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truck is lowered, i need help please... ?!

18K views 37 replies 13 participants last post by  dalevid 
#1 · (Edited)
I bought my truck from another person and i have been adding and taking away to make it my own.

here is a picture of member uwntsumrtII's dakota. i want mine to look more like that. the wheels, tires, height, etc.



im not into really into lowriders and i need to get whatever done before getting a front end alignment.

i do not have the stock springs or shocks so im thinking i could buy "better" stock size shocks. what should i buy ? ? from where ? ?

i dont want it to compromise the look to much or set up real high above the wheels with a big space in between the wheel and the fender.

here is a list of what is on my truck at the moment.

* 2 inch drop blocks on it.
* beltech nitro drop 2 shocks.
* helo xplode 22 inch wheels .
*toyo proxes st ll front tires
*toyo proxes s/t rear tires

here are a few pics older pics of it. ive taken the stickers off the windows and the seats.


 
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#2 ·
i have already went to almost every wheel/tire place in town asking the same questions.

most the people here are basically ******** and into 4x4 trucks so they are not much help anyways.

ive been told numerous times that they do not make many 20, 18, 17 wheels for a 2000 model dakota.

i know putting smaller wheels with taller tires would vastly improve the ride as well.

what do you guys think ?
 
#4 · (Edited)
So what are you looking for exactly? Any lowered Dakota won't ride as good as stock. It will be noticeably stiffer, but your setup can undoubtedly be improved for ride quality.

If your looking for that exact setup (or close to it) you can start with wheels/tires. You heard right about there being limited choices for our bolt pattern (6 x 4.5). It sucks and we all hate it. But you do have a few choices. You can get a set of stock Dakota R/T wheels (17''), 20'' R/T replicas, Boss wheels, CCW (expensive), and others here and there (American Racing, etc...). The 17'' R/T's or other stock Dakota wheels will give you a much larger tire on the rear. You can't run his setup on the street so its hard to help you there. You have to be a bit more specific on what you'd like to run. Staggered sizes, or the same all the way around? There are always a set of stock R/T's for sale (and other Dakota/Durango wheels) in the classified section on the site.

For suspension, you could ditch the blocks and either get leaf springs, or hangers. Either of these will improve your ride quality over the 2'' blocks you have now. Hangers retain stock ride quality, and leafs are stiffer than stock. If your really concerned with ride quality, go for a set of hangers. Leafs will lower your truck 2'' in the rear (so it will sit just like it does now), and hangers lower it I think 3'' for an R/T (4'' for a non R/T) uwntsumrtII's truck looks lowered in the front, so you could just get a set of coils and bump stops to drop the front.

Shocks are next. If you can find a set of HOTCHKIS TUNED Bilsteins that is best, but stock Bilsteins will work as well (thats what I'm using and I have no complaints). Some people like the shocks you have now. Another choice are the QA1's, they're adjustable, but they're expensive.

If you could tell us what kind of money you want to spend that will help us decide whats best for you. For example, if you want to go crazy on suspension, you could FIND a Hotchkis TVS kit and basically redo the entire suspension setup on the truck and end up with a high quality 1/2 drop on an R/T. But if you want to save a few bucks, we will have to piece together different things to get the job done.

I hope this helps you get started. Check out the featured trucks on this site or just browse around and post up other trucks you like. In that pic uwntsumrtII's truck is setup for the track so its kind of hard to replicate it for street with that wheel/tire combo. But his wheel/tire combo there is stock Dakota wheels with Drag radials on the back and Bogarts (I think) on the front. I don't think you can run bogarts on the street though

Edit*- Going to go into a little more detail

You have the sniper kit on your truck but since its not what your looking for. Time for it to go! lol... But keep your side exit exhaust. Its nice and doesn't look cheap or cheesy. If you want to look like rtII's truck, get rid of the rest of the body kit and grab at least a stock front bumper (but you can keep it all if you like it...its up to you.) Keep those mirrors too. He has a Stillen Bumper.

Ok according to his TOTM specs, he cut 1/4 coil on the front... So you could get yourself some 2'' drop coils for a non r/t and that would drop your front end 1'' (if its stock right now...I'm not sure what your current front end setup is. An R/T is 1'' lower from factory than regular 2wd dakotas)... He has hangers in the rear, so you could get those or get some leaf springs. Then get some Bilstein shocks (I got mine from Summit and had no problems) and your suspension will be good to go and be close to his height. Heres a link to his truck specs as of that picture:

http://www.dakota-durango.com/totm/2008-11/totm-2008-11.html
 
#5 · (Edited)
thanks a ton, im reading threw it now...


