Steve,
Will the tube A arms you are developing be a direct bolt on to a stock Dodge dakota chassis? Or will this require custom mounting or k member modification?
I’m researching options to upgrade the front end of my now stock ‘96 2wd Dakota, hopefully with coil overs.
Plan to keep stock ride hight, swap to a five lug, figure out larger front rotor caliper to fill a 17” wheel.
Eventually ditching the puny 2.5 with a 392 Hemi. Holley has made a swap kit for first/second’ish gen Dakotas and the the front end seems to be sorely neglected in the aftermarket world for upgrading. Could be an untapped market if there is enough demand for Holley to develop a fairly complete swap kit.
If the tube A arms are batch made is there a waiting list or some how to find out when they are available?
Thanks, looking forward to your thoughts on this.
They will fit the stock crossmember. They use stock bushings in the stock locations. The biggest issues for you will be removing the spring pocket and making coil over mounts. These also don't have bump stop locations on them. Using the coil over for suspension limiting.
If you would, email alison@phoenixhotrods.com and tell her you are interested in a set of arms.
I know there is a growing community of Dakota owners out there. Also the earlier D100/D150 guys are interested in the caliper brackets I'm doing to use the GM style Wilwood calipers.
My next project is doing a custom front brake setup that narrows the front track a bit. I need to do so on some of the early trucks to get the wheels under the fenders better. And I need to get the Bumpsteer Corrector kits going again. Just time and money!
@admin Steve, good to hear! I will definitely send an email!
I don’t think making the spring perch for the coil overs will be a big deal. Just replicate the position of the stock shocks for the coil overs (?).
I’d definitely be interested in the willwood conversion as well if that works with the dakota spindle, or are there certain years of the D100/150 spindles I should be looking for?
Time & money, they never seem to sync up when you need them too.
In designed the arms to mount the coil overs as close to the ball joint as possible. This gives a bit more clearance for my frame builds and you don't have to run as high of a spring rate (350# vs #600 in the stock location), and the shock is more effective.
Well, this has sent me down quite the rabbit hole! What’s the average angle for the shocks? From what I’ve found 15/20 degrees seems to be the spot to shoot for.
This has given me quite a bit more options for coil overs, so I’m assuming with the angle I may be shorter or longer as long as I can keep 1/3 extension and 2/3 compression, (assumption from some brief googling).
As for the bump stop I’d imagine there would be some room on the bottom of the frame for a low profile bump stop or maybe a bracket welded to the frame to add one.
I guess before I blow this up with a million more questions could you point me towards some reverence/reading material to better educate myself?
much appreciated!
