Bkennedy's SAS and Rebuild Thread | Page 55 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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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.
 



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I don't think I ever could push mine to the floor. ...or maybe I just never needed to..;)

Going down Heart Attack Hill, right before the front tires rolled into the holes that make it feel like you are going vertical, pedal to the floor. Oh S&*t moment to say the least. Its good for now, but I am half-heartedly looking into a Wilwood Tandem MC. With this being the third MC, I could have purchased one of those for less money.
 



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Been working with Mrs. Zukman for a while on some LED light bar covers. In California, all off road lights are required to have covers to prevent them from use while on the highway. It is a moving violation. While Mrs. Zukman was doing all the work, I was taking all the measurements and telling her what I wanted. Basically, plain black covers. I got them in the mail today. Great work, as usual. Think I might have her make me another bar cover two-tone like the Explorer flag.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=199032&highlight=flag+zukman
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IMG_20150403_195043022_HDR_Large_.jpg


IMG_20150403_182641764_Large_.jpg
 






Going down Heart Attack Hill, right before the front tires rolled into the holes that make it feel like you are going vertical, pedal to the floor. Oh S&*t moment to say the least. Its good for now, but I am half-heartedly looking into a Wilwood Tandem MC. With this being the third MC, I could have purchased one of those for less money.

Wilwood, CNC, Jamar, shop them all if you do. They're all great quality products! Before you pickup the phone, pull your calipers and note the diameter of the piston and how many pistons are in each caliper. They'll need that info to steer you to the right sized master cylinders front and rear.

Ditch the power brakes completely and go manual.

The expo isn't your DD right? I don't think I'd want to DD on their pedal assemblies but for the occasional road rig they work fine and do fine in the dirt too.

I have CNC with remote reservoirs on both the race truck and my F150. The brakes on the race truck I can lock up on the street... Takes more muscle then the factory power brake system did but it can be done. That was with stock front calipers front and toyota FJ disc calipers rear and still now with the rear willwood calipers we swtiched to recently with our rear axle upgrade. On my F150 I don't think I can lock them up on the pavement but it will in the dirt. The master cylinder sizes are wrong I think on the F150 but they aren't bad enough to justify the swap IMO.

Physically mounting them in your expo would probably be the biggest challenge but far from impossible. Plumbing them won't be too bad, probably more of a back and forth to the store type headache then anything...
 






I need the power brakes. I take it for highway drives regularly. I am going to run it as is for a while and see how it works.
 






I'm really interested to hear the report on the MC...my brakes have been soft since the 95 rear axle upgrade and 2nd gen MC swap, no matter how many times or how long I bled the brakes...

Did you change out the master cylinder for a rear disc brake model? The 99 is supposed to work best. I do know people who have done a rear disc brake swap on 94 models and retained the stock MC. Did not work for me. Have you adjusted the brake booster push rod? If the brakes do not start to function about 2" from the from the top when you apply pedal pressure, than it needs to be adjusted. There are several threads on this on the board. Another few threads of a F-250 MC swap here;

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=424744

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=424023

If you really want to get super-technical, you can rear Bilvista's stuff here;
http://www.billavista.com/tech/Articles/Brake_Bible/index.html
 






Did you change out the master cylinder for a rear disc brake model? The 99 is supposed to work best. I do know people who have done a rear disc brake swap on 94 models and retained the stock MC. Did not work for me. Have you adjusted the brake booster push rod? If the brakes do not start to function about 2" from the from the top when you apply pedal pressure, than it needs to be adjusted.

Mine is a 91, and reading up on the swaps, I put in a second gen MC. Since the axle came from a 95, and that was the info I put into my Napa ProLink account, the 95 MC is what I got...I have not done any adjustments, but I'll be putting in some work to the Explorer here soon and will look into it.

Thanks!
 






Brakes are much better but pedal is still a little soft. Can't push it to the floor though. Have been adjusting the proportioning valve and get better pedal feel with more braking to the rear than expected, which tells me the front calipers are a little large for the master cylinder.

I am out in a undisclosed location with a unnamed pumpkin looking rig testing out his new suspension links and my brakes. It's windy, I mean really windy, but who cares?
 












Brakes are much better but pedal is still a little soft. Can't push it to the floor though. Have been adjusting the proportioning valve and get better pedal feel with more braking to the rear than expected, which tells me the front calipers are a little large for the master cylinder.

I am out in a undisclosed location with a unnamed pumpkin looking rig testing out his new suspension links and my brakes. It's windy, I mean really windy, but who cares?

You can call it undisclosed, but we know where that is;) ..and I'm pretty sure I know why. Please give him our best.:salute:
 






...Thats awesome....:biggthump
 


















Nice shots Brian:chug:
 












Is that a seat belt hanging out the door Brian? :nono:

I'm Jealous too I guess huh.. . ..
 






Ooh! that reminds me I still need to get a ragetty-rag intermediate shaft for ya.
 






Is that a seat belt hanging out the door Brian? :nono:

I'm Jealous too I guess huh.. . ..

That's my secondary off road lap belt. The shoulder harness locks up and I can't look out the window.

You noticed that, but did you notice my super cool, custom light covers????
 















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Just for information, last time I changed the oil, I replaced the oil gauge switch as the OEM unit was intermittent. New unit works great with the gauge needle resting on the NORMAL. I did not go to all the trouble of changing out the switch with a real sending unit and modifying the gauge because I decided I just wanted to know if it had pressure or not.
 






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