2002 Sport Trac SAS finally begins

Dana 44 out of a 1989 Grand Wagoneer.

My plan is to get as little llift as possible as I dont feel like removing my body lift. So I am using the stock Waggy knuckles, spindles, hubs, rotors, calipers, and likely using new waggy steering parts as well and keeping it 6 lug.

I will leave it spring under as to keep the lift minimal, and use 4" lifted springs. Doing it this way will save me from buying high steer knuckles and a high steer setup. Is this best way, maybe not, but it saves me alot money and keeps my lift to around 5".

Now for those who are asking themselves why am I even bothering with this SAS. My reasons are that my Sport Trac goes through UCA and lower ball joints every other month, and I destroy tires in under 8 months. The truck just cannot handle 35's. PLus it will be way stronger than the IFS, and will flex much more than my IFS system.

If anyone has any thoughts/recomendations/concerns, I welcome all the help you can offer.

I hope money does not slow me down, but the cold weather might, either way my goal is to have this done well before Moab.

 

[Dannyboy]

being spring under I don't see any reason why you NEED to go hi-steer, typically hi-steer is needed on a SOA setup to clear the leafs. Your leafs will be below the steering anyway. Can't find a grand waggy, but a YJ should be close.

on a spring over I can see where there would be more issue

Hi-steer would be nice if you had issues with bump steer and steep steering angles.
Are you running a trac bar on this?

If yes...then you might as well buy the coil sprung setup

 

[chad551]

Forgot to mention I was planing on a SOA. But based on the pics you provided I may not need it. I have all the moog parts to do an inverted T steering setup.

 

[Dannyboy]

gotcha, this is the site I got that photo from. This being a truck that is driving all the way to Moab from St. Louis might be relevant with bump steer issues. I just learned a couple things reading up on this.
http://www.bc4x4.com/pv/yj/histeer/

 

[chad551]

That is how my steering will look according to my plan.. Now I have to go and do some more grinding, I am making my crossmember and leaf mounts.

 

[RockRanger]

You will probably want the histeer when you go SOA. It is hard to tell till after you get stuff in place. The main problem is if the passanger tire is in a hole and you want to turn right the steering will hit the spring. You could try doing the "z-link" like the suzuki guys do. Might work for you.

 

[chad551]

My SOA perches showed up today and they are beefy.. They are TT FAB perches, and have 3 holes to move the axle forward or backward an inch each way. So my question for the welding gurus is do I need to use a nickle rod and arc weld them on, or will it be ok to just MIG them on? I have seen both ways done, but my limited welding knowledge lead me to beleive you use a special rod for the cast welding.

 

[colindo94]

you should be fine to just mig weld them if your welding them to the axle tubes.

 

[chad551]

I am welding to the cast diff on the drivers side. The passenger side will be to the axle tube.

 

[IZwack]

Preheat - the more heat the better. Heat before and after, heat everyday till it hurts with laughter.

 

[chad551]

What does heating it up do? And are you talking glowing red hot?

 

[John_Rock]

What does heating it up do? And are you talking glowing red hot?

IZ is probably right. At work, I've seen that they wrap big thermal blankets around the pipes to keep them warmer than room temperature for the pipe welding. The blankets have cords that go back to the heat treatment machine that is programmed to keep the pipes at a certain temperature.

 

[RockRanger]

I just mig welded mine on without preheating it. Then I took a small plate and welded it to the side of the spring plate then welded it to the axle tube. Made it small enough that it didnt get in the way of the U bolts.

 

[IZwack]

Heating the surrounding area narrows the temperature gradient during welding which minimizes fracturing between dissimilar materials during cooling (as dissimilar materials typically cool down at different rates). This also means heating after welding to ensure that both sides of the weld are cooling down at around the same rate and to prolong the cool down rate. As hot as you can get it is usually the goal (which means acetylene would be ideal) but you do with what you have and if all you have is a propane bottle, then preheat for maybe 15 minutes and then post heating over maybe a 30 minute period gradually increasing the time between when the torch is on (therefore slowly decreasing the temperature). You might also look at 'peening' the weld (search google) to relieve the tiny stress areas within the weld.

If you have a stick welder, then some hi-nickel rod would be best.

Good info: http://www.lincolnelectric.com/knowledge/articles/content/castironpreheat.asp

 

[chad551]

Question about my gears.. From all the pics I have seen of others installing their own gears I have never seen anyone install the oil slinger on the pinion shaft. Do I need this? The stock pinion has the slinger installed, but from looking at my new pinion shaft it looks like the oil slinger will be rubbing on the ring gear.

As usual any advice is appreciated.

 

[RockRanger]

If you are talking about the front I installed mine. Not sure on the rear as I didn't do them.

 

[chad551]

Well I think I am going to start cutting this weekend, if everything falls into place.. But I have a concern/dilema. After receiving my high steer knuckles and related parts I started wondering if I should do shackles up front instead the rear. If I do shackles in front the leafs will be pretty level. But if I do rear shackle then I will likely need to cut the inner knuckle to get proper caster. I really dont feel like doing that, or am I thinking to hard about this.. Or should I just leave my caster at what ever it comes out at and just make sure I have good pinion angle?

Here is what I was planning to buy so I can mount my shackle mount to.

http://www.explorerforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=41348&cat=500&ppuser=61811

Also anyone know the minimum length a shackle hanger needs to be? 3,4,5"

 

[RockRanger]

Caster should be 4-8 degrees. The top of the knuckle is towards the back of the truck. If the pinion angle is bad then do the cut and turn. If you do a shackle rear then when the suspension drops the pinion will point more down placing the u joint at a greater angle and possibly bind. If the springs are at to much of an angle then they will hit the steering even with histeer.

 

[chad551]

Well I finally got to start working on the truck. Here is what I did last night.

And tonight the crossmember will get installed and painted. And hopefully get my rear mounts ready to go.

Here is the axle waiting for my high steer studs.

And these are my new toys my wife let me buy 1/4" steel is like butter for the plasma.

 

[Dannyboy]

I hope money does not slow me down, but the cold weather might, either way my goal is to have this done well before Moab.

you still going to get this done before Moab
The pressure is ON

 

[chad551]

There will be some late nights coming up this week. But YES I will have it done by Moab, knocking on wood as I type this. Actually hoping to be done this weekend.