71 Dakota100 suspension build
I’m finally getting around to starting on my ‘71 D100 that I’ve had sitting in the background.
When I bought this truck, it “yard drove”. Floors were as strong as a used paper straw and more see through than your screen door, brakes nonexistent, and the steering was like trying to lead an unbroken horse.
I bought the truck with the intention of practicing and improving my fabrication skills and hopefully ending up with a cool truck.
Some of you may remember my story of buying half of a ‘94 Dodge Dakota from a shroom head. I plan on using that front end in this truck. IFS, rack and pinion steering, disc brakes, easily adaptable to the 5x4.5 bolt pattern, and clears 15” wheels. The Dakota front track width is 6.75” narrower than the factory D100 width. 59.75” vs 66.5”. So I’ll be cutting it in half and widening it, then chopping the D100 frame off near the firewall and welding the new widened Dakota front end in its place. I’ll probably weld the very front of the original frame back on so the core support has something to line up to.
I’m sure many of you will say “just buy the QA1 bolt in kit”. But that defeats the whole purpose of why I bought the truck, and that kit costs 3 times what I paid for the whole truck.
It will have a 440, 3 on tree, 8.75. I’ll probably paint it the newer Jeep “Bikini Pearl” color. And I’m still going to use it as a truck.
I’ll try to keep this thread updated as I go.
I’m finally getting around to starting on my ‘71 D100 that I’ve had sitting in the background.
When I bought this truck, it “yard drove”. Floors were as strong as a used paper straw and more see through than your screen door, brakes nonexistent, and the steering was like trying to lead an unbroken horse.
I bought the truck with the intention of practicing and improving my fabrication skills and hopefully ending up with a cool truck.
Some of you may remember my story of buying half of a ‘94 Dodge Dakota from a shroom head. I plan on using that front end in this truck. IFS, rack and pinion steering, disc brakes, easily adaptable to the 5x4.5 bolt pattern, and clears 15” wheels. The Dakota front track width is 6.75” narrower than the factory D100 width. 59.75” vs 66.5”. So I’ll be cutting it in half and widening it, then chopping the D100 frame off near the firewall and welding the new widened Dakota front end in its place. I’ll probably weld the very front of the original frame back on so the core support has something to line up to.
I’m sure many of you will say “just buy the QA1 bolt in kit”. But that defeats the whole purpose of why I bought the truck, and that kit costs 3 times what I paid for the whole truck.
It will have a 440, 3 on tree, 8.75. I’ll probably paint it the newer Jeep “Bikini Pearl” color. And I’m still going to use it as a truck.
I’ll try to keep this thread updated as I go.