*edit: ive read over all you have said and so ill have to think more on it and post again. so far though i have no plans to get rid of anything on the truck other than the wheels,tires eventually. definitely dont want to take off the body kit, mirrors or anything like that.

mostly i just want it to ride better and raise it back up a bit. its to low for my taste as it is now. i would rather go down from the 22 wheels to at least 20s or 18s. that way i would have more rubber to ride on also.

also not really interested in spending a ton of money on the suspension. not going to take it to a track or drag strip. just want to fix it up for pleasure... get on it every now and again driving threw town and etc.
 
#6 ·
No prob man! We can narrow everything down a bit now.

for the front, get a set of 2'' drop coils for a non r/t (or 1'' drop coils for an r/t)... it all depends on how they describe the part. then get a set of Bilstein shocks for the front. You can cut your bump stops if your on a strict budget. That takes care of the front.

For the rear, you can get leaf springs which will improve ride quality and still leave you 2'' lower than a stock r/t. Bilstein shocks will work well in the back as well. The ride will be stiffer than stock, but not as bad as the blocks you have now.

Next, just find a set of wheels you like and everyone here can help you out with the best tire size for whichever drop you get. I'm not GREAT at sizing tires with drops, but we have a lot of guys on here that know just what to do! Keep us updated so we can help you as you go along!
 
#8 ·
ohhh... well the truck you want yours to look like is lowered sooo... lol ...If your looking for the most comfortable ride then go back to stock. Anything lower than stock is stiffer. I was just giving you the best options suspension wise if you were looking to go the same height as uwntsumrtII's truck.

You could remove the rear blocks and get Bilsteins. That would be stock height and Bilstein makes good shocks. For the front if your not already lowered then leave it as is and change the shocks as well. If you want the stock 17'' R/T wheels then you could go with stock 255/55/17 size tires. Thats basically a stock R/T.

If you want 20'' wheels, you could get 275/45/20 possibly... I don't think thats too tall of a tire. You'd have to check though. The rear blocks are definitely killing your ride quality though.

Do you have any rubbing issues on big bumps? Looks like you could.
 
#9 ·
here is a picture of member uwntsumrtII's dakota. i want mine to look more like that. the wheels, tires, height, etc.



im not into really into lowriders and i need to get whatever done before getting a front end alignment.

i dont want it to compromise the look to much or set up real high above the wheels with a big space in between the wheel and the fender.
You're either going to have to lower your truck or have a big gap between the fenders and wheels.

You realize stock height = big fender gap right?
 
#10 · (Edited)
sorry, ive got company and have been trying to post back to you. i dont know much about suspension at all. i do know that it is literally riding on the rear bump stops....

that said , thank you very much for the help so far as i really need it.... ill post back when i can with a more accurate, thoughtful post. long day, im tired and need to clear my head if you know what i mean .

*edit: i took the truck when i first got it to a muffler shop. one of the hangers for the exhaust was loose and making a rattling noise so i had it wielded back on.
while we had it on the lift i looked and seen that it was sitting on the bumpstops. i told them how it rides sooo rough. they said i need to put back the stock rear u bolts and take out the lowering blocks. then i need to put back the front springs and then put back the stock shocks all the way around because the nitro drops shocks would be to short.

i just want the truck to ride better... the only way to describe it is i dont want it to look getto if you know what i mean. and i definitely dont want to raise it back up and have a big gap with huge 22 inch wheels. i thought maybe if i put 20 inch or even smaller 18 inch wheels with bigger/taller tires it would look ok and ride good. sounds like thats not really possible nor would it look right.

im not sure what i need/should do thats why i made this thread because again i dont know much at all about suspension.. i just know it needs the front end aligned and it rides very rough. its hurts your stomach when you hit bumps going 60-65mph.
 
#11 ·
no prob man. get some pictures together of trucks you like and post 'em in here. Stock height is stock height. Can't really do much with it. Lowering is the only way to get rid of the fender gap. If you want to stay stock you will be very limited in losing fender gap. But if you want to lower at all, there are many possibilities.

But browse around the site and check out different trucks. Maybe something will catch your eye at stock or near stock height and you can take it from there. Maybe you'll find some wheels you like as well :huh:

Saw your edit when I was about to post:

The muffler shop is right if you want to go back to stock. But if you do the suspension correctly it won't ride as bad as it does now. But the wheel/tire combo you have is also a little big and is probably rubbing. Heres my truck with a 1/2 drop and 20's. Do you want a smaller fender gap or would you not mind having a little bigger gap?



Heres stock height for reference of how it looked before any suspension or wheels



If you went back to stock that would be the gap you'd have ^^
 
#12 ·
if this was my truck,i'd keep my expenses at a mininim and leave the rims that are on it,but change the tires to a higher aspect ratio tire (i.e. if you were to have 255/35-22's,then i would go to 255/45-22 tire.that should give you about 3/4'' more tire all the way around.
i should of stated first you will need to get rid of the blocks and long u-bolts also in the rear and return the front suspension back to stock (what ever that might be).one nice thing about this project is you can do the rear then the front at different times.
 
