Bkennedy's SAS and Rebuild Thread

As some of you know, I am working on building a parts list for a shortened Dana 44, long radius arm with coil overs SAS. 5:13 gears to match my rear axle and an ARB, maybe an electric locker. I have a pretty good list so far. At the same time, I am going to swap out the rear drum brakes for discs off of a 99 Explorer.

Please note: The plan is to keep this project as simple as possible with mostly off the shelf parts. I am not a fabricator, just a decent welder with a what I would consider the minimum required tools (chop saw, cut off wheels, air tools, welder, etc.), who likes doing his own work. Your opinions are welcome, but what I really need is technical advice. I have been thinking about this for several years and now have the time and cash to make it happen. Please keep on topic with your advice and don't go off on a side track about how you would do it as a four-link, or caged arms, or leave the axle full-width because that is not what I want. I want a simple-ish set up that works.

 

[roscoe 0202]

I put an agr in mine if I ever get it running i'll let you know how it works
roscoe

 

[BKennedy]

I am not planning on hydro assist anytime soon. I have never actually needed or wanted to put that much stress on the steering system. I know it is an accepted modification in the off-road world, but I would have to upgrade everything related to steering for me to be comfortable doing that. The cost is not worth the gain for me at this time.

Let me know about the AGR in a year or two after its been on a bunch of trails.

I have noticed at high elevation, my rig lacks in power and needs lower low range or a bunch more horse power/torque. The mods I am planning in the not so near future are (except for small stuff);

Atlas or NP241 or doubler. I sure wish I had known about Paul B's part out before someone jumped on his Atlas because that issue would be solved.

8.8 C-clip eliminator kit. Removes the c-clip failure point, and they are available with 5on5.5 bolt pattern axles.

37" tires, but only after I do the above. Requires pushing the rear axle back one inch and new 17" wheels. Easily done with front spring hanger brackets fabricated by Rock Ranger, and/or a custom leaf pack.

Just these modifications alone are over $5,000 in parts, so not holding my breath.

I would love to swap in a supercharged GM 3.8 out of a Grand Am because as far as I can tell, it will bolt directly to my 60* bellhousing 700R4 transmission, but I live in California. A good, reliable tune for that engine will produce high horse power/torque while still running on pump gas. California only allows engine swaps from like registered vehicles of same manufacture year or newer, in this case a UT (Utility). As far as I can tell, that engine was never in a SUV. They have the 3.8 in SUV's, but not the good one. I think the cost would be comparable to rebuilding/upgrading the 4.0 I pulled from the donor Explorer, but more modifications would be required.

Just went on Pirate and saw this....$250.00! Its gotta be a typo, he must have meant $2500.
3800 supercharged - Pirate4x4.Com : 4x4 and Off-Road Forum

 

[josh40601]

:in my evil villain voice: YESSSSSSS MUHAHAHAHA.

Good call on doing the above mods before jumping to the 37. A doubler would be an absolute must at that tire size, and I don't remember what gear you are running, but a 4.88 seems to fit the 37 pretty well. C-clip eliminator on the 8.8 is worth its weight in gold. Once you bump up to that larger tire, very good chance you will change your mind about the hydro-assist. The ranger was fine at 35s, but at 37s it really struggled on the stock pump. The explorer pretty much told me to pound sand when it had the 39.5s and stock steering. With the P-Pump, external reservoir, and hydro assist, it still gets pissy when i am on the nose on the brakes and trying to crank the wheel, but it still moves them.

As for the engine upgrade, california does make it a yyyuuge pain in the ass. A 4.3 may be an option, but I don't think it will fit in the frame and engine bay of the truck without a lot of mods to A/C and possibly brake/steering setups. A bottom end rebuild on the 4.0 with a new set of cast iron heads, clean the injectors really well, maybe some backyard porting on the head and intake, and you should be able to get a little more out of it while keeping the smog people happy.

 

[BKennedy]

Josh, I have 5:13 gears.

 

[tdavis]

Did you ever get the ham license? I like using your radio..

 

[josh40601]

Josh, I have 5:13 gears.

wow! How in the world do you drive that thing on the freeway? Mine is hollerin pretty good with 4.88s at 60!

 

[fastpakr]

With 37's, 5.13 sounds completely reasonable. That's only about 10% lower than running 33's and 4.10's like I've got now, and I'd gladly add 10% more gearing to that combo.

 

[R.J.]

wow! How in the world do you drive that thing on the freeway? Mine is hollerin pretty good with 4.88s at 60!

