02 Dakota Quadcab SAS - 4x360x40s...

Hey so I know you're familiar with the trails in our area near the springs and based off of what I've seen from this build and your previous builds, what're your thoughts on a radius arm setup on a dakota? What about axles from a 2nd Gen dodge 1 ton? Not looking to build a rig as capable of yours, but replacing front end parts on the ifs is killing me in how much down time I have and how often it happens. Also, how do you determine what your pinion angles need to be? Trying to get a good game plan before I start accumulating the parts from our local upullandpay. Hoping for an end result of a 5-8" lift from factory and capable of running 37s down the highway. Mine is currently a daily driver and looking for the same reliability and user-friendly setup as you stated at the beginning of your build, something that can be driven an hour to two hours down the highway to reach some trails such as ten cup pass and others. From what I've researched, a radius setup would be the easiest and most feasible for me to fabricate but not sure if a 3 link is a drastic enough difference to make me sway that way. New to the off roading seen but already beating my truck up in the rocks with the re-indexed torsion keys cranked and 3" blocks ithe rear sitting on 285s. I live in Florissant near cripple creek. Would love to check out your rig, pick your brain, and maybe get some assistance when I actually tear into mine n

...while I've never built a setup with radius arms, I think that type of setup would be as 'good' as either leafs or links, with the possible drawback of the caster angles changing in an 'arch' per se as the suspension articulates. Not sure if there's really any more pros to outweigh any cons. As far as fabrication involved, a leaf-spring setup is likely the least 'involved', and I like leafs because they're simple, cheap, and easy to replace. IMO, if you're not needing massive articulation up front I think you'd be just as please with a leaf-sprung setup as you would anything else.

37's will likely mandate 1-ton 8-lug axles, from whatever source. I specifically wanted a late 80's (wide perch) high-pinion kingpin axle so my search was simple (89 Ford F350) - just took a while (found it in Parker). I also wanted as much 'factory' hardware as possible (brakes, seals, etc.), plus as much bolt-on capability for armor as possible, and also wanted a disc-disc setup, so a newer 14 bolt (03 Chevy) was the natural choice, and it doesn't get much stronger or easier to build. I didn't bother with any shave kits - mine isn't 'that' kind of truck.

I didn't 'set' my pinion angle per se - it ended up being what it is based on the 6* of caster I wanted - wherever the leafs needed to 'be' in order to get 6* of caster is where I established the leaf mounts, and the pinion angle ended up being what it is as a result - not the other way around. I thought about cutting the C's and rotating the pinion up a big but I didn't want to starve the pinion bearing and left it as-is - it ended up being pretty good overall. I don't know what the pinion angle is compared to 'level' but it's maybe 5-10*?

Definitely weld on some armor - rock sliders/door guards are a must to keep the sheet metal and doors in nice shape, and with tons and decent tires you'll have tome tire out past the side of the truck and I'd weld up sliders to match. I actually do a main slider directly under the door edge and then weld running-boards/rock guards/sliders out to line up just shy of the overall track width, and that makes for nice side armor and running boards to get up to the roof rack, etc.

When I was still on the original driveline and 33s I had my truck up on Spring Creek, Grizzly, Chinaman, Wheeler Lake and many others, but I was losing more and more of the truck every time out dragging the belly and hammering on the sliders, so that's what prompted me to pony up and dig into the SAS and everything else - this version aught to suit me and the family pretty well, hopefully for many years.

Definitely cool on trails and tech - PM me with your e-mail and I'll beam you some info for our local club too - BigHorn 4x4s of Colorado Springs - great club

Cheers
- Sam

...needed a fan shroud, and wouldn't ya know nothing was available in the aftermarket for a 440-powered 02 Dakota using an OE 19" fan, so out game the 16g sheet metal, a section of a water tank cylinder, some air flaps, some high-temp peel-n-stick foam seals, and viola - instant (not) home-brew fan shroud















...also included the mounts for a 12" dual-pass in/out power steering cooler -

...Brake lines - done. Fuel lines - done. Transmission cooler lines - done. Radiator and heater hoses - done. Steering lines - 90% (waiting on two fittings). Engine and radiator are filled with 3.5 leak-free gallons of Zerex G05 50/50 coolant. Battery cables are 80% - getting close to powering things up.

Needed a very custom lower rad hose/tube - ordered the raw tubing, cut to fit, and Wayne glued it together, including a nice 1/8 npt drain plug -





5/16 steel fuel lines run the majority of the length of the truck, with rubber finishing the ends both at the tank and under the hood to the RobbMC EFI tank -





Vibrant Performance 22mm clamps keep the heater hoses from causing a fight with each other -





3/8 JIC(AN) x 5/8-18 bump tube/o-ring fittings and 6an x 3/8 hose barb ends for the OE trans cooler make fabbing flexible trans cooler lines a breeze, and I fabbed two brackets that attach to the oil pan and starter bolt with 1/2" double clamps to secure it all -















and a birds-eye of the engine bay right now -

...this update is all about the one thing I'll be staring at a lot...the dash. I like analog gauges, and I was able to squeeze in 9 of my favorite Autometer Z-series gauges in the factory Dakota panel area.

