Some people love full-size trucks and some love compact trucks, but there is a group that neither can satisfy. Dodge saw this open niche as a profitable opportunity and released the mid-size Dakota in 1987. The 2005 model year marked the beginning of the fifth generation for the Dakota, giving it a flatter front end, but retaining the “big-rig” styling that it and the Ram share. The 2007 Dakota has two sway bars in its suspension system to regulate body roll. This means there are a total of four sway bar links: two on the front and two on the rear. Replacing these sway bar links is not a difficult task, but they are slightly different than most links.
Raise the front of the Dakota with a floor jack and slide jack stands under the truck’s frame rails. Lower the Dodge onto the jack stands.
Crawl beneath the truck on either the left or right side and find the sway bar — the long metal bar that spans from one side of the truck’s suspension to the other. Notice the short bar at the end of the sway bar connecting the sway bar to the lower control arm; this is the sway bar link.
Use a ratchet and socket to remove the nut holding the bottom of the sway bar to the control arm.
Trace the sway bar upwards to find the nut that holds the top of the sway bar link to the sway bar. Remove this nut with a ratchet and socket. Pull the metal washer and rubber grommet off the sway bar link, and remove the sway bar link from the vehicle.
Slide a metal washer and rubber grommet — included with the new link — onto the top of the sway bar link, and guide the top of the link through the hole in the sway bar. Install a grommet then a washer on the top of the sway bar link. Hand-tighten the retaining nut onto the top of the sway bar link.
Slide the lower part of the sway bar link into the hole in the lower control arm. Hand-tighten the nut onto the bottom of the sway bar link.
Tighten the upper sway bar link nut to 17 foot-pounds with a torque wrench and socket, then tighten the lower sway bar link nut to 75 foot-pounds.
Repeat Steps 2 through 7 to replace the sway bar link on the other side of the truck.
Raise the truck from the jack stands with a floor jack and remove the jack stands. Lower the Dakota to the ground.
Loosen the rear lug nuts with a ratchet and socket. Wedge wheel chocks under the front of the front tires. Raise the rear of the truck with a floor jack and position jack stands under the truck’s frame rails. Lower the vehicle onto the jack stands. Remove the rear lug nuts and pull the rear wheels off the Dakota.
Crawl under the left or right side of the Dakota and trace the rear sway bar — the thin, metal bar spanning the rear of the pickup — and find the rear sway bar link, the bar that connects the end of the sway bar to the truck’s frame.
Remove the lower sway bar link nut with a ratchet and socket, while holding the bolt still with a combination wrench. Remove the lower sway bar link bolt. Remove the upper nut from the sway bar link with a ratchet and socket, while holding the bolt still with a combination wrench. Pull the sway bar link away from the frame, with the bolt still inside the link, and pull the link out of the pickup — this helps clear the gas tank.
Insert the bolt into the upper hole in the new sway bar link. Guide the link toward the hole in the frame and insert the bolt into the hole in the frame. Hand-tighten the nut onto the upper bolt. Line the hole on the lower part to the sway bar link up with the hole in the sway bar. Insert the bolt through the hole in the sway bar and the link, and hand-tighten the nut onto the bolt.
Tighten the upper and lower nuts to 40 foot-pounds with a torque wrench and socket, while using a combination wrench to prevent the bolts from turning.
Repeat Steps 2 through 5 to replace the link on the other side of the Dakota.
Set the wheels back onto the Dakota’s rear hubs. Hand-tighten the Dakota’s lug nuts. Raise the truck from the jack stands with a floor jack and remove the jack stands. Lower the truck to the ground and torque the lug nuts from 125 to 145 foot-pounds, in a crisscrossing pattern, with a torque wrench and socket.
