lil jeep mec wrote:you have to know where to get parts, dodge using a ball joint d60 is a horrible idea... i would only use king pin dana 60's along side of leaf springs..
I've owned two (still own one) Dodge trucks with the BJ unitized hub front axles. They are a bad idea, but I wouldn't go as far as to say a horrible idea. Wheel bearings are the main problem, life is anything between 30K miles to 120K miles, with no real rhyme or reason to failure. That's assuming stockish sized tires and mixed town/highway/gravel usage. The balljoints are normally safe to do about 120K miles, or a bit more... Otherwise they hold up fine, unless you use the stock driveshaft yoke (1310 u-joint, yeah, there's a bad idea).
Also, the Dodge coil suspension is fine, if you're into that type of thing. I'm not saying that it would make any sense to try to adapt it to another frame, but it does work fine. I prefer it over front leaf springs, although Dodge made the control arms a little too short.
I will say, if you're going to go out and buy a 1-ton axle specifically for your diesel swap, then yes, buy a kingpin axle.