The main panel is 16g steel - it took three attempts to get it 'just' right, and it the only thing so far in this build that I've had professionally powdercoated. Here it is, complete with an assortment of indicator LEDs for the various purposes, to include left/right turn, high beams, low oil pressure, alternator no-charge, aux battery engage, and aux fuel transfer -


and installed in the dash frame -

back side -

you may notice the speedo is cable-driven, which was a main source of lots of voodoo. See...the OE setup was all 'electric' - no cable...nor was there a way to route a cable to drive the speedo...and in order to get both a reasonable 120 mph top speed and trip odometer I really wanted...well mechanical was the only option...which meant...well I needed to get a speedo cable up to it. So...I ahhhh...modified a hole saw so it was a 'deep-well' style...aaaand yeah - drilled a hole clean through the whole steering column dash frame...and...the heater duct...and I even got it aimed pretty close to the previously unused firewall clutch panel. THIS...was fun

deep-well hole saw -

...never bored a tunnel through a dash frame before - it was pretty fun...but the drill was smoking by the time I got all the way through...

...cleaned up the jagged edges that I could reach, and then had fun playing with my new Harbor Freight plastic welding kit (pretty neat by the way) fabbing up a plastic liner, and shoved it in the hole to keep the cable happy -





...but...another small item that needed to be addressed...was the drivers side upper heater duct - yah it was right in the way so I hogged it out too, made another sleeve, and welded it back together -



back side -

then with everything in place the speedo cable comes right out behind the speedo...and it connects up just like it was built for it 😎

modified the clutch cover to accept a boot for all of the new wiring, and a tube for the speedo cable - all sealed up nicely -

So...now that the gauges are wired and in place, we are potentially within days of firing the engine. We're going to slowly and precisely wake up the newly re-wired main fuse panel, check all circuits one by one, then we'll shove in the key and check switched power, make sure it holds for at least a half hour, and when that's all good and nothing catches fire...well we'll be ready to prime the engine and fire that bitch up 👍

Progress!
- Sam

so far so good - pulled the valve covers then pulled the dizzy to prime the engine, dumped in 8 quarts of Lucas SAE 30 break-in oil, and spun r' up - got good pressure, but after a minute or so wasn't getting oil up to the rockers. Possible reasons: cam bearing installed incorrectly, break in grease/lube had gelled bad enough (after sitting for almost 3 years) that it wasn't allowing oil through, or the cam wasn't in the right orientation (most likely). So, reinstalled dizzy, pulled the plugs, sorted out a couple 'starter electrical' gremlins, and used the starter to spin up the engine to get it all movin'; engine spun nice and smooth - cool seeing the big phat serpentine doin' its thing...and eureka - oil started flowing to the p-side rockers. Didn't want it to flood over and soak the manifolds so reinstalled the p-side v-cover, and today we'll spin it again to confirm the d-side. Worked out a couple dash LED gremlins and I'd simply wired it incorrectly, corrected them, and all of my gauges and LEDs function just like they're s'posed to. 👍

main fuel tank pump, EFI pump and the Sniper all woke up and tested out great.

Started oil priming the engine for fire-up and so far so good. I wanted to ensure the oil passages up to the rockers were clear and aligned correctly, but because I have the baffles under the oil-fill and breather openings I had to pull the valve covers to get visual confirmation. Then I pulled the dizzy, dumped in 8 quarts of Lucas SAE 30 break-in oil, and we spun r' up - got good pressure, but after a minute or so wasn't getting oil up to the rockers. Possible reasons: cam wasn't in the right orientation (most likely), after sitting for almost 3 years the break in grease/lube had gelled a bit and wasn't allowing oil through the small passageways (contributing factor), or the cam bearing was installed incorrectly (least likely).

So, pulled the rockers to confirm I had the oiling holes aligned correctly and to loosen up the assembly grease - they were good, but yah the grease was a bit 'thick' and rocking them a few times got them all happy again, and reinstalled the rockers. We decided to just spin up the engine and get everything moving, so reinstalled the dizzy, pulled the plugs, we sorted out a few starter and dash electrical gremlins, and hit the key! The engine spun up smooth and easy - cool seeing the big phat serpentine doin' its thing...and eureka - oil started flowing to the p-side rockers. Didn't want it to flood over and soak the manifolds so reinstalled the p-side v-cover, and today we'll spin it again to confirm the d-side.

