Bitten by the (SAS) bug! | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Bitten by the (SAS) bug!

Since I've been driving the Ranger a whole lot lately, and the Mounty has been sitting, a SAS project has been taking shape in my mind. I've been reading registries and have some ideas.

I want to do a SAS unlike anything I've seen for a few reasons. I want a low COG, moderate tire size medium travel build. My overall height would only be slightly higher than it is now with the 4" suspension lift. I'd work the fenders a little and run the tires I have until they are gone and then possibly bump to 34's.

Why? I still occasionally need to tow heavyish stuff and I'd still like to be able to drive this thing at high speeds and longer trips. Theoretically, this would be similar to a *eep Grand Cherokee, a solid axle daily driver.

The general plan-

Rubicon D44 with factory 4.10's and air locker.
12" or 16" Coilovers
Pretty long radius arms with big ole joints for nice flex
Keep the Superlift leaves I just bought and leave the rear as-is.
Utilize the ABS sensors in the Rubicon axle to keep the ABS
New wheels to accommodate the bolt pattern on the new front axle and spacers/adapters for the rear axle.

I'm too big of a puss to wheel this super hard, the body is too nice still, the 44 should be plenty, the extra travel will be nice and the reliability of a solid axle will be nice. IFS is hell on tires.

The nice thing is I won't have to have gears or a locker, I can buy a brand new axle complete for $1400. Pricey I know, but I think a used one can be had for far less.

This will be a long time coming, I plan to start collecting parts slowly and on the cheap to make this a wallet friendly build. (ha! ha!)

Thoughts?
 



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*itch*scratch*itch*scratch* LOL

I do like your idea. However how cheap do you expect to find J**p Rubicon axle stuff? I haven't shopped the boneyards but I don't think that would be a great deal. :dunno:
 






I saw a pair of Rubicon axles go for $1k on ebay a while back. I should have bought em.

I have a few boneyard friends that I can mess with and get better prices.

I have been considering the C/O swap, but it's hard to spend $900 on that. If I can find a good deal on the axle, I can do this SAS for a little more than twice that.

I can get adapters from the 5x5 pattern to the 5x4.5 pattern and keep my wheels possibly. :dunno:
 












Thoughts?
If these are the reasons:
I still occasionally need to tow heavyish stuff and I'd still like to be able to drive this thing at high speeds and longer trips. Theoretically, this would be similar to a *eep Grand Cherokee, a solid axle daily driver.
They aren't good enough to not go bigger. :D

Mine, Jefe's and Section525's all with different setups (all close to 6" of lift), drive fine at high speeds, are able to tow and could be daily drivers.

Your idea is basically to get rid of the IFS. Your plan seems good to me. Good luck with it. :thumbsup:
 






...I think the title says it all...:p:

...It's kind of like the first line in my Project X thread, so I'm subscribing to see the monster be born...:D

...Btw, 80 is fine getting to and from the trails in my X, no sas yet...
 






Another reason for staying moderately sized is my tires are 75% and I was told I would wear them out before I got new ones. I like the overall look of it now, just don't want IFS headaches anymore. Also, staying at 33's or 34's lets me keep gears, saving $$

C/O Swap will cost $900 keeping IFS. If I can get some good deals on axles and longer travel c/o's I can SAS for $2000-$3000. I'm going to start watching for some used 12" C/O's, they come pretty cheap used and I'll just rebuild em.
 












Evan's got a point though with the tire size. My 4.10 axle ratio was fine while I was running 33" tires but when I went to 35" it just couldn't handle it and I had to pony up some fairly big bucks to regear both axles.

There's nothing wrong with going SAS while refraining from turning it into a Monster Truck. Any casual reading of early trip reports and threads on this site will show that it was quite awhile before members started going SAS with monster lifts and tires.... a lot of fun was had with 33" tires, regular size lift, and lockers. That was the "big Dawg" norm for quite awhile. There are extremely few trails an Explorer so equipped could not handle, and the trails too tough for that setup are the same ones that almost guarantee significant body damage. I think Evan mentioned that he still likes the way his looks.
 






I can get adapters from the 5x5 pattern to the 5x4.5 pattern and keep my wheels possibly. :dunno:


Umm, Correct me if I'm wrong, but Jeeps are already 5x4.5.


Sounds like a good plan. I even drove my old beast with a TALL sas on top of a 3" body lift and 37" Swampers on the freeway at 75 mph all the time. It wasn't the best thing, but then again I DD something that is 8 feet tall as well.

Rubicon 44 is a great choice, only disadvantage is that you get no hubs, the hub adapter kit is another $750. Still probably the best axle money can buy for your situation. Build it and link it like a longarm Grand Cherokee and you should be more than pleased with the ride.
 






I've been doing more looking and I can use many Rubicon parts, possibly the track bar and some after market radius arms. The Rubicon axle will already have the mounts for this, I can do a pretty clean install that way.

The Rubicon axles went to a 5 on 5" pattern for some reason.

I may have found someone in AR with a Rubicon looking to upgrade axles soon :D
 






5x5 is JK Rubi, TJ Rubi is 5 x 4.5 IIRC. I dont think you want a JK Rubi axle, those are really wide (almost fullwidth)
 












How bad would it be to think about a D30?

Given the fact I am not going to use this hardcore and run 33's or 34's, could a 30 be OK??

I can get a thirty way cheaper if I can find one with the right gears.

EDIT: That would be a HP possibly with a disconnect that I would convert to manual operation.
 






...I just recently seen one out here w/4.10's, hub to hub for 200 bucks...Just consider it a light duty axle for your X...It is kind of common for a d30 to be swapped onto a ranger...I think if you talked to Section525, he could enlighten you on jeep axles ..:dunno:
 






when I was asking danderson about Bryan's lift, he mentioned his d30 snapping axle woes,
Remember me telling you he was running an atlas with a passenger side drop--with a v8
however he also said he found a fix-you might ask him about it.
 









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