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guy kelley
Dodge Dakota
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5/27/2008
20:10:19

Subject: straight axle
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I am wondering if anyone has done a straight axle swap in the front end of these beloved dakotas with IFS. I have a 1994 and have not seen or heard of anyone doing it. Does anyone have any insight on this, or should I just continue to dream of a light weght badass mudder/trai/climber that would set a new standard and start to kick our cousins, the jeep family, asses?



wylman
Dodge Dakota
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5/31/2008
09:18:24

RE: straight axle
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I have seen several online. i even have a 2ooo with a straight axle as my background. It can be done......only takes time and money!!! Mine will probably be done some day.



Travis
GenIII
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5/31/2008
21:03:10

RE: straight axle
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Copy and paste this link. If your out near Calif. These guys saved all the brackets and measurements from this swap so they could do another.

http://www.wfoconcepts.com/Projects/Dakota/index.html

00,CC,SLT,4.7,Auto,4X4,3" Cat back, 3" PA Lift with 32's

Gunnar
Dodge Dakota
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6/01/2008
13:24:23

RE: straight axle
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Yep. Straight axle is the way to go. Those bent ones make driving a little more difficult.

Or you could just buy a Jeep.



HIX
Dodge Dakota
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1/13/2009
00:47:02

RE: straight axle
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You can do it for cheap if you have some welding skills. I have done a few exploders, 4runners. By far the easiest setup i have found is the ford radius arm setup. You can get all the parts you need (axles front and rear axles, radius arms, coils(use James Duff EB coils), buckets, Trackbar mount) for about 400 by finding someone parting out a 76-79 f150 or 78-79 bronco. Then all you need to deal with is making the tracbar, steering and xmember. Some people prefer leafs but I have done both and while with leafs it's easier to hang the axles but getting everything dialed in and steering clearance is so much easier with the RA setup. Plus it rides so much better



shotof360
Dodge Dakota
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1/14/2009
02:04:43

RE: straight axle
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i bought a 79 bronco recently and whaddya know my 90 dak 4by frame rails are exactly the same width as the bronco's perfect, my only question now is what is the cheapest steering setup for the dana 44?

im gonna go check the other link i saw earlier right now!



HIX
Dodge Dakota
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1/14/2009
10:59:27

RE: straight axle
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Well, first thing you will want to do is buy a tierod flip kit to put the tierod on top of the knuckle steering arm. They can be found at most bronco parts sites like broncograveyard and only cost like 60. I used chevy van outer tierod end for the driver's side and chevy 1o bolt tre for the passenger side and then just had the local fab shop make the tierod and drag link. When you put the tierod on top of the steering arm you will have to turn the bolt on the axleside tracbar mount so that the nut goes tward the back of the truck. the most important thing on a RA SAS is to make sure that angle of the track bar matches the angle of the drag link when the weight of the truck is on the axle. That and the two should be roughly the same length. Failure to keep those two points in mind will result in bump steer



Walt_Felix
Dodge Dakota
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1/14/2009
15:00:36

RE: straight axle
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At one time, a couple of us on another forum site were keeping a list of SAS Dakotas. At last count, we had over 30.

Here's a 92 Dakota that has a Bronco D44 front. All the details are on his page.

http://www.utahwest.com/truck/conv.htm



SxtJDK03
GenIII
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1/30/2009
11:46:42

RE: straight axle
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Im doing my sas here in a couple of weeks, I have a built dana 44 from a 79 bronco with 410s. Its really not a difficult project as long as you have the time, money isn't too bad, at the end including tires ill have about 2500 into it. The most difficult part is making sure you get all the right size joints, bungs and tubing for the steering and the 3 link. Other than that its a breeze, just, like i said, time consuming.

Wheel 'til it breaks!

robby
Dodge Dakota
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12/05/2009
19:36:30

RE: straight axle
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heres my dakots ive bultthree of thease so far. also the old body style
http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac165/dobbers84/photo.jpg



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