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Barack Obama linked 2nd gen. SAS

So let me first start with a quick introduction .. my name is Barack Obama and apparently I'm the junior US Senator from Illinois :thumbsup: . I love slow walks on the beach and bed-side stories. Yeah I'm talking to you big boy:

Barack.jpg

Okay now onto the goods...

So recently I've been starting a few threads all relating to my Dana 44 front axle and other tid bits - so I figured it would be best if I just started an SAS thread to pull all of those threads together into one centralize place instead of having them floating about the sea of other threads.

Follow me now as I look back on the threads that I've started:

1) Reading Pinion Depth Number In this thread, I was confused on which number was the pinion depth offset number of my ring and pinion set for the Dana 44. After calling up the good people of Randy's Ring and Pinion, I was told that the numbers on the ring and pinion are no longer used for the pinion depth offset. So I'm like wtf m8!? They did give me a number to start from and so thats what I started with.

2) Ford 9" For Off-Road Use In this thread, I ask the general public what they think about the Ford-9" axle for off-road use. Conclusion, bowties - the GM 14-bolt axle with the stock Detroit locker is a God's send and so thats what I'm going with (it comes with a pinion bearing support - just like the Ford-9").

3) RE SuperFlex Assemby I've never put together a Rubicon Express SuperFlex Joint so in this thread, I ask the public how in the world these things are put togehter. And to be more specific, I was confused how to drive the plastic bushings into the housing. Conclusion - use a press <- faaantastic.

4) Hi-Steer Arms 10-degree Correction In this fabulous discussion, we discuss the ever-popular 10-degree correction that is often placed on High-Steer Arms. In the end, I decided to go with the Sky-Manufacturing arms (although I never updated the thread I dont think - darnit).

5) Dana 44 Ball Joint Sleeve > Replace? Ah finally, the pain in the asymptote. In this thread, which I have yet to resolve really, the problem is that the upper Ball Joint sleeve has frozen itself onto the "C" (aka inner knuckle). The issue has yet to be resolved so no conclusion yet.


Well then, lets dive into some concepts and design ideas.

3link_concept.jpg

As you can see, the front axle is located via a 3-link with a panhard bar. Each link will be mounted to the chassis using Rubicon Express Large SuperFlex Joint. Why go with the RE Joint? Well I was quite impressed at how much JEFE's front axle flexed - so I decided to go with the same joint. I recently asked him whether or not he has broken the 9/16" bolts used to attach the joint to the chassis and he said no - a big :thumbsup: . The link's body is made of a 2"x2" - 0.25" wall square tube - similar to Clayton Off-Road's long arms. Currently, my calculations are aiming for the bottom links to be 38.7" in length and the upper to be 34.2" (figures may change). This gives me an anti-dive of about 105% but I will make the upper link adjustable vertically at the chassis so the anti-dive characteristic can be fine tuned. The bottom links are angled "toe-out" becaue the Dana 44 is a "Wide-Track" axle and the Explorer's chassis is about 2" narrower than the Wide-Track axle's ideal mounting points. The "toe-out" angle however is not severe : about 2" out for the about total 38" length. The two bottom links are attached to the axle via a regular rubber-bushing. The upper "third" link is attached to the axle with the same type of rubber bushing except this one is adjustable - to allow for pinion angle changes.

Onto the front axle itself: As stated, the front "Wide Track" axle is from a Grand Wagoneer (I believe '86). Currently, its geared 5.13 with open differential. I'll throw in a locker in the future after I get this running. The axle was originally running the Wagoneer 6-lug bolt pattern but, because the rear GM 14-bolt is 8-lug, I switched the Dana 44 to 8-lug pattern using parts from a K20 (caliper bracket from a J20). As for the high-steer arms, as stated previously, I decided to go with SkyManufacturing's standard arms with the 10-degree correction angle (arms are on their way from CA).

The steering gear box is out of an IFS Toyota and the entire steering setup will utilize only Chevy TRE's except at the pitman arm.

The front axle will be suspended by Fox 2.5" Nitrogen Air Shocks with 16" of travel.

The rear axle, again as stated before, is a GM 14-bolt with a Detroit locker. Initially, it will be leaf sprung using the Explorer's stock leaf springs (with an AAL and WAR153s). However, I do plan on going 4-link in the near future after the Explorer starts rolling again.

Now onto some newbie pics..


