Completed Project Turboexplorer's Full Width SAS Build Thread

Hello everybody! It's time to start the SAS on my Explorer. It will be an awesome project and the first project of this type and size that I have ever undertaken. Up to this point the sliders where the hardest thing that I have made myself. I am open to any suggestions and or insights from anyone as the project gets underway. I have bought every last part for the build minus the hard brake lines (axles, and from master to the frame) and the flexible lines that go down to the axles. Those are all easy to make so I am not worried about it for now until I get the axles put together and can see what i want to do with those.

Now for a list of things I will be doing with the project:
1995 F-150 8.8 - I bought this used rear axle that I will strip, lock with a Detroit, convert to Explorer Disc brakes, and mount to the truck. Factory rear sway bar will be used. I will be doing a spring over conversion and will also be remaking the rear V8 anti axle wrap bars to help the leaf springs out with the leverage and TQ the V8 37's and 5.13's will put on them.
1976 F-150 HP Dana 44 - I bought this used axle and will be stripping it of the Ford factory wedges, trussing, and building custom glorified radius arms. Like DB_1 runs and like Rubicon Expresses makes. Front will also have a Detroit Truetrac LSD in it as well. This Dana 44 has 1/2" thick axle tubes.
Fox 14" Remote reservoir coil-overs - I will be building shock hoops for these coil-overs, bracing them, and tying them together across the top of the engine with removable double lock tube clamps.
1995 F-150 Steering box - This will be mounted inside the frame rail and used with the factory PS pump and will build a custom steering link from the box to the column. I picked this 1 to keep it ALL Ford and 2 because they are fairly cheap and easy and can be tapped for hydro assist at some point if I want or need it. In order to fit this steering gear I also have to remote mount my oil filter so that it has room. I will be getting rid of the factory oil cooler and have a Trans Dapt remote filter relocation kit.

Project Parts Section:
-37X13.50 R17 Interco M-16's
-Fox 14" Remote reservoir coil-overs with Eibach Springs.
-Detroit Locker for the 8.8
-Detroit Truetrac for the Dana 44
-Yukon 5.13 gears for both front and rear.
-Both axles will receive ALL new bearings races and seals u-joints etc.
-All wheel studs front and rear and spindle studs have been replaced for safety reasons. To cheap not to.
-Already had EBC brakes on it so those pads on rear will be reused and new EBC 7000 series pads for the front have been purchased.
-New front rotors wheel bearings and new Spicer ball joints, going to reuse the warn locking hubs as they work great and are in good order and easily changed later if i wanted.
-1978 Ford T-Bird calipers have been bought in place of the factory F-150 ones. They are 17% bigger in piston size so will give me a little more brake up front to help stop those 37's.
-Trans Dapt Oil filter relocation Kit and addition mount to hook to the block at a 90*.
-Currie Johnny Joints and Rubicon Express Clevite bushings for the all the link ends.
-GM 1 ton tre's for the steering with a high angle tre at the pitman arm.
-Front axle truss. (wasn't impressed with it at all so will be making some changes)
-Extending current Expedition rear drive shaft and will have a custom double cardon one made for the front.
-Metal used: 2"X.250 wall DOM for lower links, 1 1/2"X.250 wall DOM used for upper links, 1 1/2"X.375 wall DOM used for trac bar, and ALL tabs and brackets will be made out of 1/4" Flat plate by me.
-Double lock tube clamps for the shock hoop cross brace that uses 2 3/8" bolts on each. These are so It can be removed.
-All Grade 8 hardware will be used.
-All flexible brake lines will be braided stainless steel Teflon lined hoses.

I like to follow others projects and often find myself wanting more pictures so bare with me there will be A LOT of pictures of the build. I hope you enjoy lots of pictures as much as I do.


First some pictures of what the truck was! Then onto some parts pictures. Build will start shortly.
1998 XLT Explorer. 5.0L with the 4R70W trans. I have the 4406 T-Case. 3.73 gears with rear LSD. Goodyear 31's. Rock sliders and front skid plate. Links to those builds are in my signature.

And here is some video links! There are a few videos of me wheeling in CO with nssj2!

