2000 Dakota.....Z the frame?....Bodydrop?

Hey ppl, i may be gettin a 2000 dakota for my next project and i had a few questions on some things. I searched the forums first, and found only a few threads with the partial info i needed. But my questions are.

The truck is allready bagged, and is laying crossmember up front. Now from what i understand, you have to Z The frame up front to get it to lay out completely. Does anyone have any pictures of their dakota frame they Z-ed, Also, after you do Z the frame, are you able to fit it all under a stock hood? does all the tranny and rear end come out of alignment and need to be fixed? does the floor have to be cut when you Z the frame , to allow the tranny to come into the cab at all? Any other info i should know about Z-ing the frame...or sites that will be of any help.

Also, I was thinking that if i am going to be Z-ing the frame, i may as well go ahead and BD the cab at the same time. Does anyone have any pics of their body drop process....any help full hints that i could use when doin this thats different on a dakota than any other vehicle?

Ive BD'd a few vehicles in the past and am not affraid to do it, but ive never tore into a dakota before and really know nothing about their suspension setup, and any special little tricks to do it.

thanks for the help

taylor

My buddy RA killa has as bd kota on 22's with a stock hood of course hes got a 9 inch too it was done by the same person who did mine Insane Kustoms

yea, im not to worried about the rear end, im going to have billet wheels and i will just get them made with the right BS to tuck good.

Anyone got good pics of the Z-frame process?

hmmm, thanks for the help......?

theres a pic in my profile of the z happening, just have that one, my frame was zed 1 7/8", and wehn i stockfloored it i built a new tranny xmember, i dint have any vibrations out of the driveline, so i left it the same height. as for the hood, its gonna be hard to keep the motor under it, i had the 3.9, and cut the skeleton around the radiator hose, air cleaner, and a/c lines, and dropped the radiator hose bracket and shortened the aircleaner part on the throttlebody like 5/8", and it almost touched the hoodskin. that was with a bodydrop enough to barely lay rocker.

ttt... does any have any more answer to his questions in the first post? What do you have to worry about when you are z-ing the frame?

Not sure how much mine was zed but if you have the v8 good luck keeping it under the hood. I'm only to the pinch and almost all the bracing is gone under the hood. Also my oil drain plug drags every now and then. Well that is after dragging a good bit of the crossmember off. A cowl hood will help some with clearence of course.

I am not worries about the engine clearance (I will have a hood to solve that problem) and I know what is involved in the exact z-ing of the frame. What I would like to know is if there is any other work involved the lay out the frame after the z-ing with some big wheels, and if the frame has to be aligned. Does the crossmember have to be reworked at all? I thought I read somewhere about the steering column ahd to be modified also. I am just wondering how much is involved in the total project that goes along with the z-ing not just the measuring and welding of it, thanks alot, mike.

Originally posted by Drip44

I am just wondering how much is involved in the total project that goes along with the z-ing not just the measuring and welding of it, thanks alot, mike.

thats all thats involved.

and unbolting the fenders and bumper, then reattaching them.