Dakota Front End

[BobbyFord]

Mustang II sucks. Not heavy enough for a truck, especially if you plan on a 385 series. Dakota front end is truck rated whereas the Mutt II isn't. I wouldn't trust my butt to the mustang II front-end, especially the way I drive

Oh yeah, Industrial Chassis does not offer the hub-to-hub anymore.

have you DRIVEN a truck with an MII setup? What makes you think that it isn't strong enough? A dakota of all trucks, is lightweight, not even a big truck worth using as a truck. To flat out say MII sucks is a little adventurous in my book. All these guys running them and having no problems would more than likely disagree with you. I would put my bottom dollar (and a good portion of my respect) on the table, to say 100% of the guys running MII setups don't use the truck, as a truck by some standards. If built right, it's plenty strong as plenty have proven, by actually driving the setup. Now it may not be a rock crawling, fully adjustable, dream suspension....but bottom line is, it works, has been proven, been used, been sold, been installed, and well....you get the point.

I have driven trucks with the Mutt II set up. I don't like the bump steer.
The Dakota front end, like it or not, is a 1/2 ton rated truck suspension.

[marz68]

The stock ball joints are said to be from a full size car like the ones that come with 460 ,351c and so on so strength is denfinetly there. If you have bump steer on a mustang II then that person must not know what there doing cause I have never had that problem with mine, any body that knows about suspension can fix that bump steer problem in no time!

[SMF Speed&Custom]

I don't see anything wrong with a MII front end. Ton's of people use them and I have not heard anything bad about them. The Dodge dakota does look nice as well but to me it's a bit pricey at almost 700 bucks for JUST the crossmember. It looks more bulky and such as well. The MII seems to be the easiest kit to put in as well with a lot of aftermarket parts for a reasonable price if you look around. The Dakota is still in the back of my mind but not for the 670 dollar range or however much it's going for. Also the MII isn't like a stock front end from a Mustang, the metal and crossmember is thicker for strength.

[BobbyFord]

One of the problems with the Mustang II kits is that a lot of the aftermarket manufacurers leave out the strut rod, thus putting more strain on the lower control arm.
Bumpsteer on the Mustang II suspension will always occur at some point in the travel of the suspension. It is a fundamental design flaw. Also the larger ball joints offered by some of the manufacturers are strong but their still mounted to wimpy control arms.
My truck is going to have a 600+ HP 521" engine, very heavy and I will not trust a Mustang II kit.

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Here is a copy of the email that I got from Industrial chassis. It explains things enough for me...




We use Dodge Dakota suspension components for our kits. If you are not familiar with the Dakota trucks, the ones we concentrate on were made from 1987-1996 and are similarly sized to your truck unlike the Mustang II components that are popular with our competitors.

The Mustang II is a fine suspension under vehicles that are similarly sized and weighted. The MII was designed to carry about 1,600-1,900 pounds on the front axle and STOP a vehicle that weighed in under 2,800 pounds total. The MII is also fairly narrow (56â€Â

[layedout72]

you say all this stuff as if everyone would buy a hub-to-hub kit and run off the shelf parts...

Sure, lot's of people do, but a LOT of people, right now especially, are making one off control arms. Strength? I'd say 1/4 wall on 1.25 tubing or so is plenty strong if the ball joints and cross shaft mounts are done correctly. As for bumpsteer, I have ALWAYS heard the mII setup had minimal compared to some. Then again, who's to say you can't fix it, if there is a little? It's not all that hard to fix. Hell, a bumpsteer kit like Marz has on his f100 would eliminate quite a bit of it. Let alone if you are buying a crossmember kit, you can raise the rack mount to run perfect with your lowers at ride height.

The issues are easy to overcome is all I am saying. To bash a suspension that has been run for so long, with minimal downfalls (other than adjustability) is rediculous in my book. You have to look at it at a stand point of most the people running it, had solid axle, i-beams, or dropped axle suspensions.....It is FAR superior to that, let alone far prettier than a dakota front end. I would venture to say a lot of the trucks and cars this setup goes on, are show cars, not so much daily drivers.


I also believe that guy is flat out trying to sell you something. I would love to see somewhere that a MII setup has snapped at the lower control arm mount, on a truck like this. Maybe I have the understanding that when you build a truck, you should over build. The roll center/ride height argument is very interesting as well, seeing as how most of these kits put your truck close to the ground, most cases within maybe 5 inches. Seems to me, thats pretty low.

[customcrewcab]

the dakota is fine. theres alot left out about the mustang II but there trying to sell there product. i think the rotors are larger ont the mustang two with the brake upgrade which is a garnada rotor and a small bracket. use what use feel is right for you.

[BobbyFord]

you say all this stuff as if everyone would buy a hub-to-hub kit and run off the shelf parts...

Sure, lot's of people do, but a LOT of people, right now especially, are making one off control arms. Strength? I'd say 1/4 wall on 1.25 tubing or so is plenty strong if the ball joints and cross shaft mounts are done correctly. As for bumpsteer, I have ALWAYS heard the mII setup had minimal compared to some. Then again, who's to say you can't fix it, if there is a little? It's not all that hard to fix. Hell, a bumpsteer kit like Marz has on his f100 would eliminate quite a bit of it. Let alone if you are buying a crossmember kit, you can raise the rack mount to run perfect with your lowers at ride height.

The issues are easy to overcome is all I am saying. To bash a suspension that has been run for so long, with minimal downfalls (other than adjustability) is rediculous in my book. You have to look at it at a stand point of most the people running it, had solid axle, i-beams, or dropped axle suspensions.....It is FAR superior to that, let alone far prettier than a dakota front end. I would venture to say a lot of the trucks and cars this setup goes on, are show cars, not so much daily drivers.


