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!

 

[sector9]

We will test the welder on my truck

 

[turboexplorer]

Yeah first project will probably be making the rock light mounts for your truck. Can't wait to get all 8 LED rock lights mounted.

Also an update, my plan was to install the new G2 shafts this weekend but when they showed up yesterday they didn't match. One shaft had rolled splines the other had cut splines, one had a really nice finish the whole way of the shaft the other didn't, had different flange end styles, and the c-clip bungs where different diameters. I thought it was weird that same company and new shafts for the same axle where that different. So I called them today and with just a 5 minute wait I was able to talk to someone and he mentioned that was kinda weird as well so he did some research and I sent him the pictures of the shafts. He got back to me and mentioned they have two companies that manufacture for them this was the reason for the difference, one shaft from each company. So he is sending a new LH shaft that has the better finish, rolled splines, bigger bung to my local 4 wheel parts so it will match the nicer RH shaft that I currently have. So when it gets there I will just go in and swap them out. So bummer I wont have the truck up and running this weekend but was nice to talk to someone and that they took care of it the first day I had contacted them with the issue. Based off my experience with them today I would buy another product from them.

 

[EBEX99]

would you happen to have the part number on the block adapter for the remote oil filter?

 

[turboexplorer]

I'll have to look, I should have it. I can check tomorrow.

Also on the shafts I guess all the LH shafts in their warehouse have cut splines. He was going to check with their 2 manufacturing plants and see why there is a difference between RH and LH shafts. So he is supposed to follow up with me this week. I told him, my expectations to have the issue resolved by 12/7/13. So two weeks should be enough time for a company to correct the issue easy I would imagine. So will see what happens. I'll be gone all this week in Vegas for Thanksgiving so having it done this week wouldn't make any difference.

 

[Kirby N.]

I have used a few sets of genuine gears. The customer service was great every time I warranted a part. Quality was low though. Soon I got tired of resetting up gears because of the low quality and swore never to use them again. A warranty isn't worth much when there is so much labor involved to use it. If I were you I would take them back to 4 wheel hacks and pony up the cash to do it correctly the first time.

 

[Kirby N.]

I just caught up on your thread. Sorry I missed the opportunity to reccomend Yukon over g2. If possible I would exchange. The quality of Yukon versus genuine is worth a few extra dollars. 4wp pushes genuine because it is thier product but in my experience it is low quality and I paid later for going with the cheaper product.

 

[turboexplorer]

Kirby N - That was the issue I was running into, you mention Yukon other say stay away it's all China now others say Alloy and others G2. There is nothing proven on anything and no REAL company to go with. Kind of unfortunate in all reality, no company really makes any drive train parts in the USA anymore. So that's where the better customer service won me over.

However as an update I have been underwhelmed by the end result. Long story short they do not make the LH axle shaft with rolled splines so it is what it is. I asked for a discount since their product is cosmetically inconsistent, but they said no. So unfortunately I am just going to slap in these shafts since i need the truck over Christmas. (Will have 9 days to play in Southern Utah so will probably wheel at least 5 of those) Anyways would I recommend this company in the end? NO I would not, not for an 8.8 at least. And think I will send them a link to this thread talking about my experiance with G2. Like every other company they make chromoly shafts for a ****ty wobbly Heep 35 but no such stock replacement shaft exists for the full width 8.8. O well. I am friends with a guy that works at Teraflex in my neighborhood so I may go that route with one of their 60's at some point. If I could get $1500-1800 for this current set up 8.8 with gears set up, Detroit locker, new shafts, brake lines, factory sway bar mounts and all converted to the Explorer disc then I would do a 60 tomorrow.

So I pulled the shafts last night, lol awesome breakage. No bearing hurt or anything. So disassembled the carrier bearings and cleaned, cleaned locker and gear, got all the shattered pieces out of the axle tube, stuck part of shaft out of the locker, diff cover cleaned. So tomorrow I will grind the flange down on the new shafts to fit in the Explorer discs as you saw me do on a lathe with the first set and swap over the wheel studs. Then clean the housing Wednesday and slap it all back together on Saturday morning is what it looks like.