So far so good 👍

(vroom vvVROOOOOOOMMMmmmm) - IT'S ALIIIIVE!! 😃😎

...after about 5 hours of final checks (including realizing I had the dizzy 180* out 🤪), reading and re-reading the EFI instructions and trying to understand all of the small steps, and with 4 good friends over to provide several sets of extra eyes and wrenches, we fired up the 440; it lit up with authority and ran a full 20 minutes without even a hint of stalling, and nothing caught fire .

The engine seems to run nice and smooth, and it idles just like I wanted - zero lope - slow and smooth - sounds like a locomotive. I was hoping to be able to have it hover at/near 2000 rpm for a full 20 minutes for the cam break-in, and it did just that. I took a lot of time to to try to ensure all of the other components would also last the 20 minutes, and everything cooperated nicely - not a drip of anything anywhere. Thermostat opened right at 180*, and the big fan pulls hard through the radiator, and despite not moving and revving at 2k for 20 minutes the temp only got to about 215*...maybe 220 - not bad. Power steering temp came up to about 140, forgot to hook up the trans temp until after but I think it was just a little higher.

About the only thing that needs attention is the exhaust - things did get a little toasty, and I will need to address some areas...and depending on how it turns out I may have to eliminate the second gas tank to provide more clearance, which in the big scheme isn't the worst thing that could happen because I wouldn't mind it being quieter, and I'd have plenty of room for more effective mufflers. We'll see - I have a couple options, including sending the middle sections of the exhaust to JetHot, which will help for sure, and layer in more heat reflective insulation under the cab - the floor was too hot to the touch...and that's pretty hot. The section that routes up and over the driveshaft got the shaft u-joint pretty hot - not sure that's gonna work out.

Granted...2000 rpm for 20 minutes with no movement will get things pretty toasty, so we'll see hot it all does once it's rolling, which might be a while from now as there's several family events coming up and friends coming in for a visit, but like I've been I'll be chopping away at it when I can...but knowing it runs is a huge relief

Huge thanks to my long-time friend Ben for all of his hard work, particularly with helping me decode the FSM and 'de-computerize' a majority of the truck's under-hood harness and re-purposing the under hood fuse panel to now power the new systems. Also thanks to Trevor and Matt for coming over to help last night and keep eyes on 'everything' and to Mike for getting the whole 20 minutes on video, which I'll post up soon as I can edit it. And for sure, huge thanks to my wife and best friend Tracy and the kiddo's for all of your support and help throughout...yet again...another crazy adventure!

Ok - need more coffee... 😄
- Sam

ok - been busy since the successful engine first-fire/break-in, mostly concerning the exhaust. Fire = bad, and things got pretty toasty underneath the cab, and even the driveshaft got hot, and I'm fairly certain if unaddressed the heat will melt the grease right outta the u-joints, and that's no bueno. So...the following is what I've been doing since to mitigate the heat.

First, sent the pipes to Jet Hot. Next, slapped on a LOT of DEI Floor and Tunnel Shield II reflective heat insulation to the underside of the cab and driveline, and put more on the tanks - it looks like a satellite under there now.

I also fabbed up three heat shields to go between the exhaust and the driveline and to protect the charcoal canisters/evap plumbing, shift cables, and above the rear muffler. To ensure the peel-n-stick insulation had the best chance of remaining put I had the heat shields powder coated for maximum paint adhesion.

This...I think...will do it, and I hope it does because I don't know how to do it any better. Bonus is I get to keep the second gas tank...which would have to come out if this doesn't work, and I reallyreallyreally want the second tank.

What else......oh, fuel: Cleaned all of the leaky aviation sealant and redesigned/reassembled everything with good ole Teflon tape. Redesigned the EFI tank head unit using steel NPT-AN fittings, and I'm waiting for my welder to get my fuel tank sending units done so I can reinstall them.

Also broke out the bender and fabbed up the basis for the rear winch mount/rock bumper; the front is next. Soon as I have the sending units back from my welder I'll have the fuel system back together, and we can fire it back up and resume testing.

The plan is to have the 'core' tested (all driveline/suspension/etc.), and when the go, steer, and stop are all good to go we'll take it to our local off-road park for trials, and if all of that goes well...7 weeks from now we're taking it to Moab.

Lots of DEI 'Floor and Tunnel Shield II' -









exhaust reinstalled without the driveline and shields -







these are the heat shields, with the insulation applied towards the 'hot' side -

main heat shield between the exhaust and intermediate shaft -





painted the bottom side gray to make things easier to 'see' -



and the additional bolt-on top shield to protect the fuel charcoal canisters and plumbing, and shift linkage -





...and then squeeeeeeze in the driveshafts... -





this is the upper 'fin' installed shielding the cable shifter and fuel plumbing...kinda hard to see tho -



Steel fuel fittings and 90* hose ends -





Core of the rear winch bumper -

Discovered the transmission shifter levers and NSS were leaking, so replaced all three, and modified one of my big C-clamps to nicely 'squeeze' the big seal into the trans case - worked awwwwsome -







Oh and once fully filled, a 46RH with a 'deep' pan will drain out almost exactly 2 gallons of ATF...