 

[turboexplorer]

I then set the carrier preload. I put and additional .007" on the left and an additional .004" on the right to give me .011" of preload. They say .008-.012" of preload so with the shims I have the .011" was the best I could do. Got them pressed in and caps torqued down dry (have to pull the right cap to put pinion cross shaft bolt in) and checked the pattern one last time and it was exactly the same as the pics of the pattern I ended with. And the backlash ended at .0115"-.012" so it is at the smaller area of spec which is .011"-.016" if I remember right. So the gears in the rear are done!!!!

I put the backing plates on the axle and put in the axle bearings and seals and then slid the ales in. I left the carrier cross pin in just to see where the axles would be sitting in their running state. Very close was the answer I got. No one has posted pics of what they had to do to get the explorer discs to fit that I could find so I will post what I had to do.

 

[turboexplorer]

So from what I got from others I have talked to that did this swap they pounded or tapped the c clips in place. I didn't want this at all since I want to be able to service this axle easily. Don't think you can get pounded in clips back out! Anyways all this meant was I had to do some more clearance work.

First you can't use the outer return spring as it hits the wheel studs. So I cut the tabs for that out spring off with the dremel. Then you have the little dimpled edges three on each shoe that it uses in part to slide on the backing plate. But since it doesn't slide on the backing plate in the front I ground those off to make sure the wheel studs when inside the shoes would clear.

Next you also can't have the shoe hold down springs or the adjuster and the bottom spring in yet since you will need to pull the shoes apart and also slide the axle all the way in as far as possible. This was enough fro the drivers side to slide the axle in far enough to be able to get the clip on. But on the passenger side it wasn't enough. So the e brake shoe tab that holds the rotational force as well as where it applies the brake had to be ground down. Done easy with a sanding drum on a drill but did take some time. I should note that I also had to grind some of the e brake levers to clear on the drivers side as well but didn't have to grind on the cast post like the passenger side.
Ground post and e brake apply levers.

I took off 3/16-1/4" of the post to get the passenger side axle to go in far enough to get the c clip on it.

 

[turboexplorer]

So now you have to pull the shoes apart and slide the axle in all the way. This takes the use of all your fingers some to hold the shoes and some to slide in the axle. The one inner return spring is surprisingly strong. The inner return spring is the only spring on the shoes at this point.

If you look close you can see where I had to grind an 1/8" off the outer edges of both shoes on the passenger side. I had to do this because the flange is SO close to them I wanted some clearance so I took 1/8" off the outer edge of both. Only had to do this on the right side or passenger side of the axle.

 

[turboexplorer]

Here is some pictures showing the axles pushed all the way in ready for the c clips. See now with all the grinding they go in far enough for the c clips. ALMOST! Lol, look very close at the opening in the Detroit. See how the hole isn't cut at right angles? Each corner is rounded. Yeah the c clips hit that lol. So the opening is more like () than like [] Therefore the edges of the c lips hit since they are about the size of the opening.

Drivers side

Passenger side

This picture shows the c clip in. Next post will show how.

 

[turboexplorer]

So in order to get the c clips in without having to tap them in I tapered one edge on the outer edge to match the contour of the Detroit. This will have no affect on the clips at all. The clips are used in shear. Meaning any pressure they get from the axle trying to be pulled out is done right next to the shaft and the Detroit. The outer diameter helps hold the c lip in the axle groove. And I didn't change the diameter at all just the edges to clear the Detroit. I fully assembled everything and then took it all back apart to make sure I could use a strong magnet and pull the c clips out. Serviceable axle!!!

 

[turboexplorer]

I then put the c clips in the cross shaft in and then the cross shaft retainer bolt. Torqued that down to specs put lock tight on all carrier cap bolts and torqued them down to specs and then put the cover on and the diff is DONE!

O a few things I forgot to show with the e brakes.
Here is the final clearance between the axles and the shoes. These show the clearance on the passenger side since it is the closest. The drivers side ended up with 1/16" more clearance than this even with out having to take off the 1/8" of the edge of the shoes like I did on this side.

