Bkennedy's SAS and Rebuild Thread

[james t]

Lookin' good dude! Glad you got the shocks sorted out.

 

[BKennedy]

Time will tell if they actually hold up. While putting those new reservoirs together, I could see that someone went through them before sending them out. Which, is something they should be doing with all of their products. Funny part was, when I pulled them out of the box, one of the reservoir bodies had not been brushed and was plain, shiny aluminum. Five minutes with a scotch pad and it looked like the other one, but still...

sirhk was right about the valving not effecting the rock crawling, it still allows all the shock travel to be used at slow speeds. No sway, no rocking, very stable. This SAS project went very well, all things considered. I am very happy with the way it drives on all roadway conditions. Just the way it moves over the rocks without leaning or lifting tires gives me confidence I did not have with the TTB.

Matt (Rock Ranger) mentioned before that I would end up trying more difficult stuff after the SAS. It is already proving true; the stuff I did on Thursday would have caused some serious body damage with the old suspension and I would have never attempted it on a solo mission. Besides some brush pinstriping that will wash off, I got away with nothing but a few scratches on the wheels (totally expected which is why I went cheap on them).

 

[BKennedy]

Another question:
On the steering setup from BC Broncos, it came with the large grade 8 washers shown in the picture. BCB is calling them "safety washers". I guess they are in case the heim gets blown out and the washer prevents it from pushing past the nut.

I believe they are causing a little binding at full droop and the one on the pitman arm is bent. It looks like they are not allowing the full use of the hiems and could be putting twisting type pressure on the pitman arm and knuckles. Anybody see a issue with replacing them with some smaller diameter washers or spacers that are the same diameter as the nuts? Or I could put a spacer under the washer to give the hiem more room and still retain the safety washer.

 

[mounty71]

Use high misalignment spacers instead to allow more movement of the heim.

 

[RockRanger]

What Mounty said with the washer and a longer bolt.

Glad you like the solid axle. Are you up for a swamp run or Dusy this summer?

 

[BKennedy]

What Mounty said with the washer and a longer bolt.

Glad you like the solid axle. Are you up for a swamp run or Dusy this summer?

Can't use a longer bolt because I have BCB's tapered bolts. There is a little room that I can fit a small spacer. I think just a little bit more should work for my suspension.
And yes I would like to do a Swamp or Dust trip.

Sent from my XT907 using Forum Runner

 

[RockRanger]

Have a picture of the bent washer? I wouldn't go to a smaller diameter washer. The OD of the washer looks to be larger then the bearing in the joint. I would think that the lager size is what causes it to be a safety washer in case the joints fails it will keep it somewhat contained.

 

[sirhk100]

Without getting some custom machined goodies, I'm drawing a blank there for your issue. Like mentioned above, longer bolt, larger misalignment spacer. Any reason you can't just drill out the hole and get a larger ID misalignment and run a larger bolt that's longer?

Glad to hear it's working good for you now!!!

I just got back from a socal road trip. Picking up these was one of my stops, they may be a bit ugly looking but internally they're 100% brand new. FYI, the shock on the tire will be the front coilover mounted behind the bypass where the solid rod is. It's a 2.5" shock for comparison. The two sitting on the ground will be my rear shocks, the red sway a way will be my coilover. Again, the red shock is a 2.5" shock, probably same size as your FOA's... Just for a reality check of how BIG the bypasses on this truck that I'm building are! LOL

BTW, the front coilovers have an external compression adjuster also!!! You can see the knob at the top on the black cap...

 

[BKennedy]

Wow, shock shock!

The binding is only at the end of the down travel on the passenger side. I will try a small spacer under the washers to give it all a little more room. I took a picture of the bent washer, but the bend is so slight its not visible.

 

[sirhk100]

Can you just grind some of the washer down on one side and index it properly to allow for clearance? That way you'd still have the rest of the larger OD of the washer there in case it ever did let go.

BTW, I don't run a washer or anything like that on any of my stuff... Never have had one come apart. The amount of noise and length of time it takes for them to get so sloppy to come apart is more then enough notice to replace them with any common sense. I guess though it's not impossible to say something freak could happen and have it pull apart as well though.

 

[BKennedy]

Can you just grind some of the washer down on one side and index it properly to allow for clearance? That way you'd still have the rest of the larger OD of the washer there in case it ever did let go.

