Bkennedy's SAS and Rebuild Thread | 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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Now, with the above listed, I just got notified that Sarah (daughter) was invited to compete in Arabian Youth Nationals horse show in New Mexico, riding at least one, maybe two national champion horses, next month. So this might be on hold until after that.
She was seen winning a class at a regional show and was approached;
Dad brag pic (read the jacket :thumbsup:).


Picked this up yesterday out of a 1999 Explorer.
IMG_20130604_075312_881_Medium_.jpg


IMG_20130604_075224_531_Medium_.jpg


As an added bonus: If you look closely at the first picture, under all that dirt and grease is a K&N drop-in filter!
Over the next week or two, I will make this fit where the original battery used to be located. Should not be too difficult, as it all lines up nicely.

Picked this up out of the same donor;
Complete rear brake assembly
IMG_20130604_075351_526_Medium_.jpg


It looks like this year had the brake line coming from the axle to the frame out of one side as shown with this three-way fitting. I would prefer the line coming from above the pumpkin like on my 1994. I can fix this by getting one more fitting on the side that doesn't have the three way fitting, like in second picture. I was hoping to use the brake lines from the 1999, but would have to cut the line and put in a new fitting at the pumpkin. Maybe I will just shorten the existing lines. To do away with all that ABS crap (have you ever looked on the left side of the engine and seen all that stuff???), it looks like I need to get different fittings anyway.
IMG_20130604_075441_633_Medium_.jpg


IMG_20130604_075450_338_Medium_.jpg


The rotors are roached, so I am assuming the calipers are as well. I will use them for cores and purchase remanufactured.
I am using this thread as a guide http://www.explorer4x4.com/discswap.html
 
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I am also going to have a bunch of leftover parts which I will list here as they come up: Anybody wants any of it, PM me and we can make a deal. I think the TTB pumpkin with the 5:13 gears and ARB are already taken.
*sniff* :(
 






























Hey Brian. Have you retired? Sounds like a great project. Can I go watch?

Congrats to Sarah, she's worked hard.

Sent from my iPad using Forum Runner
 






Haven't watched a build for ages, subscribing!
 






Hey Brian. Have you retired? Sounds like a great project. Can I go watch?

Congrats to Sarah, she's worked hard.

Sent from my iPad using Forum Runner

Retired, effective May 11. Just got so I could not take it anymore, went to the retirement planner and found out I was working for free, so I filled out the paperwork on the spot.

You are welcome anytime.

Sarah rocked the show on a 20 year old horse. July 16-27 we will be in Albuquerque NM for the Arabian Youth Nationals. She has always wanted to go there and this her last year as a youth, so we are going. She was asked if we wanted to borrow the number one Arabian horse in the area to ride, but I passed. I was worried about the cornucopia of things that can go wrong with trailering a horse 1600 miles round trip and having to buy a dead/lame/injured/dog food $50,000.00 horse.
Then she got invited to go ride the number two horse in the area to Canadian Arabian Nationals in August. Sounds much better. I can just drop her off at our friends house and she can go with them and win.
 






since your retired..


Get it Done!
 






Just tossing it out but if you decide to use Chevy tierod ends instead of the heim steering I have the reamer to ream the pitman arm out to fit the larger chevy tierod ends.

Hope this is faster then the horse trailer rebuild.
 












Congrats to Sarah she deserves it. She's learning hard work pays off.

Congrats on retiring. :thumbsup:
 






Wow, first she drives your rig.. Then you retire.. :) Soon you'll be the designated passenger in your own rig.

Now get back to working on the rig.. We need a build to follow..

~Mark
 












Just tossing it out but if you decide to use Chevy tierod ends instead of the heim steering I have the reamer to ream the pitman arm out to fit the larger chevy tierod ends.

Hope this is faster then the horse trailer rebuild.

It should go faster than the never finished horse trailer rebuild. The more I got into that the more I realized sometimes you just can't fix things and they need to be junked.

I am looking at BC bronco's heim steering and might need the reamer for their new tapered heim studs. http://www.bcbroncos.com/steeringlinkage.html
 






So far all I have done is purchase parts.
Got the rear brake parts ordered (calipers, lines, park brake shoes, rotors, etc..). Was going to get new pads, but the donor vehicle had brand new pads:thumbsup::). Park brake shoes were separated and needed to be replaced.

Ended up spending over $1100 in three days on the RV (shocks, bent tie rod, alignment, etc..) so it has set me back a little. Might even need new tires, which are real expensive.
Not to mention, I had to re-pipe my entire house, since it had Quest tubing where the copper pipe should be, to the tune of $11000.00. I can still swing this SAS, but have sticker shock right now and don't feel like purchasing anything.

Tom R.;
You can be my tool handler, chair holder down guy, and beer fetcher.:D

I also found an out-of-work welder who is willing to finish weld everything with his welder after I get it all mocked up and tacked into place. Saves me from borrowing or purchasing a better welder. I wanted to do it all myself, but I am going to leave it to someone is a professional and puts down beautiful beads. He is also going to weld my axle up after I cut it down and tack in the sleeve.
 






One more thing!!!!!:

autozone.com is having a 20% off all "ship to home" purchases with free shipping. Got everything so far from them.
 



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...You old retired guys have all the fun..:p:

...Sorry to hear about your plumbing problem though..:thumbdwn:
 






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