 

[turboexplorer]

And the last thing was how I did my hold down springs for the shoes. I just reversed the pins and springs to give more clearance. I put the pin in on the shoe side and the spring on the back side of the backing plate. On the front ones that was easy on the back ones they have the cast caliper bracket there. So since I still had my old drum brakes from this axle I stole a pin and a spring for each side. It looks funny but is way out of the way. Heck with 5" of back spacing the tire gets sucked over all this stuff. Anyways they are a pain to get in since the axle is now fixed in position but all in all wasn't bad and turned out great. I will find a smaller pin when I come across some that is shorter and put the Explorer plate style spring on instead of the coil spring. Will suck it a little closer to the backing plate. But for now the coil spring hooks in that hole great and won't go anywhere at all.

 

[turboexplorer]

All done and ready for install! Nice and pretty! Glad its done

 

[turboexplorer]

Here is some pictures of the steering tie rod installed. This has the knuckles drilled and inserts in. The GM 1 ton tre's installed and the tie rod bar I welded in. You will have to excuse the pics where taken on my phone which didn't do well on a few pictures. I left my camera at the shop so I won't have the new update pics until tomorrow. I have a ton done and so far I am VERY happy with it. I had the truck at ride height today with the tires under it and man it looks amazing! I can't wait.

And for those of you that have bore with me with my millions of pictures the best pictures are to come. Now that everything is clean and done its in full blown fab work right now so all the fab work is coming. I have done a fair amount so will post those sometime this weekend.

Pics of the tie rod. Truss is tacked in place. Threaded ends are 3 turns out from being turned in all the way. You want as little threads showing as possible. Helps keep the tie rod ends shorter since the bar is stronger than they are. Also looks cleaner.

 

[gmanpaint]

Looking very nice. Your doing a lot more to your set up than I will ever try or accomplish. Looking forward to the rest.

 

[crazyflights]

Loving it. Maybe we can all wheel at Moab sometime

 

[turboexplorer]

Thanks guys! And there will defiantly be many many Moab trips in this truck. I am moving to Salt Lake as soon as I graduate and so I will only be 220 miles or so from Moab

I'm surprised there isn't more comments on the build though :scratch:

 

[gmanpaint]

I'm surprised there isn't more comments on the build though :scratch:

I think were all just in AWE.

Kind of like watching an artist create his masterpiece in silence and soaking it all in first.

 

[turboexplorer]

Lol, that's a heck of a complement! I guess I haven't asked any questions. (Been wanting to do this bad for 2 years) So I have most of it planned. Plus with the help of this forum I have learned A LOT from others builds that has saved me a lot of headache.

 

[SouthernSAR]

I cannot wait to see how awesome the end prodeuct is, subbed. Just one question, I've heard everyone talk about SAS and all that, but what exactly does it stand for?

 

[turboexplorer]

Solid axle swap!

 

[turboexplorer]

Alright now for a few more updates.

With how I machined the axles to fit all the way in and flush with the rotors, the passenger side rubbed a hair on the backing plate. Not the rotor itself but the lip that is on the inner edge of the rotor. So decided to throw them back on the lathe and cut that lip off.

Rear rotors getting the back lip removed.

 

[turboexplorer]

And now since the rear axle was done at my home garage and is now ready I took it to the shop and started on it this week. First things first cut off the F-150 spring perches and the shock mounts. Then to metal finish the tubes so there was no evidence of them ever being there!

Then the next step was to get the axle positioned under the truck and get it right on axle center line. Final position will obviously be determined by the spring perches. The perches are drilled for the axle to sit either centered on the spring center bolt or a bit forward or back. I will be using the center one. Tires should clear by 1/2" or so

 

[turboexplorer]

Now to clean the perches so they fit the axle perfect. They will be holding a lot of weight so good metal fits are a must. I will of course be cleaning the tubes and pumpkin before the perches are welded on. Also I am still on the fence with what to do with the rear driveshaft. I don't know if I am going to run a double cardan joint or just the standard expedition shaft. So the spring perches wont be welded up until I know exactly what style of drive shaft i want to run.

 

[turboexplorer]

So I spent a lot of time getting the rear axle dead centered. So now with the axle perfectly centered (checked at the body and the frame) it is ready to be attached to the leaf springs. After I attached it with the new 5/8" u bolts and 3/8" u bolt plate I double checked it all and then set pinion angle to the same as factory angle for now. And then double checked it was centered again and clamped it down into place. So the rear is ready to go for now.