BTW, I don't run a washer or anything like that on any of my stuff... Never have had one come apart. The amount of noise and length of time it takes for them to get so sloppy to come apart is more then enough notice to replace them with any common sense. I guess though it's not impossible to say something freak could happen and have it pull apart as well though.

If the binding is not solved with a small spacer under the washer, I will get a misalignment spacer and throw the washers in my in vehicle parts storage.

 

[BKennedy]

Fixed the binding issue with the steering. Located some narrow 9/16" spacers in my parts bins that fit. Kept the "safety washers" on top of the spacers. Lots more movement in the rod ends. I had to clearance the castle nuts slightly to get the same sized cotter pins to fit though.

Also trimmed the fenders where the tires were catching. For the rear tires I just slowly beat the bottom of the fender in slightly until I figured it will clear. On the front edge of the front tire well, I cut off some sheet metal, then bent the edge in and sanded it smooth-ish. Then re-painted with some color matched touch up spray paint. Still need to smooth the paint out with rubbing compound, but they came out pretty good (I love white painted vehicles). While I was at it, I smoothed out the rear section of the right-front fender tire well line that was done by someone else. They followed the tire and not the body lines so it was a very obvious trim job.

 

[BKennedy]

More questions:

I am still not happy with the brakes. They function, but the pedal is hard and the brakes really start working about 3/4 of the way through the pedal. I think the rear brakes are taking too much of the load. The front doesn't seem to dive at all when braking hard, and the rear brakes get very hot fast. I am taking the steps others have done and before I purchase a F-150 master cylinder, I bought a proportioning valve. I wanted to mount it at the rear, where the hard line goes to the soft line to the pumpkin. It would be out of the way and easy to get to for adjustment. And, I would only have to add a small piece of hard line to get it installed without messing with the factory lines. Cheap, quick install.

Ok, finally, the question: Does it matter where in the rear brake line the proportioning valve it mounted? I know most people seem to mount them near the master cylinder, but there is already a bunch of stuff there taking up all the space. Opinions??

 

[sirhk100]

I can't say with 100 percent certainty but I don't think it matters where you put it in the line...

 

[gmanpaint]

I have seen them inside the frame rails, tucked out of the way. Pretty safe place to install one.

If you get one with a dial gauge, I would stay away from the axle area all together. Rocks/debris can damage it.

 

[BKennedy]

I can't say with 100 percent certainty but I don't think it matters where you put it in the line...

I don't either, and looking on line, they are mounted all over the place. But, I wanted to be 100% sure.

I have seen them inside the frame rails, tucked out of the way. Pretty safe place to install one.

If you get one with a dial gauge, I would stay away from the axle area all together. Rocks/debris can damage it.

Its just in front of the rear axle and not in line with the tires, inside the frame up near the top of the rear of the gas tank.

The valve is a Summit dial type, no gauge that I got on ebay, NIB for $26.00.

 

[sirhk100]

Coworker of mine is an ex wilwood designer and he said it doesn't matter. Said most people do it up front just for ease of adjustability but basically put it where ever you want between the master and the slave.

 

[BKennedy]

Thanks, got it installed and bled the brakes (again). Bled the heck out of them; both with and without the engine running, gravity bleed, parked the Explorer on my angled drive way and bled them both directions....I don't think there is any air in the lines. Haven't driven it yet because I had to replace the trans pan gasket since it was leaking all over the place.

 

[Kirby N.]

Can't use a longer bolt because I have BCB's tapered bolts. There is a little room that I can fit a small spacer. I think just a little bit more should work for my suspension.
And yes I would like to do a Swamp or Dust trip.

Sent from my XT907 using Forum Runner

I couldn't get enough travel from hiems on my pitman arm. Spidertrax sells misalignment washers for a 3/4" bolt that might help some. I used those. They are like a 1/8" thick bushing.

 

[BKennedy]

Fixed the binding issue with the steering. Located some narrow 9/16" spacers in my parts bins that fit. Kept the "safety washers" on top of the spacers. Lots more movement in the rod ends. I had to clearance the castle nuts slightly to get the same sized cotter pins to fit though.

Thanks, but I think I got it fixed.... I jacked the body up until the limit straps raised the right side of the axle without the steering binding first. But, you never know until you hit the trail. If this doesn't take care of it, I will try the Spydertrax spacers.