Bkennedy's SAS and Rebuild Thread

[BKennedy]

So much WANT!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twIZnaesN14

Its for sale here at the bargin basement price of only $120000.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/vehi...ing-hammers-koh-solid-axle-race-car-sale.html

 

[johnny499]

Hard brake lines should all be 3/16" tube. The tube nut's can be two different thread sizes, most will be the standard size for the 3/16" tube but ford used a few hybrid nuts that were the same size as 1/4" tube. I just picked up some of them from autozone. Let me know if you need the part number for them.

 

[sirhk100]

LOL, my new go to video when people tell me solid axles suck in the rough at speed!!!


Cody only humps dogs and small kids. He was probably lineing up to eat the springs in that picture! Those are the springs off our race truck, interesting fact though is I know of a pretty nicely setup exploder that is running the EXACT same springs on the rear and pulling 18" of travel with EVERYTHING under the bed. The springs are MUCH longer then the expo springs, they moved hte front pivots up, shackles pushed as far back I think as they could and then did a cantilever shock setup in the rear to go with it.

 

[BKennedy]

Got the main cross bar all welded up and gusseted. Should hold up well. I need to modify the shock mounts I got from RuffStuff when I started all this. Should get that finished tomorrow. Once I get the mounts where they need to be, I can finish weld the cross bar into the sleeves, paint it up, then put everything back and install the new brake lines, and.....

 

[turboexplorer]

Looks good. Gave me a few ideas for other things. I am redoing my rear shock mounts as well to maximize the flex. And getting rid of the rear sway bar I think, will see after Thanksgiving how it did.

Keep on Keep'n on

 

[BKennedy]

Thanks. There is not much room below the body. I kept about an inch away from it with the cross bar. Hope its enough. I had to adjust for a bunch of factors, mostly due to the frame. Its not square with the body anywhere. The driver side top of the frame sits one inch lower than the passenger side. The leaf spring mounts are all square, but that is about it. I was also thinking of trimming away the body support that runs under the floor of the cargo area to give me more room, but was concerned with the floor shuddering or flexing too much without that there. It is almost directly above the axle and takes up some space I could use. You can see it in the second pic, and the thin gray line in the first pic behind the cross bar. Maybe I will just make it thinner. If I cut out about half of it lengthwise, I should be able to orient the top shock mounts nearly 90* to the axle. When I installed the cage, it took out most of the body flex so it should be fine-ish.

 

[BKennedy]

Today I got the mounts mocked up, and the cross bar shock mounts finish welded. Need to finish weld the axle mounts, add some gussets and weld the cross bar into its final resting place. I need to lower my bump stops an inch, which is okay because the leafs are negative above that anyway. The shocks are only leaned back and inward a few inches at the top. Bushing binding is negligible. They had to be leaned in at the top because I wanted them as far outboard as possible at the axle, and had to be leaned back because there was stuff in the way I did not want to move (gas tank filler hoses, bunch of wiring, brake hard lines, and a body support).

Full droop

Full Compression (they are at least an inch away from the spring plate, it just looks closer in the picture)

One of the nicest features of the way I set it up is I can rotate the cross bar to finish weld the shock tabs (turned around pic). I can also paint it before I put it back so I can get the entire thing.

The more I did to the bar as far as welding things to it, it becomes harder to turn in the sleeves. Now I have to hit it with a mallet to get it to move. I thought about just running a bolt through the sleeve to hold the cross bar in place, but it would be weak, and there is no benefit to not completely welding it in, since its not removable as is.

This should be all for a while, as my wife has the weekend off.........all you married persons know what I mean by that.

 

[james t]

Have fun at home depot! :

 

[BKennedy]

Rear shock mount redo, done!

Axle mount pic

Ride height-ish (I know the axle is not sitting straight, it always does that when I use a floor jack due to the off set pumpkin)

Side pic of axle mounts

Shocks are at 80* to rear axle and 80* inward.

I am really happy with the axle mounts. They are super sturdy and look cool too. You can't see the 1/4" flat bar I welded across the axle side of the mount as a gusset, leaving just enough room to get a nut in there. Still have to redo the brake lines and drop the bump stops one inch before I put the tires back on and find a big rock to drive onto.

 

[turboexplorer]

Looks good. I bet the shocks will have much better control over the rear axle now.

 

[sirhk100]

ditto

 

[Rick]

Nice work. Much better than before

 

[BKennedy]

Nice work. Much better than before

I still need to get it out and do some flex tests. The thing that bugs me is I paid someone to do that. It did work for many years, just did not allow for any stability. The flex of the SAS made it much more noticeable.

 

[BKennedy]

Today I had a bunch of stuff to do, but I did get the drop brackets for the bump stops finished. Just need some paint and install. Came out good. I wanted something that would be sturdy, functional, and look cool.


Top plate has two welded in lock nuts that are inside the tubing. The top plate bolts to the frame.

Finished product

 

[BKennedy]

Bump stops re-installed (1.5" lower)

New brake lines installed

All back together (forgot how much stuff I removed)

Still need to bleed the brakes after I shorten the front lines, and take it for a flex test. Looks like Monday as I am working for the Chargers tomorrow. The only other modification on the list that I can think of is I would like to double shear the front track bar axle mount, and some little stuff. The little stuff always seems to take the longest.

 

[Kirby N.]

Good job! How does it drive?

 

[BKennedy]

Don't know yet.

 

[johnny499]

Ride and flex report please!!!

 

[BKennedy]

Ride and flex report please!!!

I should be reporting back later this evening. Have the day to spend in the back country.

 

[BKennedy]

I had to cut the drive short because I was wrong when I thought my alternator acting up was a loose connection at the secondary battery. It started alternating charge voltage from 13-18ish. But, I did drive freeway, highway, dirt washboard road, some off camber hillsides, and found a few rocks to test flex. It is a little stiff but very stable. If the back was full of tools and camping gear, it would be fine. Hardly any body roll. I had it on the side of a hill and intentionally drove it very off camber and it did not do that stomach wrenching lurch to the low side like before. It just seemed to roll a little, then stabilize. In the pictures, you can see how much it is leaning and I still felt safe jumping out and taking pictures. I drove up on a larger rock with the driver front. When I opened the door to get out I realized I would have to jump six feet to the ground to take a picture, so I closed the door and backed off the rock. I figured I could get out, but getting back in would be quite a challenge.

Some pics
This is about 15 minutes from my house

I think the new bump stops are good where they are as they were just contacting in the pictures and still have 2-3" of compression, right with the shocks. Rebound still had about 2-1/4" according to my measuring tape.