1998 Doge Durango

Hi I have a stock 98 dodge durango that went over a curb on black ice. 3 of the ball joints are now bad. due to the costs of this job now is really a good time to modify this truck. Insurance may not cover due to wear in the joints My primary concerns are mud and snow. looking for a kit that would have all componets needed to jet the job done. However at this point i am open to ideas. retain the IFS or switch to solid axel. I will only have around $3000 to play with. Wheels,tires and gears can wait till next year. I do need the truck to be useable between mods. The truck now has 31" tires. I would like to have 33" to 36" tires when all is done. What would the real diffrence be as for proformance from 33" to 36" in the mud and snow?
   I do not plan to go supper aggressive however i want to get the job done if that makes any sence. Any help would be great for i am new to this aspect of truck work.

1998 Dodge Durango 5.2 L eng. stock 4wd trans etc. if more info is needed i should be able it get it.


??This thing will let me add this but will not let me fix the dodge! on the subject line. Why?  
<We only live once. Enjoy it or die.>

The difference is going to be pretty big. The problem with Durangos like ours is that they require a fair amount of lift to run moderate sized tires. If you want to trim your bumpers, that opens it up quite a bit. With bumper and inner fender trimming, you can run 33s with a torsion bar lift and add-a-leaves in the rear for about 2" of lift. Rancho makes a 2.5" lift and Tuff country makes a 5.5" lift. The 5.5 should clear 35s with minor trimming. If you wanted to swap to solid axle, the Durango has a strong frame to do it off of, but solid axle swaps are not cheap. I'd get the 2.5" lift, trim the fenders and bumpers quite a bit, possibly run 35s (emphasis and possibly), Run 4.11 gears, and call it good there. The lift is $1500, the tires/wheels are another $700-900, and the gears will set you back a little, too.  
My current ride:
1992 Ford Explorer

Ok how about useing the 2.5 lift in the front and swap out the rear for a dakota axle which is a spring over the axle assumeing i can find one with the correct gear. Do you think that would be enough for 33's. As far as i know the dakota and durango frames are about if not the same. If that is the case i should be able to transfer parts from one to the other.Right?? I feel that would be enough to get the truck where i want to go if it can be done. Would i need other dakota parts to do this. Would doing this open options to me or am I off my rocker and just flat out wrong?  
<We only live once. Enjoy it or die.>

You don't need to swap the entire axle for a spring-over swap. Just get spring brackets and longer shocks. However, a spring-over in the rear will get you about 5-5.5" of lift, which is WAAAAAY more than 2.5 in the front. I'd just do add-a-leaves in the rear unless you want to get new spring packs made or lift the front 5.5", too. Tuff Country makes a 5.5" lift for the Durango that accomplishes lift in the rear via a spring-over swap.

And yes, our Durangos are identical to Dakotas with a few very small exceptions, so if it fits the Dakota, a part will fit the Durango, too.  
My current ride:
1992 Ford Explorer

Thank you your imput has been very helpful. i did not realize a spring over would add 5 inches. That is interesting the tube only looks around 2 inches. However I did not allow for the brackets or even think about them.  
<We only live once. Enjoy it or die.>

Do you have to suspension lift it, would you want to do a body lift maybe.  I ran a '00 Dakota 3" suspension lift 33's and rubbed still and My buddy had the 98 with the Body Lift 33's and rubbed for the money the body lift was the way to go looking back at it all.  The cost of a suspension lift and the weak front end on a dakota you wouldnt want to run over a 33" tire and or wheel it that hard.  Not sure if you would wheel at all.  I have lots of video from some Dakota axle snaps on pretty moderate stuff.  Dakota Durango all the same pretty much  

Body lifts on Dakotas/Durangos will not get you the required amount of room for 33s unless you do some serious cutting (heck, you still have to cut to run 33s with a suspension lift). Also, if you have a manually shifted transfer case, think of how short that little shifter lever is, at least on the NV231 t-case. Every inch the body goes up, the transfer case shifter won't be moving. Keep in mind you'll also have relocate a bunch of wiring and brake lines and fuel lines and all that kind of stuff. IMO, suspension lift is the way to go.  
My current ride:
1992 Ford Explorer

I would have agreed with you a couple years ago, but weak ball joints and front axle cv's make running a 33 a higher risk for $$$ and reward.  Unless you go with 5.5 lift to run 33's.  If you wheel it I would stay with a 32 on that rig.  Trim for 33's and dont pound on it...  If you have the $$ to throw at it 5.5" of lift is sweet!!!  But reward I dont see.