5.13's and 35's should be fine. I'm running 4.88 and 33's and it works well. But I have a smaller engine.

 

[BKennedy]

I have a different transmission and transfer case than you too. Its turning about 2500RPM at 65MPH. I had the 5:13's before I did the SAS, and 4:88's were not available for the reverse rotation D35. I went up instead of down so I could run bigger tires in the future without having to regear, again. The Explorer works great at sea level, but up above 7,000 feet it really lacks power.

No, Tom, not yet....

 

[josh40601]

I have a different transmission and transfer case than you too. Its turning about 2500RPM at 65MPH.

Makes sense.

 

[Kirby N.]

I have 5.13s and 35s with the manual and 4.0 and it is near perfect. If I was doing 37s I would do 5.38

 

[josh40601]

ok ok ok, jeez my bad!

I'm just jealous i don't have 5.13s hahaha

 

[BKennedy]

I checked the toe yesterday and it was dead on even front to back. I did a half a turn in on a tie rod heim to bring the toe in 1/8". Took it for a drive today and it tracks much better. The play in the wheel is all from the box. The box had what I thought was too much play from the start.

I was going to use the OEM box I pulled from the donor Explorer to see if that was better, but the pitman arm is seriously glued on there. I tried everything; PB Blaster overnight with puller tight, heat, beating, it's still stuck. I might get motivated and cut the pitman off to swap it out before Truckhaven, but I might just wait until we get back. The play is not very noticeable in the dirt.

 

[Stic-o]

Brian have you looked at "the cure" from ruff stuff. I'm going to put one on mine. It's said to help out a lot.

The Cure!

 

[BKennedy]

Yes, I even posted about that a few pages ago. I emailed them and it won't work for heim steering set ups. Only TRE's.

 

[Stic-o]

Oh that's right. I forgot your not TRE

 

[Kirby N.]

Brian- I replaced mine with a Ford oem box it was expensive, but good. I have heard good things about a company called red head I think. The rebuild them with good parts and paint the cap red.

Stic-o- I run the magical cure. I am not very impressed honestly. It didn’t live up to the hype. If the tierod roll bothers you- put your left tie rod end at bump to the front and your right tie rod end to bump at the rear and tighten your jam nuts down. That will fix it.

 

[BKennedy]

Brian- I replaced mine with a Ford oem box it was expensive, but good. I have heard good things about a company called red head I think. The rebuild them with good parts and paint the cap red.

Stic-o- I run the magical cure. I am not very impressed honestly. It didn’t live up to the hype. If the tierod roll bothers you- put your left tie rod end at bump to the front and your right tie rod end to bump at the front and tighten your jam nuts down. That will fix it.

I thought about putting the heims at bump on both sides to prevent roll, but thought it might cause binding.

 

[BKennedy]

Over the past few days I have torn down the front axle to replace the leaking inner seals. What a pain. The seals was the easy part. Repacked the wheel bearings, and cleaned up stuff while I was in there.
I am a huge fan of LubeLocker gaskets, makes pulling and reinstalling covers very easy.
Front (love that elocker)

Rear. It didn't need a fluid change, but since I was doing the front I decided to do the back. It also gives me the opportunity to weld on RockRanger's 8.8 diff rock sliders (more on this later).

All the stuff needed to pull to get to the seals.

I forgot to take a picture, but I was having trouble removing the carrier because I don't have a spreader and am a little nervous about using one anyways. I remembered a old trick my Dad did when we were rebuilding the rear diff on my 1968 El Camino when the carrier wouldn't come out. I stuffed a rag into the ring gears at the pinyon and turned the gears by using a wrench on ring gear bolts. Sucker popped right out.
I use Lucas 85-140 because the guy who built the front axle likes it, and conventional fluid is recommend by Eaton. Its a pain to fill the diffs with it because its like sticky syrup but it works. The Detroit locker in the rear has been in there since 2002 and still looks new. I hang the bottles up with a hole cut in the bottom and come back in a few hours.

I got the front back together and its filling with quart #2 as I am writing this. I am getting tired of looking at rusty brake calipers so I finally decided to use a Rustoleum caliper paint kit I purchased on sale several months ago. They only had red which isn't my first choice but it was cheap. I should get that done tomorrow and will post how it goes. I am going to weld on the 8.8 slider kit, then refill the rear diff with my hang and drain method while I prep and paint the brake calipers.

 

[R.J.]

How many times can you reuse the lubelocker gaskets?