bagging 2000 dodge dakota need some advice and help

 


I was wondering where a good place to buy upper and lower control arms would be. I called airbagit.com but have heard nothing but horror stories about them from my friends is this company's products any good? Then there is the rear end I’ve been told that it needs to be narrowed or can I get by with a wheel with the right off set and if so what is the off set I need to be looking for?


 

Edited: 8/17/2010 7:34:20 PM by Chopped Mazda

Yea, up front your going to want to narrow the track width a bit, and use a joint with extra travel to help you lay out.  I make control arms for your dakota with Jeebus Joints, that get a TON of travel and will let you lay out for sure, the arms are also narrowed .750 on each side, to help tuck. out back, you can narrow the rear end for about 500$, then you can order any wheel you would like really.  Or, if you plan to get billet wheels anyways, then just order the offset you need and be done.  If you need more info on the arms, shoot me an email to tjjardas@gmail.com   Taylor

For upper and lower arms going to have some fabbed up somewhere... i bought 3' djm lower control for the front their lowers only...the rear u can shorten it cost about 500 to shorten 6".. good luck with build these things are pain in the butt to build.... my pics are before i got control arms on//

the front im not sure about i just bagged the front and it layed didnt need upper or lowers as far as the rear you pretty much have 2 choices. 1 narrow which is cheaper and easier or 2 order you some custom wheels from companies who will make the offset the way you want it.  im not sure the offset you need but it is alot easier and most people just shorten the rear so you have a better wheel selection and easier to get wheels

On my ram I build my own uppers and had Seth at Twisted  Minis build the lowers. And all we did was shorted the uppers 3" and lowers 2". As for the rear I used a 86 ford f150 rear They are the same lug pattern and 3" shorter.

---------------------------------------------Originally posted by joshua717For upper and lower arms going to have some fabbed up somewhere... i bought 3' djm lower control for the front their lowers only...the rear u can shorten it cost about 500 to shorten 6".. good luck with build these things are pain in the butt to build.... my pics are before i got control arms on//---------------------------------------------Did you have a prob with the angle of the upper ball joints angle when you are laid out? I thought it would be alot more to narrow the rear so thats good news it only costs around $500.  im going to need it iv heard how much of a pain they are and im finding out for myself, thanks for the help .

---------------------------------------------Originally posted by SHELLHARTthe front im not sure about i just bagged the front and it layed didnt need upper or lowers as far as the rear you pretty much have 2 choices. 1 narrow which is cheaper and easier or 2 order you some custom wheels from companies who will make the offset the way you want it.  im not sure the offset you need but it is alot easier and most people just shorten the rear so you have a better wheel selection and easier to get wheels---------------------------------------------I think im going to end up narrowing the rear it sounds easier and like you said I wont be as restricted on the wheels. Thanx for the advice.

Edited: 8/18/2010 8:12:31 AM by incognito 1

I have owned 2 dakotas one was bagged the other bodied, as far as shortening the rearend I had Moser Engineering make custom axles & shorten it. I paid roughly 600 for it. Dakotas arent to bad to bag. But if you want to lay it out you will have to Z the front frame roughly 1 3/4" I have pics in my profile of both my dakota builds. As far as front arms you will need them shortened also. I havent seen Taylors arms from MMM but his work looks " Bar NONE!!"   Steve at Cando Specialties also makes tubular arms which I think he will narrow a total of 5/8" they sell for 999.00 some say steep but he builds quality parts. You are  going to have to put your gas tank in the bed & make sure you get a big enough notch. Any questions feel free to message. Good luck on the build.   Ryan

ok i have a question about the arms. i had a 98 dakota that was bagged and i had all factory control arms upper and lowers and it layed hard as hell and level. why does he have to get control arms.  ok i did only have 17s on it but i had full turn radius layed out. does the wheele size have anything to do why i didnt need them?  there are a few pics in my profile of mine and you can see it layed all the way out.  also mine was not bodied just bagged

yea, its mostly about the wheels size.  The smaller the wheel the less travel your arms need to get, so you wont need to mod the arms at all.  but as you get trying to lay larger wheels and tires, your arms need that much more travel and the stock ones eventually just wont cut it. I know ive made a set of dakota arms that layed out on a 265-35-22 and you could stick a 2x3 piece of steel under the tire and still lay.  I didnt have a 24 to test with lol.  Taylor