The body lift kit has all of the stuff to make it right and is only a few hundred $
Knew lots of guys who ran them...  

For me, I'm just going to save up my money and only do maintenance on it until I can afford to solid-axle-swap it and run 37s.  
My current ride:
1992 Ford Explorer

That is the way to go!!!  Spawnx is a good source for info on that.  Solid axles and 37's on a dakota will look sweet!  

That sounds like a plan for me to. How much money do you think would be enough to do that?

For now I have an 87 bronco II that can get me where I want to go. Heck I might even build that up. However I don't know how much I chan do with the 2.9 engine thats in it now.Other specks include. Warn locking hubs, A4ld trans, Borg Warner 13-50 Tcase. I think it has 4.11 gears now.  
<We only live once. Enjoy it or die.>

I don't know for sure. Durangos are a strange width. I can't get just a front axle from a compact truck/SUV since it'd be too narrow and fullsize axles are too wide, so I'd have to get front and rear axles. I might try and get a Wagoneer D44 and run some spacers on it until I can afford two new axles. Other than the axle, I'll need leaf springs, a steering setup, brackets, and driveshafts. As for how much that'd cost, I really don't have a good estimate. I'd assume around 7k after wheels and tires and that's not including hydro-assist steering, only the components to make the stock steering box turn the wheels on the Wagoneer axle.

I've got a lot of love for the Ranger-based trucks, as I used to own an Explorer. A word of caution: if money is an issue and you want a trail-monster, don't build up the Bronco II unless you have some fabrication skills of your own. There isn't much in the way of big lifts for the TTB equipped trucks and, like the Durango, you need a lot of lift to run moderate tire sizes. I'm sure I can hook you up with the owner of my old Explorer if you want to try and get a 4.0 motor in your Bronco, though. He's parting it out and if you're not real far away from the west coast, we'd be able to ship it to you.  
My current ride:
1992 Ford Explorer

where are u located?  Talk to Spawnx, member here, as he has done the axle swap on a dakota with all the needed mods and is in So cal...  He maybe able to throw you a ball park but you need to be able to fab / weld or have someone who can, I assume you know...  

I live in south east Pa.  jg09 I actually still own a 92 explorer with a 4.0. As far as swapping the 4.0 I know all the electronics must be swapped out to. I don't know if the a4ld trans in the bronco would work or not. Either way the trans and engine would need to be checked out before i would consider the swap. I really don't know what is in the explorer other than the engine. I do know the t case in the explorer is electronic shift part time. Personally I do not like electronic shifted t cases. I like to feel it go into 4wd. Just my preference. I would like to build the bronco that truck really has a tight turning radius even in 4wd. It would definitely fit where the durango would not. However there is little beef in the drive train. I would need options to beef that up. The one thing i would not want to do is lose the tight turning radius. I really like that bronco. At this point i would like to post pix. However I am a computer idiot when it comes to things like that. Heck a few years ago I would have given you my street address if i was asked my email address. Not really i just say that to get my point across. If I do build the Bronco than the durango would become a tow rig if it can handle that load. Need to do the math.

As far as welding and fab work never did that. That work I would need to send out.

Running out of time I will add to this later

Once again thank you to all  
<We only live once. Enjoy it or die.>

hmmm, that's quite a ways a way. If you seriously want to consider that motor, i can get more info for you. The odometer read 09,000 miles when I got rid of it, so I assume it's 209,000. There was quite a bit of valve tick, but otherwise, it was in good shape.

And the 4.0 swap is actually very straight forward. The Ranger/Explorer/B2 motors were all based off the same block. The 4.0 is just a bored and stroked 2.9. The A4LD should work, as that is what automatic Explorers have. It's what is in my old one right now. If you read my letter that I sent into the techline of the most recent issue of FW (third published letter in the past 6 months!), you'll see that the Explorer was available with a manually shifted version of the transfercase, but it's rare. I'm with ya on manual shifting, though. No switches, relays, and motors to fail on you out on the trail.

For a little B2 inspiration, check this out:

http://explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=223930  
My current ride:
1992 Ford Explorer