Meanwhile...the kids have been enjoying playing around in the Jeep, and our brandnewest Jessi is eatin' and poopin' like a rock star

The fuel system is all back together and ready to re-fill the tank. Very few things remaining before rolling the Dakota out of the shop. I'll be focusing the next couple days on checking bolts, cotter pins, temp battery hold down, then re-connect EFI plugs, reinstall the fuses, and it's ready to fire back up, and test the tranny. Lot that still has to go just right...but shit's gettin' real ovah he'ayh

So...as I was re-assessing the fuel system/components I thought about having two connected fuel pickup units at each end of the tank to help delay a fuel-starvation situation common with long tanks, and came across some cool Walbro pickup units (I think originally for snowmobiles, but with 5/16 hose ends these are great for 'anything'), and while I'd pondered dual pickups I ultimately went with a single unit. I built it with two hoses to act as a 'spring' to gently press the pickup unit down to the bottom of the tank - maybe help prevent it from sliding around. Using two corrugated submersible in-tank nylon hoses and clean EFI pinch clamps I made the below sending unit - aught to work great.

Since the pickup is a mesh screen...the science is when the fuel gets very low and uncovers the pickup unit the remaining fuel wicking on the mesh acts like a diaphragm and it will suck itself closed and may help prevent excessive air from getting into the system. I'm using a solenoid-style 30 gph low-pressure feed pump, and no pump likes to run 'dry', but if/when I get very low on fuel...and up on a steep angle...the pickup unit is supposed to suck itself closed - temporarily, to avoid sucking in air, until such time as it dries out and re-opens or is recovered by fuel. And naturally...the second tank is intended to make any of the above 'running out of fuel' scenarios moot...but I always ponder stuff into oblivion...

Not sure how much it will 'help'...but I don't think it will hurt(?). It's either this or just a regular primitive tube down to the bottom of the tank.

Also, to make adjusting the float 'just so' and making sure everything clears nicely I cored out two windows from my mock-up gas tank -

sweet - it runs and drives, and overall I think it's "ok". Have to dial in the idle and a couple small power steering fitting leaks (also I think from the enormously disappointing aviation #3 thread sealant), but so far I think it's pretty good to go.

The one thing that has me worried/curious is that in the 20 minutes or so of tooling around the engine had crept up to about 210, 30* more than the 180* thermostat in it - no big loads, but also not much airflow, but at the same time the idle kept trying to creep up - not sure why, but in that same 20 minutes it started off at a nice 700rpm or so and ended up as a sustained 1200 rpm or so...not sure why - possibly 'linkage', but I'm hoping that as the rpm's crept up trying to make 'power' that has something to do with why the temps were trying to creep up, too. I'm analyzing all of that now (along with re-installing the two power steering cooler npt fittings - both of which were leaking due to the woefully inadequate #3 sealant), and hopefully will have it back together and more testing this afternoon or tomorrow.

I also noticed that the coolant 'overflow' reservoir indeed did capture...I dunno, maybe a couple pints of coolant that pumped itself out of the radiator...and sucked itself back in when I checked this morning. Not sure if that means anything (other than it works)...maybe I need a higher rated cap - mine's a 16 psi cap now...

The fan is pulling a ton of air through the radiator...but ultimately one of my biggest fears of needing a bigger radiator than the OE unit may prove valid. Once I get the idle back under control and resume testing I'll know for sure.

Transmission output shaft seal was leaking - pulled the t-case and looks like the output shaft seal got overlooked during the rebuild - the sealing lip was brittle and came out in pieces - we were drinkin' - it happens 🍺 . My local O'riellys has a new one in stock along with a new flange gasket - should have it back together tomorrow. Might have it all running by the weekend. Rear main 'might' be leaking too - will keep an eye on it and for now just gonna run it.

Plus, in the 'very cool' department, Steve at Advance Adapters is sending me a care package, including new o-rings, gaskets, oil, and instructions, and will personally walk me through re-sealing the t-case . He offered to bring it back to their shop and do it but I offered to do it myself - I'll gain the knowledge of how the thing is put together, and all I have to do is be patient. Meanwhile I can take it apart and get ready...but first I need to make a clean spot on a workbench - which along with being patient are probably the hardest parts of it all 😬😝.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - the customer service and support from Advance Adapters is outstanding 👍

Meanwhile, I started on the slider extensions/running boards - this is the part of builds I really like