RiverRat88
Active Member
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2009
- Location
- raleigh NC
I have researched this quite a bit and read every build thread for a dakota sas that I have been able to find, and on many other models as well. I have a few questions that deal more with the axles and smaller details that seem to be skipped over.
To skip straight to the actual questions and skip the long details go down to the dashed line.
So first the vehicle is a 2004 dodge dakota 4.7l v8 at with a rack and pinion front and a chrysler 9.25 rear.
Stock wms is 63" front and 65" rear I have added spacers to the front to make it 66" front and 65" rear.
The goal is to add a HP D44 front with crossover steering and roughly a 5"front/3"rear lift over factory and moving the front axle forward 2" with 4.56gears and 35s or possibly 37s
The initial plan was to use a F250 HP dana 44, swap on chevy outers and use wheel adapters to convert the rear from 6x4.5 to the chevy 6x5.5
It seems as though It will actually cost more to convert the front to 6 lug than to keep 8x6.5 with not much benefit.
The next thought was to use wheel adapters on the rear just to switch from 6x4.5 to 8x6.5 I am getting a quote on a custom pair but I'm not sure how much I like the idea of 2-piece adapters and I imagine they will be around $100 each. This will cause me to have roughly $600 in a rear end with no aftermarket support for future lockers or any upgrades.
So that pretty much brings me to now, If I am going to use 8 lugs it makes more sense to swap the rear axle as well. I have been looking at 4 different rear axles the dana 60, dana 70, sterling 10.25, and 14bolt.
This truck is 1st a daily driver, and most offroad use consists of mild trails, beach driving and is being built more for expedition type driving than rock-crawling. There is also a possibility of a 4BT in the future and the rear axle needs to be sufficient for probably 200whp and 400wtq.
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1. Will 6lug be fine for what I am planning or should I just go ahead and go 8lug in case future needs change while I am doing the work now?
2. Currently my speed sensor is in the rear axle does this need to be true of the new axle or is there a easy/cheap way to read off the transfercase output?
3. Of the 4 rear axle options the 14bolt and dana 70 seem to be the cheapest and stock with 4.56s but overkill and heavy at roughly 500lbs, the sterling 10.25 appears to be the lightest at ~300lbs but harder to find, the dana 60 looks to be the best axle for my use at about 400lbs but significantly more expensive. Any one will be converted to disk. Is there any that will be the best option, cheap with 4.56s without killing ground clearance completely and lighter would be better?
4. I am using stock dakota rear leafs for the front suspension with a 1800lb spring capacity, how do I estimate spring compression to determine ride height?
5. I plan on doing a shackle flip in the rear and replacing the 56" (24x32) leaves with a spring capacity of 2250lbs with 64" chevies (32x32) with a 2235lb spring capacity, will moving the front mount forward 8" be enough to keep the wheel centered in the wheelwell and should the ride height remain relatively unchanged with similar spring capacities?
6. For the front steering I am not worried about high-steer but do want crossover-steering, will I need a different passenger knuckle for this or will the stock f250 HP D44 knuckle work?
7. I believe I have a 1310 u-joint in the rear but based on what I could find online It could be a Detroit 7290, if It is the detroit 7290 I could not find an adapter u-joint other than to a 1330 and I think all the axles listed have 1350s, If I do in fact have a detroit 7290 is there anyway to modify a NV233 for a SYE?
8. Assuming I do not need a new rear driveshaft because of u-joint sizes the rear driveshaft should be fine with a 3" lift correct?
9. I would really prefer to use 15x8 wheels in the 4.5"-5.5 backspacing range is this possible or should I plan on using 16s?
sorry for the extremely long post I wanted to make sure I gave enough information
To skip straight to the actual questions and skip the long details go down to the dashed line.
So first the vehicle is a 2004 dodge dakota 4.7l v8 at with a rack and pinion front and a chrysler 9.25 rear.
Stock wms is 63" front and 65" rear I have added spacers to the front to make it 66" front and 65" rear.
The goal is to add a HP D44 front with crossover steering and roughly a 5"front/3"rear lift over factory and moving the front axle forward 2" with 4.56gears and 35s or possibly 37s
The initial plan was to use a F250 HP dana 44, swap on chevy outers and use wheel adapters to convert the rear from 6x4.5 to the chevy 6x5.5
It seems as though It will actually cost more to convert the front to 6 lug than to keep 8x6.5 with not much benefit.
The next thought was to use wheel adapters on the rear just to switch from 6x4.5 to 8x6.5 I am getting a quote on a custom pair but I'm not sure how much I like the idea of 2-piece adapters and I imagine they will be around $100 each. This will cause me to have roughly $600 in a rear end with no aftermarket support for future lockers or any upgrades.
So that pretty much brings me to now, If I am going to use 8 lugs it makes more sense to swap the rear axle as well. I have been looking at 4 different rear axles the dana 60, dana 70, sterling 10.25, and 14bolt.
This truck is 1st a daily driver, and most offroad use consists of mild trails, beach driving and is being built more for expedition type driving than rock-crawling. There is also a possibility of a 4BT in the future and the rear axle needs to be sufficient for probably 200whp and 400wtq.
-----------------------------------------------------------
1. Will 6lug be fine for what I am planning or should I just go ahead and go 8lug in case future needs change while I am doing the work now?
2. Currently my speed sensor is in the rear axle does this need to be true of the new axle or is there a easy/cheap way to read off the transfercase output?
3. Of the 4 rear axle options the 14bolt and dana 70 seem to be the cheapest and stock with 4.56s but overkill and heavy at roughly 500lbs, the sterling 10.25 appears to be the lightest at ~300lbs but harder to find, the dana 60 looks to be the best axle for my use at about 400lbs but significantly more expensive. Any one will be converted to disk. Is there any that will be the best option, cheap with 4.56s without killing ground clearance completely and lighter would be better?
4. I am using stock dakota rear leafs for the front suspension with a 1800lb spring capacity, how do I estimate spring compression to determine ride height?
5. I plan on doing a shackle flip in the rear and replacing the 56" (24x32) leaves with a spring capacity of 2250lbs with 64" chevies (32x32) with a 2235lb spring capacity, will moving the front mount forward 8" be enough to keep the wheel centered in the wheelwell and should the ride height remain relatively unchanged with similar spring capacities?
6. For the front steering I am not worried about high-steer but do want crossover-steering, will I need a different passenger knuckle for this or will the stock f250 HP D44 knuckle work?
7. I believe I have a 1310 u-joint in the rear but based on what I could find online It could be a Detroit 7290, if It is the detroit 7290 I could not find an adapter u-joint other than to a 1330 and I think all the axles listed have 1350s, If I do in fact have a detroit 7290 is there anyway to modify a NV233 for a SYE?
8. Assuming I do not need a new rear driveshaft because of u-joint sizes the rear driveshaft should be fine with a 3" lift correct?
9. I would really prefer to use 15x8 wheels in the 4.5"-5.5 backspacing range is this possible or should I plan on using 16s?
sorry for the extremely long post I wanted to make sure I gave enough information
load of money so i sold them. I had Chase at ECGS setup both rears so you may want to price things out before buying anything.
