2nd Gen Ex Wants an SAS, whats the do's and dont's

[joker1457]

Ok Ive been debating this for a while I have a 98 Eddie Bauer Explorer, with 175,000.00 miles on her. I call her my "second child". I've been looking into doing a SAS for a while now and keep coming up with too many questions and uncertainties that have kept me from doing the swap. The biggest concern is to keep the vehicle as a daily driver being a single daddy and such

As do other memebers on the site, I value the ride quality of my car. As we all know Explorers are very top heavy and changing the center of gravity is not something to be taken lightly.

So my experiences leading to this point of doing a swap are as follows.

1: Sick of replacing hub bearings
2: No travel with IFS...Well not enough for my liking
3. Sick of Torsion bars catching on everything
4. Replacing Cv joints getting old
5. Explorer should have never been built without a solid axle
6. Ect....to many front end problems

My solution has become put a solid axle in place of the wonderful IFS Ford thought up. I haven't done this swap or even bought the axle to do the swap because I need a better understanding of what I'm doing.

Id like this thread to serve as a knowledge base for all memebers thinking about doing a Solid Axle Swap or have done one.

So being I have limited knowledge on this here's my simple questions.
Whats are the advantages, disadvantages, likes and dislikes of the following:

1: Coil over, Leaf Springs, and coils
2: Steering components on the above #1, what everyone's favorite setups what have you found that works well for a 4.0 vs 5.0 (I have a 4.0)
3. Dana 44hp/lp, Dana 60, and xj yj Dana 30 (this one why does everybody dislike it so)?
4. Links to sites and such to get parts
5. Part definition (tecnical terms put into newbie terms)

Happy Trails and Thanks for everyone's input

 

[joker1457]

K Im going to get this started, I'm leaning towards putting a Dana 30 out of a Cherokee in with probably coils and long arms, maybe keeping my 4.10 gears or going to 4.56's.

Id like to know why this is'nt recommened what is it about the Explorer that this axle has such an issue with. I see multiple people wheeling including myself with these axles and never break anything.

Someone please chim in and explain.

 

[IZwack]

Search for it - we've discussed D30 vs D44 (and maybe even vs D60) a few times, along with leaf vs links. Overall, you have maybe a week's worth of reading to do

 

[joker1457]

Search for it - we've discussed D30 vs D44 (and maybe even vs D60) a few times, along with leaf vs links. Overall, you have maybe a week's worth of reading to do

IZwack, I appreciate you pointing me towards the search option, I have found a plethra of valuable info on SAS swaps, The dana 44 is a much more favored axle for the swap so I guess maybe I should re-state the question about the Dana 30.

I know the dana 30 is a weaker axle, but again theres people out there running 33-35" tires on a their heep with pretty much stock axles, so my question is the Explorer to heavy for the Dana 30, or is the drive train to much for the axle to handle :scratch:.

The reason behind the ? is the dana 30 out of Cherokee's are a dime a dozen out here so its an easy axle for me to obtain, plus I can keep my ABS:biggthump

 

[FROADER]

I know the dana 30 is a weaker axle, but again theres people out there running 33-35" tires on a their heep with pretty much stock axles, so my question is the Explorer to heavy for the Dana 30, or is the drive train to much for the axle to handle :scratch:.

^^Also in the threads you searched for.

Here is what I just found:
Jeep = ~3100lbs
Explorer 4dr = ~4500-5200lbs.

I broke two different axles with a D44 and 35s under mine.

 

[joker1457]

Whats everyone's opinion on A waggy Dana 44. lp stock, Dont know the gear ratio, most steering components are there.....for $250.00 obo.

Should I buy this or continue looking???

 

[section525]

I bought mine for $200. That's a pretty fair price.

You'd just have to add the additional cost of getting it to 5 lug. Or, getting the rear end to 6 lug.

 

[joker1457]

I bought mine for $200. That's a pretty fair price.

You'd just have to add the additional cost of getting it to 5 lug. Or, getting the rear end to 6 lug.

Thanks Section525, I decided against getting the axle come to find out the guy removed most of the steering and such for a build he was doing.