CP's SAS

Have a long running thread on another site but since the number of offroaders there is very limited I thought I could start one here as a clearing house of my work thus far and questions. I'll be kinda breif...

SPECS (SO FAR):
Dana 44
Ford 9"
3.5" wild horses eb coils
Full spool in rear
open in front, will put a lunchbox in it though
5.13 (d44)
5.14 (9")
will be running 35" tires.

A few pics:

9" bolted in, not the final position, still need to set the pinion angle and weld the perches on.

The evil one has been removed

full size bronco buckets, cut down to stock explorer size. And a test fit of the spring...

Test fit of the buckets, with 2" spacer. Also have had to redrill the lower buckets to bolt in. and a couple of plumb bobs

I'll be replacing the stock sterring components with better parts, 1ton chevy TRE's, tie rod flip, etc.

That is all for now. I am going to weld caps on my spacers this week, and do another test fit. If all looks good i'll drill them for the bolts. Next weekend i'm taking some 2x6x.25 (stupid beefy) back to my parents to use the band saw to cut it up. Going to have to go above the drive shaft with my crossmember, it's also doubling as my RA mount....uhhh mounts haha (I have to outboard them for this axle).

 

[DB_1]

Good job so far, looks like you got it planned out very well

Another option people can go with on the coil buckets when doing this kind of SAS, that is if you have or know with someone with a tube bender, is to make up some hoops ala shock hoop style. Then you could angle them out to where they would be centered over the lower coil mounts on the axle then weld a downtube and a platform with a retainer to hold the coil.
There are enough companies these days fabbing coil mounts/retainers that you could make it work. It would make for very clean looking installation IMO.
Of course you would have to make an engine crossbrace to tie the hoops together to keep them from flexing. Anyways, just throwing out ideas and good luck this build up.

 

[CodePoet]

I've thought about making my own upper bucket mounts. I may do it in the future if I don't like how these are working. Fortunatly these will be bolted on (4 9/16" grade 8 bolts for each side) so I can remove them if I want to build something beter. Mainly want this pig out of the garage haha!

 

[Tbars4]

i'm watching you too...getting some ideas for my way in the future project...

 

[CodePoet]

I got the caps welded on tonight. I'm not going to post a pic of my booger welds though haha. I cut the caps out so that the fit inside the rect. tubing. Not very pretty...but they are what they are...caps to keep crap (crap caps if ya will lol) out of the spacers and rusting them out. btw, 3/16" rect tubing, 7"s long, drives side has a 45* cut to fit around the steering box hump. I'll post some pics tomorrow or sunday once I get them totally finished

 

[CodePoet]

Got the crossmember tacked together and did a test fit tonight. Not the prettiest welds in the world but i'll really be burning them in when I run the final beads...then clean them up with the angle grinder, just can't make an arc look like mig or tig.

 

[Mud Bug 94]

looks like you have tranny clearance issues....i would use like 1-1/2 x 2-1/2 or 3 inchsquare tube...(assuming you are using 2x4) ya know?....i mean the 4.0 isnt the torquiest motor so you dont have to over build it...i like the design tho....but i guess it could also be the pic...good luck tho...

 

[sn0border88]

that looks good to me, it seems more like 2x6 or something.

Spas did sorta the same thing but hers drops away. (I dont know why, but it does for some reason and it makes something easier I just totally forget what)

 

[CodePoet]

I dig what you're saying. In that picture it does look like it's hitting the tranny, it's really not though once it's moved into position. The only reason I went with this material is because I had to outboard my ra mounts, and because of slider posts I wasn't able to go up the frame with my mounts. I figured since it was doing double duty it needed to be abit beefier. I did overbuild the hell out of it though hahaha

Oh and yea...it's 2x6, I don't know why I said 2x4.

 

[CodePoet]

Got the drivers side spacer nearly completed. Just have to get the sleeve welded in now. And get longer bolts haha. Big thanks to my buddy Taxx (Taxxman here) and Gouky from rrorc

 

[CodePoet]

Ok guys, i've nearly finished my bucket spacers (just have to make some caps and weld in the spacers). Anywho...i decided I hate my crossmember, 2x6x.25 is STUPID. I'm redsigning it. Do you think my new idea will work ok?

Quick drawing...i'd absolutely throw a few gussets in and some crosspeices to span the gap. And probably even plate it around the tranny mount. The ends are still the 2x6x.25 but instead of using it all the way across i'd use some sch. 40 pipe. It'll be MUCH lighter and easier to clear the drive shaft with.

 

[dman726749]

Ok guys, i've nearly finished my bucket spacers (just have to make some caps and weld in the spacers). Anywho...i decided I hate my crossmember, 2x6x.25 is STUPID. I'm redsigning it. Do you think my new idea will work ok?

Quick drawing...i'd absolutely throw a few gussets in and some crosspeices to span the gap. And probably even plate it around the tranny mount. The ends are still the 2x6x.25 but instead of using it all the way across i'd use some sch. 40 pipe. It'll be MUCH lighter and easier to clear the drive shaft with.

if you are going to do all that...its going to be as big, bulky and work just as well as what you have...just stick with what you got, it works..beefy as hell, and get that thing out of the garage

 

[CodePoet]

It'll never break i'll give it that LOL

I noticed it was tweaked pretty good tonight when I took it out from under the truck. One of the reasons I dont' like it. Guess I'lljust have to grind the welds out and start over. If all else, i'll use it for mockup. Still hate it though lol

 

[Burns]

So why go with the 3.5 coil? Just got me curious.

 

[CodePoet]

Cause I got them for next to nothing and I'm wanting to keep the total lift around 6"s or under

Mainly cause they were cheap, I've considered (and will continue to do so) a set of taller xj coils though

 

[lifeguard379]

looks good so far. keep it up

 

[CodePoet]

Thanks. I need to cut out one tack weld and straighten the uber member up. Must have been drunk when I tacked it together cause its way off.

I also made my coil buckets removable for the possiblity of running a 5.5" lift spring in the future, all i'd have to do is get a new set of bronco buckets, and make some new spacers...easy

 

[CodePoet]

Figured out why the crossmember was tweaked...it wasn't cut straight. So...anyone have any opinions on my newest idea. I HATE that 2x6 monstrosity and want to eliminate it now. Or just a better idea in general cause this thing isn't going to get a minute more of time time unless it's cutting it appart and using it to make a new one.

couple hours after the above post...here's what I now have (most of the time was me cooling off, i was pissed lol)

I built a new crossmember/ra mount and i'm SOOOOOOO much happier with it!

Simple, no angles to cut, and will easily clear the driveshaft (unless I have 20+ inches down travel...which I aint). It's more sane too as the crossmember portion is 2x4x.187, the .25 was silly.

 

[lifeguard379]

have any pics of it in the truck?

 

[CodePoet]

Not yet...but soon! I had some things to do around the house tonight and don't like working in the garage (power tools) after 8:00pm just to help keep the neighbors from calling the HOA on me lol.