The axle the day it arrived from New Jersey:
axle_pickup.jpg


Before last winter came, I emptied an entire can of Liquid Wrench (and other llubricants) into the differential to soak everything down in preparation for the following spring.
d44_greased.jpg


When spring finally came, the axle was torn down:
d44_housing.jpg


New carrier and new gears. The carrier bearings below are the set-up bearings which have had their inner races grinded down for repetative installation and removal on the carrier while the pinion and ring gear geometry was fine tuned:
d44_carrier.jpg

Spring also brought wheeling weather and I got high-centered on a rock so I decided to SOA the back for fun (the thing on the back is my snowboard and bike rack) and had to get my driveshaft retubed because it popped in half:
soa_backshot.jpg


The caliper brakets from a J20 after sand blasting and a coat of epoxy paint:
d44_caliperbracket_painted.jpg


Flat-top knuckles from a J10 masked off and ready for some epoxy paint:
d44_knuckle_ready_for_paint.jpg


Inner "C"s on the front axle sliced from the axle tubes (and temporarily knocked out about .125" for easier rotation) to set proper caster angle:
inner_c_sliced.jpg


Chevy K20 8-lug rotors .. "Oh my Mr. Obama, what big rotors you have. Why yes Sally, I do have big rotors." :
d44_rotor.jpg


Chevy K20 calipers:
d44_caliper.jpg


And finally for now, the RE SuperFlex joints:
re_joint.jpg


As for tires, right now I have a set of 36" TSL-SX's I bought for cheap from a local individual.


So what's in the future? Well the rest of the link parts are on their way - as well as the high steer arms. The Fox shocks will be purchased in about 2 weeks and the 14-bolt axle will be picked up about 3 weeks to a month after that. The rear axle is the least of my worries so that's the last thing on this Senator's mind.
 



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Dropped the housing off tonight and the the old man at the shop said he cant blast it cauz it wont fit in his blasting chamber thing (housing is too long).. so I said thats cool just hot tank it then, slapped his ass and left the shop.
 



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I just winked at him as I was approaching the door, I hope that was sufficient.
 






This thread is getting a little, how should I put it.............Too Friendly with members of the same sex.........Not that there is anything wrong with that, if that's what you are into.
 






Hehe. Hello Mr. Kennedy! How are the horses?
 












i always felt the wink was so much more substantial than the good game
 






why not keep it at 69 and get new wheels...ur gettin tires anyway....get 16.5 with 4.5 bs in the front and 2 in the back...? its cheeper...
 






why not keep it at 69 and get new wheels...ur gettin tires anyway....get 16.5 with 4.5 bs in the front and 2 in the back...? its cheeper...
I dont want to run the mil Goodyear tires and sticky tires dont really come in 16.5s

The horses are all fine and back at the ranch.
I have a fear for horses. I'm afraid I'll get trampled on with 20,000 hooves :D

i always felt the wink was so much more substantial than the good game
A wink is what you make of it .. so here Sureal ---> ;)
 






I dont want to run the mil Goodyear tires and sticky tires dont really come in 16.5s

I have a fear for horses. I'm afraid I'll get trampled on with 20,000 hooves :D

A wink is what you make of it .. so here Sureal ---> ;)

what tires do you want to run, they prolly have a 16.5 size.
 






what tires do you want to run, they prolly have a 16.5 size.
Something along the lines of either MAXXIS Creepy Crawlers, or BFG MT2s, or BFG Krawlers -- between 37"s and 40"s.
 












Ahaha fantastic :D
 






I'm an idiot-
while looking at the diffy covers i saw item number

310002016883
on ebay-
but it looks like you could make these yourself.
 






I'm an idiot-
while looking at the diffy covers i saw item number

310002016883
on ebay-
but it looks like you could make these yourself.

The 14-bolt was converted using the same type of kit, except a weld-on:
14bolt_mounted.jpg
 






Senator Obama.. You have too much time on your hands.
 












just getting back to the bonnet being up that's a great safety idea .A disco guy out here had a snatch strap part with the D shackle on the end of it and and it flew straight through his front windscreen and out the rear window just missed him by an inch he didn't drive for the rest of the day Cheers Foxy
 






Hey Iz....Can I get a upper link frame mount shot with the t-case mounted? I'm just wondering about clearance issues with that longer upper link link. Also what did you use as a center of gravity # for the explorer? IDK if you still have your link calculations saved, but that would be pretty interesting to see also? I'm playing around with some #'s so all the help I can get would be great. Thanks
 



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Can I get a upper link frame mount shot with the t-case mounted? I'm just wondering about clearance issues with that longer upper link link.
Its tight but I've checked the transfer case and the upper link link after the first run and there were no marks or signs that the two ever touched.
upperlink_clearance.jpg

..what did you use as a center of gravity # for the explorer? IDK if you still have your link calculations saved, but that would be pretty interesting to see also? I'm playing around with some #'s so all the help I can get would be great. Thanks
I used the top bolt of the transmission as the CG -- this is what people have said to be a good estimate. This is probably a little on the high side but oh well I'm not competing the Explorer anytime soon so the margin of error is not critical. As for the link calculations, I'm not sure if I have them anymore because the link calculator on PBB is an HTML/javascript file (as I recall) and therefore, input data could not be saved.
 






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