04 Dakota SAS (Updates)

[chefted]

Some of members expressed interest when a Durango project on 42's was present in a couple of my Waggy build pics. That project is still not finished, but last week we completed a Dakota on 37's. The owner is from Lab city NFLD, he drove the 1168 KM here to Freddy and will drive it back, we have just 7 days to complete the transformation. Specs are 9.25" rear with a Detroit, front HP D44 w/ ARB both 4.56. T- case is basically a electric shifted 231, so all that was necessary was to install a CV style 1310 yoke and build a new FT DS
The victim, came in with 3" body list and a leveling kit




First step was to install a steering box as the Dakota was rack and pinion, this was as low as I could place it as the motor mount was in the way, and would have involved too much work to get around or relocate. Mounted it as far forward as I could. I was lucky and the stock PS lines bolted right up.







Did a simple shackle flip in the rear as I only needed 4" of lift







Moving on to lower control arm mounts





And upper link
Nice to have new clean brackets to work with



7" of separation



Now get it off the lift and on the ground for the removal of the IFS and mock up of suspension.

Bye Bye IFS


frame prepped






Filled in



Joints and stuff


suspension mocked up





9" of separation at Ft links




Final Axel prep and welding


Suitable cover



Checking full stuff







Full droop, Drag link 36" track bar 34.5"









And some completed pics










My last task was to install the rear gears, sorry no pics, upon removal of the gears I discovered the stock factory trash lock, clutch keeper clips had worked out and cut a 1/4" groove all the way around the right side cap and bolt boss. I informed the customer and we install the gears and locker, it was a risk, but customers call.
Put it on the ground did the measuring tape alignment. I did the road test for initial gear break in, handles great no quirks. It was 1am on Friday so no time for ramp tests or tweaks. He rolled out at 6am. The project took roughly 100 hrs to complete, we charged him 75 hours. I'd like to thank my co worker John who is the best template maker ever and knows how to use a grinder.
He was a great customer, came in daily to check updates, but never got in the way, and was very happy when he left. I'll update if there is any problems or changes.

[littlemulticoloredwagoneer]

Sweet build Ted, that is sick, and the way the Dakota should have come..

[bighair]

good Job on the build.. it definatly takes time to make it work.

['Roach]

Dude, that is some sick work. Always liked these trucks, and they look awesome with an SAS.


Impressive.... Most impressive....

[jmac00dge]

DROOL ;D Nice job, if only i had the $$ to do that to mine.

what's the 44 out of? also, just curious why the yj box was used? Aren't the durango boxes stronger?

[chefted]

Oct 3, 2010 12:42:15 GMT -4 jmac00dge said:

DROOL ;D Nice job, if only i had the $$ to do that to mine.

what's the 44 out of? also, just curious why the yj box was used? Aren't the durango boxes stronger?

The Duango boxes are quicker ratio, the yj,tj,xj boxes are cheaper and more available down the road, should replacement be needed.

Thanks for the comments guys, we worked hard.

[90bronco]

Nice job ,very clean looking work ...... i like it !

[Creepy]

I can't find anything to nitpick, dammit! Awesome project man, the tracbar and steering look great. stance on the truck is killer, i like those rigs.

Its a Rubi D44, huh? Am I seeing 6 lugnuts? How did you do that?

[chefted]

Oct 3, 2010 20:39:22 GMT -4 Creepy said:

I can't find anything to nitpick, dammit! Awesome project man, the tracbar and steering look great. stance on the truck is killer, i like those rigs.

Its a Rubi D44, huh? Am I seeing 6 lugnuts? How did you do that?

Thanks for the kind words Jan, I am sure you tried to find faults. Haha
The HP 44 is a 77 F150 version with 1/2" thick tubes, the knuckles and spindles are 6 bolt chevy/jeep. The rear axel on the Dakota is the factory 9.25 with 6x4.5" pattern, so we used an adapter in the rear to go to 6x5.5. ;D

[Johnniemac]

Very, very nice work! I have a few customers in Lab City; I'll have to ask them about this beast. What are the owner's intentions? Is this to be a DD/weekend warrior?

[justajeep]

Thanks for posting the build Ted, hope to do the same to my old '93 Dakota soon. What did you use for front springs?

[chefted]

Oct 4, 2010 12:10:48 GMT -4 justajeep said:

Thanks for posting the build Ted, hope to do the same to my old '93 Dakota soon. What did you use for front springs?

We used 77 Early bronco 4" skyjacker coils, to be honest there a little stiff ( probably don't flex that well). If I were to do it again I may try a 6" or 8" skyjacker XJ coil, with the adjust-ability of the ballistic buckets, you could dial them down and still get good flex. I had tried 6" JK coils on the Durango but the were way to soft, they pretty much compressed half of the unloaded height. Which meant they probably wouldn't last very long.

[chefted]

So I heard from the owner yesterday, made it home safe, truck ran and drove like a champ. The trip was not without it's excitement however. He is traveling via GPS and it takes him down a dirt road some where in Quebec. He stops, pulls over for a moment to check the GPS and take a break from driving. Bang Some car side swipes him, swerves left, then right, then ditch!! He gets out expecting the worst, To his amazement the only mark is a scrape on the fender flair and some bruised tires. The car doesn't have a strait panel on it They get out and are fine (cursing in french), the french police have him on the side of the road for about 2 hrs, finally let him go, as he was gust sitting there and it was not a controlled access highway. All I could say was wow

[chefted]

More pics and stuff here
www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/National-4wd-Centers/134727103240644?ref=ts

[93grand]