Dakota RT Suspension and Brake Upgrade Part 1

Racer X Garage Episode 84: This is Part 1 of our 1999 Dodge Dakota RT Suspension and Brake Upgrade! We install a set of DJM Lower Control arms to fix some issues created by the previously installed lowering springs. We also start the process of doing a 2003-2004 Dakota Brake swap which is a major upgrade over the stock RT Brakes. Want to know how to upgrade your R/T's brakes? Check this out!
DJM Suspension 3 inch Lower Control Arms - PN# CA2397L-3
djmsuspension.com
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[@johnnyturla2734]

Aww yeah. KZbin needs more Dakota builds. I'll be following your build.

[@RacerXGarage]

sweet! Glad to have ya along!

[@sactownmopar]

You have the best instructional videos on youtube on the dakota! Gives me inspiration to go out and get it done on mine. Doing the 2003 Durango brakes on my r/t this week.😀

[@RacerXGarage]

Awesome, good luck with your project! Thanks for the kind words!

[@stevenfietz1154]

Great vid. I own a 1999 Dakota R/T also. I am planning on the brake upgrade this coming spring. Thanks for the info.

[@RacerXGarage]

Nice! Good luck on the swap, hope the video helps!

[@onebadlt123]

Don't hesitate to ask questions. The upgrade is absolutely worth doing.

[@gerardovidana3466]

Can i use 03 control arms on a 99

[@onebadlt123]

@@gerardovidana3466 two driver side ones, yes

[@RacerXGarage]

@@gerardovidana3466 Greg above is right. You can use 2 driver's side 03's on a 99

[@tonysantamaria19]

I love the video, although I wish you showed more camera angles. I hit my head quite a few times, so I felt that myself. I hope you're okay. I have a 1997 5.2L. I can't imagine lowering it, but the brake upgrade is very interesting to me. There's nothing better than a midsize pickup truck with a V8.

[@RacerXGarage]

Greg said the brake upgrade was the absolute best thing he did for that truck, so lowered or not It would be a great upgrade. And yes these things are pretty fun! Thanks for checking it out!

[@haroldyoung8727]

Great video. Just subscribed to your channel.

[@RacerXGarage]

Thanks! I appreciate it!

[@newtonhowell540]

So, I recently commented about posting a video to give a insight on what all I ran into while doing my rear end and front brake swap to the 03/04. Unfortunately I am unable to get my account verified to post videos because I have never done it before. Looks like it takes a month for that to happen.

[@RacerXGarage]

no worries, thanks!

[@cauybeach2652]

I really enjoyed the video. the only thing is I would love to change the hub pattern for my truck so I can fit different wheels. There just aren't many choices for 6x114.3 patterns.

[@RacerXGarage]

there really arent unless you look into viper wheels. I'm not sure of the process for the gen 2 trucks to convert to 5 bolt, but I know it has been done before.

[@blownaway4371]

Join a couple of the F/B Dakota groups. Front you can use '90 front hubs and a Cherokee or Explorer rear axle. Both come in 5x4.5" pattern to match the '90 front hub.

[@davidwilson4190]

I have owned my 98 dakota r/t club cab since new off the showroom floor. I recently did the 03 -04 spindle swap. I used my factory upper and lower control arms. I used them because I had urethane bushings pressed in years ago, my truck always drove very tight and handled well. The brakes were always inadequate. I put 4 new ball joints on (those factory rivets are no joke) and when I lowered the truck down slowly the anti sway bar rests on the control arms... so I removed the anti sway bar temporarily... thinking that I needed to get a junkyard 03-04 anti sway bar. I was forced to move the truck from my work to a nearby parking lot. When I parked it only have driven it a few 100 yards, I looked back at while leaving... the wheels looks like I'm set up for drifting. It seems that NO amount of adjustments for a front end alignment will correct this. I NEED HELP! What should I do? Luckily I don't use my truck as my daily... any help would be greatly appreciated.

