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Thread: 03/04 Front Brake Conversion

  1. #26

    xjsc16x's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Corey View Post
    If you have the Hotchkis Kit, this might help you.
    ^^ That would be the aforementioned Hotchkis alignment specs.

    No, you don't need the Hotchkis kit to have those alignment specs. All it is, is a little bit of negative camber and toe in which is good for handling.

    -Justin

  2. #27

    Corey's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by xjsc16x View Post
    ^^ That would be the aforementioned Hotchkis alignment specs.

    No, you don't need the Hotchkis kit to have those alignment specs. All it is, is a little bit of negative camber and toe in which is good for handling.

    -Justin
    That's good to know. Just thought it was just for Full Hotchkis Kit.
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  3. #28
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    That's the problem I had the last time I had the Kauffman tire do it, now it's Mavis tire. It came out of alignment in about 1,000 miles but took me awhile to notice it since it's not a daily driver. Next time I went to have it redone under warranty I gave them the specs out of my factory 1999 Dodge Dakota service manual and asked to see them torque the bolts down to the torque I gave them out of the book. They could do all of them except the one that's blocked by the master cylinder. He tightened as tight as he could get it. It's been good so far. Driven it a few thousand miles.
    But out of the factory 99 Dodge Dakota service manual it lists the Caster as 2.99+/-0.50, camber 0.38+/-0.50, total toe 0.15+/-0.10.
    The factory 2003 Dodge Dakota service manual has a caster of 3.67+/-0.50, camber -0.34+/-0.50, total toe 0.10+/-0.06.

    The shop doing the work doesn't have room in his shop for an alignment rack so he sends it to an alignment shop that primarily does alignment. So I'm going to ask around and I need to watch it being done to make sure they tighten the top bolts. I know I couldn't get anything on the driver's side back bolt because of the master cylinder.

  4. #29
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    Shop called and said everything is done. Everything fit and it stops good. I'll have to wait until Friday to pick it up, when I'm off again. Then I'll have to get tires and alignment. Shop told me to stay with the 99 Dakota alignment specs since the balljoints and tie rods are for a 99.

  5. #30
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  6. #31
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    Picked up the truck. Definitely will need to be aligned. But I won't be driving it much until I get the tires. It will probably only be 2 weeks until I get the tires. I didn't want to really test out the new front brake setup too hard since I wasn't really pushing it with the alignment out of wack. I just drove it straight home. Can't tell much in the photo but this shows the 03-04 Dakota brake setup with the Cardone Select Powder Coated calipers w/brackets are on and fits with the factory 17x9 wheel. Just went with some standard Raybestos rotors and pads but did have him install new Timken hub bearings. I would like to have my wheels refurbished too, front and backsides.

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    If you refinish the wheels, NEVER let them put weights on the outside of the rim to balance them.
    Always use stick on weights and make sure they center balance the wheels.
    The weights will go on the inside of the wheel right behind the spokes, and on the backside outside rim.
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  8. #33

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    Those wheels look a hell of a lot better than mine to me...trade em to me and get my shitty wheels refinished

    -Justin

  9. #34
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    The wheel repair company said it would be $100 a wheel to have them refinished. The mechanic I got to do the suspension work said he had some wheels refinished by the same company and they turned out like new. So I might do that. Today I went ahead and had the alignment done. It's a pretty good shop. They do work on a lot of high priced exotic cars and European cars. I dropped it off so I didn't watch. I got the alignment printout back and it shows
    LH Camber is now -0.2
    RH Camber is now -0.7
    LH Caster is 2.6
    RH Caster is 3.0
    LH Toe is 0.05
    RH Toe is 0.04.

    They had the 1999 Dodge Dakota R/T listed on the printout. They said they couldn't get the LH Caster quite into specs, but it's only out by 0.10. The steering wheel is straight and there's no pull. Feels good and tight. They said it shouldn't cause any significant tire wear. I provided the specs out of the 99 factory service manual. The limits on their sheet were a little different than the factory chart. According to the 99 factory alignment chart everything is within specs except the camber. Dodge lists the camber as 0.38 +/- 0.50. The shops alignment printout has the camber limit as -0.08 to 0.20. So I will have it rechecked after I put the new tires on. I probably won't even drive it again until the new tires arrive. I took it for a good drive after picking it up. They also noted that they torqued the top strut bar nuts to 155 lbs/ft but of course I didn't see them.

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