I also believe that guy is flat out trying to sell you something. I would love to see somewhere that a MII setup has snapped at the lower control arm mount, on a truck like this. Maybe I have the understanding that when you build a truck, you should over build. The roll center/ride height argument is very interesting as well, seeing as how most of these kits put your truck close to the ground, most cases within maybe 5 inches. Seems to me, thats pretty low.

Sure, but argue the fact that the Mustang II set up was designed for a passenger car not a truck.
NO Mustang II type suspension was ever designed/offered by ANY vehicle manufacturer for a light or heavy duty truck.
Any one of these slammed, airbagged aftermarket Mustang II kit trucks do well in a straight line, try to drive one around a corner, through a canyon or try to make a U-turn on a residential street. Push central.
Simply put the Mustang II design was NEVER envisioned or designed to be used on a truck. It was not designed to have the heavier springs installed that are required for a 4000 lb. vehicle. I intend to drive my truck like a truck. I don't want to have to slow down for potholes for fear of leaving parts in the street.
If the Mustang II set up was the way to go for a truck the major manufacturers would have put it on trucks.
What do you mean about the hub-to-hub kits?? Aren't the Mustang II kits hub-to-hub?
Run what you can afford, I guess.

[layedout72]

you say all this stuff as if everyone would buy a hub-to-hub kit and run off the shelf parts...

Sure, lot's of people do, but a LOT of people, right now especially, are making one off control arms. Strength? I'd say 1/4 wall on 1.25 tubing or so is plenty strong if the ball joints and cross shaft mounts are done correctly. As for bumpsteer, I have ALWAYS heard the mII setup had minimal compared to some. Then again, who's to say you can't fix it, if there is a little? It's not all that hard to fix. Hell, a bumpsteer kit like Marz has on his f100 would eliminate quite a bit of it. Let alone if you are buying a crossmember kit, you can raise the rack mount to run perfect with your lowers at ride height.

The issues are easy to overcome is all I am saying. To bash a suspension that has been run for so long, with minimal downfalls (other than adjustability) is rediculous in my book. You have to look at it at a stand point of most the people running it, had solid axle, i-beams, or dropped axle suspensions.....It is FAR superior to that, let alone far prettier than a dakota front end. I would venture to say a lot of the trucks and cars this setup goes on, are show cars, not so much daily drivers.


I also believe that guy is flat out trying to sell you something. I would love to see somewhere that a MII setup has snapped at the lower control arm mount, on a truck like this. Maybe I have the understanding that when you build a truck, you should over build. The roll center/ride height argument is very interesting as well, seeing as how most of these kits put your truck close to the ground, most cases within maybe 5 inches. Seems to me, thats pretty low.

Sure, but argue the fact that the Mustang II set up was designed for a passenger car not a truck.
NO Mustang II type suspension was ever designed/offered by ANY vehicle manufacturer for a light or heavy duty truck.
Any one of these slammed, airbagged aftermarket Mustang II kit trucks do well in a straight line, try to drive one around a corner, through a canyon or try to make a U-turn on a residential street. Push central.
Simply put the Mustang II design was NEVER envisioned or designed to be used on a truck. It was not designed to have the heavier springs installed that are required for a 4000 lb. vehicle. I intend to drive my truck like a truck. I don't want to have to slow down for potholes for fear of leaving parts in the street.
If the Mustang II set up was the way to go for a truck the major manufacturers would have put it on trucks.
What do you mean about the hub-to-hub kits?? Aren't the Mustang II kits hub-to-hub?
Run what you can afford, I guess.

Define Residentail. Marz himself can tell you with 20's he has pulled U-turns, with 22's I am not sure, but I wouldn't put it past him. Sure, it may not have been DESIGNED a light or heavy duty truck, but was a 4x4 beam designed to space up a tranny just enough to slide it in? Was a steak designed to kill people? Didn't think so. My point is, and always will be, you can do a lot of different things with one thing.

As for driving it like a truck, once again, I believe I said before, the majority of people installing MII kits are going to be about as far away from driving the truck "like a truck" as you can get. As for hitting a pothole and dropping parts, I'd love to see that, on any suspension setup. If that's the case, it's not parts, its build quality. Using the correct hardware is a substantial part of a "correct" suspension setup. I would put an MII setup on my truck real quick. I also plan on cutting the roof completely off to compliment 2 more bench seats, and a new bedfloor. Get my point? Once again, it's far from a "useful" truck in the opinion of a lot of people.

As for handling, that's all in how you tune your setup. If you have a good shock setup, and know how to use it, I wouldn't think twice of "trying to corner". Hell, for that matter, I would LOVE to see a dakota of all things handle well on a street course.

Theres more than one way to skin a cat. Obviously you can only see one way, so be it. You're getting run over by a company trying to sell you parts based on belief and unproven "facts".

[customcrewcab]

only one way to settle this. fight to the death. just build them guys stop the

[layedout72]

misquitos are out! i'd rather play keyboard commandor til morning!

[customcrewcab]

put some bug spray on and get that truck runing.

[customcrewcab]

wait a minute good time to stay in
blown away with nicole eggert on chiller

[BobbyFord]

wait a minute good time to stay in
blown away with nicole eggert on chiller

NICE!

[layedout72]

put some bug spray on and get that truck runing.

id rather live to see 30, than have west nile! haha.

[layedout72]

wait a minute good time to stay in
blown away with nicole eggert on chiller

NICE!

thats one thing I can agree on.