[@RacerXGarage]

Oh man! That's not good! We're no suspension experts, but one thing we did find out was you really need to TQ the upper control arm frame mounting bolts to spec. If they're loose at all, they will move. We found this out the hard way after just backing out the driveway to turn it around. You can prob even just grab it and move it by hand if they're loose

[@Hrntphxr]

Nice video. I have an 02 4WD CC, will be doing both front and rear. I am wondering if there are 5 lug hubs available and could swap them out. Going to look into it anyway.

[@RacerXGarage]

Thanks! There are ways people have done it, but we're not sure how. Good luck!

[@JB-qb8xy]

Also where can I get new upper control arm bracket? Mine are rusty and need two new breackets

[@RacerXGarage]

That I don't know, I would assume you'd have to make one or cut one off a donor truck. Sorry to hear, good luck!

[@JB-qb8xy]

I have a 2000 Dakota 4x4 extended cab, I have a parts Dakota 2003 4x4 regular cab. Can I swap out the front brakes and also remove all hardware for the rear brakes that are disk brakes to replace the drum brakes on my 2000 Dakota?

[@RacerXGarage]

We haven't done any changes on a 4x4 so unfortunately we cannot say if it is the same process for a 4x4 truck. I'm sure the info is out there somewhere, good luck in your search!

[@whitewalls8778]

Lookin' good! Hard to beat a tastefully lowered truck. :) Y'all got any sportsmachine content coming up? Missin' those trucks.

[@RacerXGarage]

Agreed in on the tastefully lowered trucks! On the Ty and SGT, we are waiting on some parts right now. We do have a bunch to do to the SGT so we hope to get that stuff done this fall or winter. So they'll be back before too long

[@onebadlt123]

Waiting to get my cladding back from repair. It's been a long wait but next up is getting the Typhoon back on the road eventually.

[@interestinglyso4404]

Does your process include 4x4 Dakota 1999 brake upgrade, being the spindle on 4x4 or different than 2 wheel drive : thanks for all your great content !

[@RacerXGarage]

I don't believe the 4x4 is the same unfortunately. I'm not familiar with the 4x4 setup so not sure what's compatible or an upgrade there. Thanks for checking it out anyway!

[@clintrawlings8890]

Did you use stock shocks? Having issues with stock shock being too short

[@RacerXGarage]

I'm pretty sure we did. Hadn't been an issue that I know of

[@michaeljackson5970]

Does anybody know if you can run 15 inch wheels with the brake upgrade ?

[@RacerXGarage]

Thats a good question, not entirely sure if you can or not. Good idea would be to look up the wheel sizes for the 03 and up trucks.

[@briancurry46]

Coils and lower control arms are ordered separately? For 03-04 setup? Would I need 03-04 tie rod ends too?

[@RacerXGarage]

we only did the lower control arms, just reused the stock springs. I don't remember on the tie rods, but you could cross reference on rock auto. if they're the same part number, you should be good to go. Good Luck!

[@juanpagan3295]

Do u know a online page where i can buy that suspension kit? I got a R/T Dakota..

[@RacerXGarage]

This kit came from djmsuspension.com/

[@newtonhowell540]

1999 Dakota rt, needing a rear end for it and have been looking into a swap from a 2003/04 Dakota with the same 9.25 rear end that has disc brakes instead of drums. I was wondering if you have done a swap like this before or not? Will the pinion yoke from my 1999 work in the 2003 rear end? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[@RacerXGarage]

We have not, but I do know its has been done! I'm not sure on the details, but it is a popular thing do to. Good luck!

[@newtonhowell540]

@@RacerXGarage I have just finished up installing the 04 disc rear end swap. Any suggestions on where I can find factory upper control arms for my 1999? Can’t find them anywhere so far.

[@newtonhowell540]

I’m currently doing the front brake upgrade on my 99 RT. I noticed in one of your replies to a comment asking about the upper control arms that you said 2 driver side upper arms from a 03/04 Dakota. Just wondering if that was a typo or if the upper arms have to both come from the drivers side. Thanks, hoping to have it finished today.

