if it was the bar itself, or a weld or what, but the rearend was all over the place on that too.

~Eric
Single cam, non-VTEC

Jeremy
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE


8/10/2003
01:48:18

RE: Halfway finished with
IP: Logged

Message:
Well thats cool, I'll have to take it easy on mine cause I know for a fact my welds will break first cause I had a hard time welding it in. But I don't do a lot of side to side. I mean i'm wired too, but when I added the 4 links I left it as bag over axle and it's almost impossible to get side to side cause the left bag will still somewhat lift the right side of the truck up cause the bags are connected on the same crossmember. If that makes sense. I added a second compressor yesterday. 2 450's on a 5 gallon tank. I lay frame in the rear and main crossmember in the front, but I'm still not happy with it and I don't know why. I want to bodydrop it but I do all the work myself so I might have to read up on it somemore.



pappie1
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE
 Email

8/10/2003
12:46:44

RE: Halfway finished with
IP: Logged

Message:
was the panhard bar straight or bent around the pumpkin. Also, was the bar at a angle or parallel with the axle? That might have something to so with it breakin. eatehr that or the bar was just crud



Jeremy
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE


8/10/2003
17:11:06

RE: Halfway finished with
IP: Logged

Message:
Mine bends down to connect to the axle but is paralled at ride height. Its cocked up slightly laid out and cocked down slightly when aired up. It greatly improved my ride over the monoleaf I was running but when still when trying to get wicked high in the back it rides like a$$, something that will always be that way until I ditch the overaxle and go to a lever arm setup. I should have never run double-convultes in the back cause I know sleeves would do me better. I need to get some more pics up of the links but you can check out what I was doing at streetsource or cardomain.



IntenseDak39
*GenIII*
 User Profile


8/13/2003
10:32:54

RE: Halfway finished with
IP: Logged

Message:
i have had the AIM chassis tech ladder bars and pan hard bar on my truck for almost two years now. No problems other than the poly bushings arent that great of quality.

you better not of jinx'ed me eric!!!!!

1998 Regular Cab V6 Auto

Jeremy
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE


8/13/2003
22:49:40

RE: Halfway finished with
IP: Logged

Message:
Two days so far here and no drama. They corrected their error in my order and have sent me an adjustable switch that arrived only 3days after I phoned them. Their customer service is a perfect 10 in my book buy I dealt with Josh, (can't remember extension #) so maybe it depends on the person you reach. I am completely satisfied and will probably be buying my airarms from them. On a side note, I was informed not to get ladder bars from anywhere....something about not enough pivot points and individual wheel articulation. I mean I ain't a genius and I couldn't decphier all the technical talk but basically it said you don't want ladderbars for a street vehicle buy hey if it works for you then I love it.



   P 1


Post a reply to this message:

Username Registration: Optional
All visitors are allowed to post messages


Name:
Email:
Notify me when I get a reply to my message:Yes  No

Icons:            

          

Subject:
Message:
 



Home | Forums | Members | Pictures | Contact Us

This site is in no way affiliated with Chrysler or any of its subsidiaries.