Ray, I've shortened about 6 Dakota frames in the past. Would have been 7 except the last build came with an already shortened frame that was done well, so I didn't have to do it. I do not have any experience with the Dakota frames past 96 (the frame style before your frame), but I suspect those are about the same. I believe the 97-03 Dakota (and 99-2003 Durango) frames still have the straight side rails between the about the firewall and the kick up for the rear frame end.

I did shorten a frame from an 05 Durango, I can tell you those redesigned frames are a royal pain to shorten, the side rails are not straight anyplace.


As long as your side frame rails are straight, about the best place to cut them is at the front edge of where the fuel tank ends, and remove the section forward of that area, but being a quad cab, it may be easier to remove the extra length under where the original Dakota cab sat. The plan would be to remove the section at a location where the two pieces you will be joining together have about the same shape. If you remove the section forward of the fuel tank, once its all welded back together, you can still mount the fuel tank in its original location. That solves a lot of problems.

I did a 39 Dodge (a 39 is the same cab as a 47) pickup on a 92 Dakota frame, but that was 3 builds ago, memory may be a bit fuzzy, There is a build of my 39 on the rat rod site www.killbillet.com look in the rat rod 30s truck section. The thread title is "a 39 Dodge pickup on a Dakota frame". it may be down the list a ways, but there were pictures of the process from the frame cutting to rolling down the road.

As I recall, I ended up moving the entire drive train back a few inches on that Dakota frame. The 39-47 trucks have a very short front clip. I mounted a 360 and had to cut the firewall back to the inset the original inline 6 sat in, and even then the radiator set inside the grill shell a bit. Motor placement is critical in those trucks, the cabs are very small, and you really can't afford to move the firewall back very far. I'm 6' 1" and 270 lbs, I had to sell the 39 because it was too uncomfortable for this old man to drive more then an hour.

You will have to cut both ends of your frame as well. The rear needs to be cut off right behind where the rear spring shackles attach to the frame. The front will have to be cut off at the front side of the spring pockets because the Dakota frame kicks out too wide from there. The grill shell will not fit around, over, or sit on top of the Dakota front frame stubs, I think I had to trim my grill piece to fit between the Dakota frame rails. On the front, you will have to add fabricated frame front stubs to get the frame back to the front bumper, the original Dakota frame stubs wouldn't be where you wanted them anyway.

I suggest, after you gave shortened the frame, you sit the cab on the frame, find a way to position the grill where it needs to be using the hood to establish the position of the grill shell and the cab relationship, then attach the fenders to the grill and position everything so the tires are centered in the fender openings. This will determine your cab position. Gene