I am starting a new educational school, teaching in person classes about fabrication.
Go have a look IC Fab School
This is where I will teach small classes the basics, to the more serious in fabrication. How to design, engineer and finish your project.
PLEASE DO NOT MESSAGE ME THROUGH eBAY.
I do not want to use that platform for questions about the old product lines. I do not have old stock, no blems, no parts to build more. My regular email links are still active, CLICK HERE I will be continuing this website for a while longer, it’s paid up for a few more years.
Any product or parts I have will be listed on my eBay store, thank you.
In my last post, covered the Chrysler style screw in ball joints commonly used on Mustang II front ends. Today I want to talk about the Dakota ball joints and some misconceptions being run around the internet. There are a few generations of Dodge Dakotas now, I concentrate on the first two, being 87-90 and 91-96. Both are pretty much the same, the ball joints are exactly the same.
I have run across a few people trying to conflate the 97 up (3rd Gen) Dakota ball joint issues with the earlier First and Second generation trucks. In the 3rd Generation Dodge made quite a few changes to the Dakota’s front suspension. Almost a complete redesign. About the only thing similar is the lower control arm spacing and bushing size (yes, they will fit our kits) and the upper control arm rear mounting bolt is in the same location. But that’s it. The rack mounting and angles are very different and the upper control arm became symmetrical for cost cutting reasons. The other major changes are in the spindle and ball joints. They bare no resemblance to the 1st and 2nd gen trucks. The ball joints became significantly smaller and the orientation of the lower ball joint changed from tension (pointing up) to compression (pointing down) making dropped spindles pretty much impossible.
Have a look at the line up of ball joints here. From Left to right, the 1997 and up Dakota/Durango ball joint, The K772 Ball joint used in most Mustang II type set ups, The K778 joint used in the 87-96 Dakotas (and many other full size cars and trucks) and then on the Right is the K7025 used on the Dakotas and several other full size cars and trucks. Visual confirmation would show you, this is robust stuff. History can confirm that these larger ball joints were not failure prone. Sure, everything wears out, this is why we recommend using premium quality repair parts when building your car or truck. Not only will you see a longer service life, you will get a better ride quality with parts like the MOOG joints and bushings we suggest.
I suppose shocks would be the next topic, stay tuned!
The whole crew is leaving for Austin Texas 04/19/2017 after work to head over to the Hand-built Motorcycle Show.
If you place an order through the website, we will process and ship Monday/Tuesday when we get back.
Recently added are dropped spindles, engine mounts and a few other goodies.
Like this, a bolt-in transmission crossmember for stock Model A frames. Allows you to use ’35 up style transmission mounts and a 48-52 Ford F1 brake and clutch pedal set. 
We had Bean’s Book of Rod Shops stop by last week. These guys travel around the country and shoot video of different shops. Here is some footage they took.
For those of you from out of state attending the Goodguys Southwest nationals, and for those locals who like to hang out for a bit, We are throwing the doors open this Saturday at 4:00pm for the 15th annual event. We are celebrating with Ken and Dan of FTD Cycles and Robert from Vintage HD Works.
As usual, tool demos, conversations and such. We will have food and drinks.
Our internet and telecom provider is having some issues, if you are trying to get through and are having trouble please call back later or drop us an email.
Thank you.
Our good friend and tenant was hit on his motorcycle last night. He’s in serious condition with head trauma. If you can donate, we would be thankfull
Yep, I need spindles with steering arms attached and caliper brackets.
If you installed a set of dropped spindles lately and haven’t thrown your stock spindles away, I want to buy them. I need early (1987-1990) and late (1991-1996) spindles. Box’em up and give me some information at info@industrialchassisinc.com
I will give you a $100.00 credit toward a set of our tie rod drops to eliminate the bumpsteer inherent with the dropped spindles. Please contact us if you want to use this option.
Thanks!
