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Bell Tech dropped spindles…

Richard D brought his frame in for us to straighten last weekend. He also asked us to install the crossmember kit (006) and hang all the components. With the parts he brought were a brand new pair of dropped spindles from Bell Tech. It looks as if they did a nice redesign of the old spindle. It wasn’t apparent at first whether they fixed the steering arm location issue or not.

Installation confirmed they have not, if anything has changed it is for the worse.

The steering arm has been raised over an inch over stock and shortened. It also appears they have moved the arm location outboard more but have also changed the angle of the tie rod end boss. The machine work is not up to correct tolerance either. All three tapers are bored too deep into the bosses, note how much thread is exposed on the Bell Tech spindle tie rod end vs the stock spindle. This also raises the tie rod up farther causing more interference with the anti-roll bar and increases bumpsteer.

Note the location of the tie rod in relation to the lower ball joint, notice the one on the left (Bell Tech) is much higher than the one on the right. Also notice the tie rod contacts the anti-roll bar.
Take a look at just how much the arm has been raised in comparison to the stock spindle steering arm

These spindles are still going to need the tie rod drop I detailed on my Dakota Based IFS Tech page.

 

 

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Off and running, your Dakota Based kit is ready to go!

It’s official folks, we are back building the Dakota kits. The 61-64 F100 kits are shipping and we are hard at it to bring out the rest of the model years within months.

I have put a ton of hours tweaking the design to make this one of the easiest kits you have ever installed. While it looks similar to the last version of the kit, this one is 100% new.  Made from 10 gauge Cold Rolled steel, 3/16 HRPO it uses high quality materials for the structural elements  similar in grade to what your original frame is made from where others are using inferior grades of steel and having to make up the loss with thicker plate and tube.

I did a complete redesign of the upper control arm pocket which should make the installation much easier and more adaptable to things like air springs. I am going to be working on a coil over version of this in the coming months that won’t require cutting the frame section away. This means an innovative and cost effective control arm set! In the mean time I heard your desires to ditch the slotted upper control arm adjusters in favor of GM like shims. The hardware and a fistful of shims is included in the kit.

I am still working on the lower control arm bumpstop update, those of you who jumped in early will get the update from a dude in a brown truck in the next week or so!

Still quite a few guys think this kit is expensive, yes it isn’t cheap. Good things are rarely cheap. But stay tuned for updates. As the popularity of the kits increase I will be adding features like the aforementioned tubular control arms, air springs, anti-roll bar kits and such. I am also going to be working on production. Stamping and forming dies will speed up production and I will be passing the savings on to you guys.

Need one now? Click the button, fill out the forms and we will ship one to you right away!

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Click here to view the instruction sheets

1961-1964 Ford F100 Kits ready to ship
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So close you can taste it!

Here we are folks, #2 is installed and this is #3 and the first one to ship.

Installation is much easier than before and the frame stiffness is unmatched. I have been test fitting parts and making small corrections so that you get a high quality part you won’t have to fight to install and will enjoy for years to come.

 

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Making some progress

Just thought I would give you guys a little update

Rendered the frame rails, then placed all the suspension components where I needed them. Some math and a few pot of coffee later I have the basis of the new weld in kit. Enjoy the pictures.

 

Update: 2/12/2012

Been busy drawing and thinking hard to come up with solutions to manufacturing and user issues. I have tried to simplify the already simple installation to the point where it is idiot proof to install. There are slots and tabs to lock parts in place like a snap-together model car kit, no guess work and a more precise fit. Anyone with moderate welding skills and a 110V MIG welder should be able to pull this off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The re-introduction of the Dakota IFS kit

Initiation: 05/27/2011

This is more of an open thread, I am considering a run at the kits again but this time I want to make some serious changes to the kit and it’s function. It has been over a year since the split and my former partners plan of manufacturing the old kits. He still may at this point and I encourage him to do so. I want to push the fourth generation of the kit since it’s introduction.

 

Here is an outline of what I plan on doing.

First off, I want to try and unitize the whole kit and make it a bolt in. I have never been a fan of the current crop of bolt in kits, however I do realize there are many people that were turned off of the old kit because they could not weld but still wanted to upgrade their front suspension.

I also want to make the base kit standard with tubular control arms set up for coil overs. You will still be able to use a stock (modified) upper control arm, spindles and rack and pinion. But one of the major issues we had was matching spring rates. There just were not enough choices for the guys trying to jam this IFS into stuff that was considerably lighter than the Dakotas were.

Your input is welcome!

Update: 06/27/20121

I have been measuring and brainstorming with this for a  month now. I have some ideas to start with but I am actually kind of disappointed in the response from this. I have been tracking my hits on this thread and others related to the Dakota IFS kit and  I will continue with my development in the next few months and see if I get any uptick in interest.

I hear you guys want cheap, well that frankly cannot happen unless the kit is very raw and on the level of some of the low end Mustang II kits already available. That is just not something I want to hang my hat on, so sorry guys it will not be sub $500.00. Bolt in IS going to happen and I have a few ideas firing from neuron to neuron with the occasional flash of brilliance. To make it a bolt in, the stock coil springs are gone. The problem I am having is adapting coil overs to stock control arms for you junkyard scroungers. I did however talk to a company over the Fathers Day weekend about aluminum castings. What I am going to have to do is render the entire kit in Alibre’ and start doing my FEAs and initiate a conversation about pricing.  My initial introduction with them is very encouraging and they are casting and machining right here in the USA and Anaheim CA no less!

My backup would be to produce a fabricated or tubular control arm. Considering the fixturing required to do a proper run of tube might put them on par with what the cast aluminum would cost. So I have to consider the fabricated steel units for the base kit. My next hurdle will be spindle, rack and brakes. I might have to introduce them sans those parts and tool up for the rest at a later date.