[@RacerXGarage]

The reason we used two drivers side upper control arms is because in 03/04 they changed the frame mounting locations on the passenger side because as you'll find out they're hard to access due to the passenger side manifold. Because of this change the 03/04 passenger side uca cannot be used on a 02 down. On pre 03 trucks the upper control arms are the same part number and symmetrical in the way they can be installed on either side. We just recommend the 03/04 to make sure you get the right size ball joint for the 03/04 spindle. Good luck with your swap!

[@newtonhowell540]

@@RacerXGarage I found that out about 2 hours ago and I also found out that I have to use the 03/04 lower ball joints also.

[@newtonhowell540]

@@RacerXGarage thanks for the reply and info. I’ll post a video or two on my channel before I reinstall the bed and front end components.

[@RacerXGarage]

@@newtonhowell540 awesome! There is a part 2 to this install, I think we show the difference on the control arms and ball joints

[@newtonhowell540]

@@RacerXGarage y’all were using lowering control arms so I wasn’t sure if it was the same for the factory arms. I also did the rear axle swap to an 04 9.25 3:92 locker with disc brakes from my drum set up in my RT. The rear end went out so I decided to do that swap. It was pretty simple. Had to get the pinion yoke off of an 01 to 03 though to keep my driveshaft and go from straps to the bolt on flange. You use the 270 u joint in both ends of the shaft and do away with the 458 u joint for the differential end. I’m going to try to get as much information as I can out there about doing these types of swaps.

[@marknphyll]

I’m just curious of your faith?

[@HILTONMODE]

Thank you for making this video. I'm interested in dropping my 2002 Dakota, but I'm curious if this kit would work on a 4x4. Any thoughts?

[@RacerXGarage]

I don't think you can use the same process on a 4x4, but you might check into 03/04 4x4 trucks and see if they have different brakes. If so maybe you can swap that stuff over. Good luck !

[@HILTONMODE]

@@RacerXGarage thanks 👍

[@bobsoft]

You need the spindle/knuckles, backing plates, rotors, calipers and caliper brackets off a 03-04 Dakota or 03 Durango 4X4. Those years have the two pistons calipers and larger rotors.

[@HILTONMODE]

@@bobsoft Thanks so much

[@toms5oh]

what about 5 lug swapping the 99 ?

[@RacerXGarage]

I know it has/can be done, but I'm not familiar with the process. Its much different than the 91-96. However, we like the R/T wheels on this one, so we won't be changing them

[@sethburt8974]

I had a machine shop weld and plug my axles and hubs... then Redhill for 5x4.5(mustang) bolt pattern $300

[@miguelmatias9948]

Muy buen video amigos, pero podrían ponerle subtítulos en español,eso sería genial

[@RacerXGarage]

No estoy seguro de cómo obtener subtítulos en español, pero intentaré averiguar cómo hoy. ¡Gracias por ver!

[@miguelmatias9948]

@@RacerXGarage gracias a ustedes que uno puede aprender y se le facilitan las cosas , gracias por compartir su experiencia y conocimientos con nosotros

[@johnbanks120]

What year do I need for the lower ball joints i have a 99

[@RacerXGarage]

Lower ball joints should be the same. Since we used the DJM lower control arms, we didn't have to buy them.

[@johnbanks120]

Ok because I have stock lower control arms.people tell me i have to up grade to 2003 ball joints

[@onebadlt123]

@@johnbanks120 No, ball joints are fine as lower control arms are standard across all years 97-04 2WD. I would recommend replacing the entire control arm as it comes with bushings and are fully assembled. They're approximately $89 each from rock auto parts. Moog RK620474 and RK620475 for both sides. Should work fine.

[@luismendezcastillo491]

Mi dakota no es rt..es 3.9 magnum..98..y solo tiene 24 mil millas... .

[@RacerXGarage]

24,000 miles is pretty low! Bet it is nice!