Bkennedy's SAS and Rebuild Thread

Ahh! I see...

Sorry man. That sounds like a pain in the butt. I was planning on using a hole saw and cuting a hole in my bumper and the lining it with a tube welded in and then running it straight out the back bumper. But there is that crossmember and I never got it done.

A small thought, and you probably know but you will generally want the shock mounts at 90* or so to the axle tube. The ones in the picture above would be under a nasty twisting pressure on the bushings and shocks when you are fully flexed. A nice shock with spherical bearings would help.

I was planning on 90* to axle and leaned back at the top as much as needed to get the most travel out of them. Leaf sprung Jeeps are set up like that all the time. I am doing this on a budget and am hoping to use the same shocks. They are long so it should work.

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At the muffler shop. Getting the exhaust rerouted in two parts. First, the Y pipe for today. Should be moved up enough to clear the driveshaft and more room for a skid plate.
Later, I need to remove everything in the way for the rear axle shock mounts redo. Includes cutting off the exhaust near the muffler. I will see if I can use the old pipe or bring it back here for a professional job. Also need to remove the old cross bar because I figured out it won't work.

Its worth bringing it to Dual Tone since they quoted me $75 for the entire job. Saves me a couple days of cussing trying to figure it out in my own.

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This is why I pay for exhaust work

Before;

After;

I could have never got it like this in 45 minutes.

$75 sounds like a great deal for custom work.

Great deal.
I have been working on the cross bar support for the front of the trans pan skid plate today. Mostly getting the plates bolted to the frame where I want them, and a little with the bar. Using 1.25" DOM, 1/4" thick. Should be able to hold a skid plate up and give support to the frame at the bump stops without being too bulky as space is limited. Plating is 1/4" flat. Its a pain to get it lined up, ended up mocking things up with some old irrigation pipe I had lying around.

Things never go as originally planned. Threw the original plan out the window when I realized how far the cross bar would have to stick out to act as a skid plate mount. Am now going to build the cross bar as tight to the bottom of the engine / trans as possible, then add skid plate mounts to clear the Y pipe/catalytic converter. Should work okay as long as I double thick the plate at the mounts (3/16 + 3/16 = beefy), and bend the front of the plate down to give the rocks a smooth starting point. Also planning on using some 1" angle to "X" the entire plate on the inside as its fairly long.

I have never hit anything that far forward yet and the Duff radius arms are so long they help protect the underside, but the SAS is making me brave so I should prepare accordingly.

Might even make another plate from the Trans pan plate to the engine cross bar to cover the engine pan. That would be fairly easy, just build up the cross member with some 1x2" square tubing for a plate to weld in some weld nuts. It would tie all of the skid plates together nicely and make them all stronger as well. Another time, when I score more scrap 3/16" plate from the metal supply store.

Removal of the skid plates will not be very difficult either. The existing plate that covers the t-case is bolted with round allen head bolts into weld nuts, two on each side of the frame just behind the RA mounts and four across the trans cross support. It ties into the gas tank skid plate and uses the existing bolts for the front tank mounts. Took me all of five minutes to pull it when I went to the muffler shop. All those mounting points make it stronger, and help act as frame support. The piece that ties in the gas tank plate also overlaps the bottom of the frame to help support that piece.
Pic (already posted, but hey)


New trans plate will overlap the one on the pic at its front mounts, using three of the existing bolts for the rear mount. Then run up between the exhaust on passenger side and front drive shaft on driver to the new cross bar I am working on now. If I build a engine plate, it will use the front mounts from the trans plate and overlap that. To remove, I would just have to pull the bolts for the plate I need to remove, and there should be enough wiggle room to slide it out from under the one in front of it.

Got the cross member finished today! Spent most of yesterday and this morning pondering how to get it done, then just said "screw it" and started cutting tube. Started on the passenger side and worked my way left. My plan to get it as tight to the transmission as possible went by the wayside when I realized I could protect the exhaust at the "Y" pipe with the cross member and skid plate if I mirrored the exhaust. Left enough clearance for the skid plate I should get made tomorrow. I tacked in all the pieces, then pulled it, then finish welded it and it bolted right back in! Just need to clearance a gusset that might possibly get bumped by the driver side radius arm at full stuff if the bump stop fails, but besides that it will work.

I don't know why I took this pic, I just thought it looked cool. Its fun to jack up the side of a coil over SAS Explorer and watch it hit the open garage door and still have lots of travel left. My neighbors think I am a little strange, but you guys get me, right??


Cross member, looking forward. Its actually about a 1/2" lower than the exhaust, but the angle of the pic makes it look like more.


Around the front driveshaft


New cardboard skid plate


Mmmmmmm, coil overs.....

BKennedy said:

My neighbors think I am a little strange, but you guys get me, right??

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Yup and pretty sure my neighbors think the same thing!

So, today I worked on the skid plate for a few hours. Cut out the basic shape based upon my cardboard mock-up. Took a long time to drill the rear mounting holes as they were not evenly spaced and I wanted to get them as tight as possible. I put a bend in the plate so it would line up nicely with the front cross member mount, and noticed the little tube piece that hangs down from the catalytic converter was just touching the plate. Can't have that. I get out the cutting torch and cut out a hole for clearance, then get the idea that if I weld a piece onto the bottom of the skid plate covering the hole, I will have enough clearance and still have one continuous plate. So I weld it all up, putting more than normal weld on the piece to give it a more rounded finish so the rocks will slide off. Start to clean it up and realize..............I welded the cover plate on the top, not the bottom!! I now have to cut off all that nice fat weld, and start over. What a pain in the rear. That is when I cleaned up my mess, threw the skid plate under the Explorer and called it a day.

Basic cut out shape


Hole I had to cut to clear the catalytic phallic thingie that I think is used for condensation collection.


Welded on cover that I now have to cut off and do over because its on the wrong side of the plate.

whoops! LOL

..You are just becoming backwards like the rest of us.....

Won't get anything else done, or undone, until probably Wednesday. Sarah has a horse show tomorrow. Sunday I am doing risk management for the security at the Chargers game, followed by two Padres games.

..Hmmm..:scratch:...So the weekend of the 27th, are you busy?

Tbars4 said:

..Hmmm..:scratch:...So the weekend of the 27th, are you busy?

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Aaaahhhhhhhhhh..........................No???

Edit: Are you referring to the Sierra trip? Can't make that and the Truckhaven run in October, so I opted out for Truckhaven.

...May be going to TH for that weekend...

..So you are going on the Sierra trip?

..My schedule has exploded and changed so I will be between events that weekend and was asked to go to TH..haha..

I have been to Truckhaven in September before and its still too hot. Not going wheelin this month.

Got a little work done today:

Bent the end of the plate;


Fitted it to the cross bar (the outside pieces at the front of the plate are going to be aligned with the middle bent piece);


Last weld nut/bolt on the bent part;


Best news was, it bolted back up with only minimal tweaking. Still need to notch the end pieces so they fit together and then weld them up, weld up all the grooves I cut into the plate to bend it, finish weld the weld nuts, add some strengthening plates to the backside of the plate, add a few gussets to the cross bar, clean it all up and paint it.

Nice work Brian. It's looking great