Bummed I didn't just throw them in when I got the shafts. This last snow storm would have been epic wheeling. All my friends went out and had a blast. O well, will think better next time.

 

[sector9]

lets see that light bar!!

 

[turboexplorer]

Need to renew my elite membership and I can post them.

Update though, axle is all fixed so it's back driving. And the 30" light bar is all mounted and wired and ready for 9 days of Southern Utah wheelin.

 

[turboexplorer]

Merry Christmas Eve everybody! Hope tonight and tomorrow are good to everyone!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

 

[turboexplorer]

Alright I renewed my Elite Membership so here is some catch up pictures of the last few months.

Before I headed out for a day of wheeling with the Teraflex guys, I did some front wheel bearings on both sides of Sector9's 91' X.

All at the trail head ready to head up Rattlesnake.

This is the obstacle that I broke the Right Rear shaft on. You have to start a bit to the left with your rear, give it a good bump and hammer down, as you spin the rear will wash out to the right and then the rig will climb up. However in my case it was all but up and the rear slide to the right but slid back down the ledge and the rocks at the bottom caught the right rear and SNAP. Super loud crack! :thumbdwn:

Backed down off the ledge and strapped the RR brake caliper to the sway bar. This way while I drove off the trail the caliper would hold the rotor and the rotor would hold the shaft from walking out. (Disc brake conversion from the drum was worth its weight in gold that day) Working like a camp, drove off the trail 2-3 miles on the broken shaft having to flex and drive the whole way out.

 

[turboexplorer]

So my uncle was nice enough to bring out his rig to pick up the X from the trail head and get it back to my house.

Arriving back at my house.

 

[turboexplorer]

Pics of how the strap was holding the caliper.

So after a long day of Birthday wheeling and breaking that shaft. Me and Sector9 headed up Forest Lake trail in his X. Was a lot of snow and since the rig is stock our goal was to see how high we could get it up the trail.

Flexed out on a rock at the trail head. There is a water crossing at the start of the trail and it was wicked cold, but had to get some pictures anyways.

Found a recently burned down truck on the trail, kinda unnerving when its pitch black and everything is covered with snow except a burnt truck lol.

Snowy climb up the trail. It did really well until there was a flexy section that was all ice and didn't feel like mad mobbing it through and crunching rockers so we then turned around.

 

[turboexplorer]

So here is a picture of my new welder.

The new shafts.

And the truck in the garage when the surgery was about to start.

 

[mounty71]

Why did you need to strap the brake caliper when the caliper is already bolted to the axle housing?

 

[MidnightRebel07]

Great choice on a welder !!! I love using Miller welders, especially the autoset's when I'm welding different materials. Glad to hear you were able to limp the rig back to the trail head without further damage.

 

[turboexplorer]

True but that's only with two very small bolts. Mainly to have the strap do the work and not chance breaking the bolts. Also the bolts go through the slide pins so they would still allow it to walk out about a 1/2". When it did that the outside pad would fall off the caliper bracket where they ride. Didn't want that pad to fall off. So with the strap it kept everything in line and the pressure was all done by the strap. Real easy with my 17" rims, plenty of room.

And Thanks. Haven't had time or a project to really play with the welder yet but super excited to! Haven't used the auto set, curious to see how it does. Ill post pics of what the damage was but was very minimal. Slow speed and shortest distance possible.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

I've used the 212 at work and we just got the 252 at custom truck club's garage, welded 1/2" together like it was a hot butter knife though butter.

What brand axle did you break?

 

[turboexplorer]

Factory 1995 Ford shaft. Now have G2's in it.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

Oh, ok. I wasn't sure if you already installed upgraded axle shafts in the rear axle.