#13 ·
thanks again guys you are being a lot bigger help to me than you realize. i NEED to get this sorted out because he front end needs to be aligned and i don't want to mess up my truck/wheels/tires, etc.

im going to do what you suggested and find some pics of trucks i like and post them here for you to see.
 
#18 · (Edited)
oh.. and i also wanted to note that my driveway is a steep hill and it almost scrapes every time going up/down. if i go at it to much sideways, one of my back tires will get stuck in the little water gully thing...it feels like the tire comes of the ground a bit..and i will have to back up or burn rubber to get out.

i would like to save money as much as possible but i need to get this suspension lined out so i can drive it daily. i already drive it a bit but i dont want to damage something.

sometimes if im going 60-65 down the interstate it actually hurts my stomach... its that ruff at higher speeds.
 
#20 ·
i would like to know what kind of wing that is i`am liking it a lot and yes they do make 18`s that fit Dakotas i have panthers juice6 on mine 18x8.5 standerd off set i have 255/55/18 Nitto 420`s on now with 2/3 drop i like it better than what i had stock
 
#23 · (Edited)
hey, any info you can give me helps so thanks.

ive been thinking to go somewhere and ask what would you charge me to take this lowering kit off and put it back to stock height? Do not take the body kit off or anything like that. then later get 20 to 18 wheels with taller tires.

tomorrow ill try and crawl under the truck and take some pictures.... i dont know 100% what im looking at, sorry...

i like your truck height ^^^ but look how low the rear is on mine.. why ? ?


i would like it if my truck was about 1-2 inchs taller. i think it would ride a LOT better, and not chance scraping the ground as much in the process. then like i said if i got smaller 20 or 18 wheels with taller tires it would ride even better and look better in my opinion. im not crazy about the ganster/ghetto 22 wheels on it now. or any 22 wheels for that matter. i would never put something like that on the truck.

haha i been driking a bit all night too so sorry...

ve also been thinking how the hell would i get the spare out if i needed it lol.... its late at crap here, im really tired. had loads of company all night and i been sneaking off to post back to you guys about my truck. im off for the night..post tomorrow, thanks a ton again.... later! :moon::beer::funny:
 
#24 ·
hey, any info you can give me helps so thanks.

i think im about to just go to someone and say, what would you charge me to take this lowering kit off and put it back to stock height? not take the body kit off or anything like that. then later get 20 to 18 wheels with taller tires.

tomorrow ill try and crawl under the truck and take some pictures.

i like your truck height ^^^ but look how low the rear is on mine.. why ? ?


how about this. i would like it if my truck was about 1-2 inchs taller. i think it would ride a LOT better, and not chance scraping the ground as much in the process. then like i said if i got smaller 20 or 18 wheels with taller tires it would ride even better and look better in my opinion. im not to crazy about the ganster/ghetto 22 wheels on it now.

haha i been driking a bit all night too so sorry...later !


wow this is confusing when i know nothing about suspension...nor do i have a way to lift the truck to look under it. ive also been thinking how the hell would i get the spare out if i needed it lol.... its late at crap here, im really tired. had loads of company all night and i been sneaking off to post back to you guys about my truck. im off for the night..post tomorrow, thanks a ton again....
I honestly think that if you were to get some 17's or 18's with a good sized tire you should be fine with the height you are sitting at. You dont look to low. The body kit may make it look lower but thats it.
I would just say loose the 22's and try a smaller wheel.
Just to let you know my drop is 3" DJM lower control arms and 2" blocks in the rear. I plan on finishing my drop with a 4" drop in the rear.

BTW what size tires are you running?
Also try to get a picture from the back of your truck so we can have a better view of the drop.
 
#25 ·
If you are going to remove the drop kit I would go with 20's all the way around. There are rims out there you just need to spend lots of time researching them. The tires are what is going to be expensive. The cheapest route for you would be 20's with 275-45-20's all the way around. This is a tall tire and will clear the rear no problem and should clear the front with a stock ride height.

Did you get the stock suspension with the truck? if not you will need to buy front springs and different shocks.
 
#27 ·
i really think the front is the stock suspension.i think your issues are rear end related.TAKE TWO BLOCKS OFF AND CALL US BACK IN THE MORNING:jester:.but seriously,there are guys on this website that are going to tell you to change everything and spend a ton of money.removing the blocks should be your first move.re-evaluate the ride and if your good to go,step it up a size in tire to fill the gap.i think your truck looks good with those wheels(it carries the paint theme) so no need to really change those.
 
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