SAS engine area cross member

[bronchole]

So, I noticed that my new to me Mounty had the cross member that is between the motor mounts and the power steering box completly removed. I did a bit of searching both by the search string "sas cross member" and by looking at some of the gen 2's in the SAS regestry. It looks like the vast majority remove and do not replace this cross member.

My Mounty's SAS uses coil springs from an Early Bronco in 79 Bronco stock coil buckets that are welded to the frame on top of a 2x piece of metal. It is using a 79 Bronco full width Dana 44 axle. The build by the PO is linked in my signature.

I plan on rock crawling and high speed sand wash running this rig and my concern is that over time the stresses of the forces on the coil springs and the steering box are going to cause the frame to twist and eventually crack. I had something like this happen on my 85 Bronco with the stock crossmenber in place. Hell, even my Early Bronco tore the steering box out of the frame so I reinforced that area.

I am thinking that I will manufacture a tubular cross member which will go straight across the tops of the frame rails within 3/4" of the motors oil pan. From that I will run diagonal tubes to the bottom of the frame on each side and maybe even plate the triangle inbetween. The diagonals and the location along the frame will be positioned to allow the maximum up travel for the axle and be as close to the spring buckets and P/S box as possible. I may also attempt to incorporate a cross bar over the engine from the tops of the spring buckets.

I am not currently in possession of the Mounty so I am not sure how possible this concept is. If anyone is aware of a SAS that is simmilar to mine that has replaced this crossmember, let me know so that I can continue my research.

Thanks,

Dan

 

[bronchole]

It looks like 8 years of beating on this has taken its toll. I noticed that my drivers side frame rail had twisted to the point that my AC compressor pulley was grinding on the frame. I tried a couple things to straighten it out. It finally took about 15000 pounds of winch pull at the top of the spring bucket to get it back to an acceptable position. I need to start looking in to a brace from to the tops of the coil buckets. I will probably end up going to coil over shocks while I am at it. I love the way TurboExplorer's turned out.

 

[93XploderMS]

Nice, it’s an old thread but since no one replied I thought I would

 

[bronchole]

It was allot of fun. I especially like how I pulled the rear tire off the ground doing it