Fat Cat's 99 SAS

Well, I finally pulled my head outta my SAS! Now that I have things just about right, I'll post a ton of pictures to show how everything went.

Thanks to everyone who helped me out with my questions and everyone who posted all the info about other SAS projects. This forum is a great place to search and find loads of info.

Engine:
4.0 SOHC

Cooling:
EBAY Transmission cooler
EBAY Power steering cooler
Trans pan tapped for Temp gauge.

Drivetrain:
Atlas 3.8 Transfer case
Custom Drive shafts

Front Axle:
‘75 Bronco Dana 44
Ected locker
Purple Cranium Half cover, diff guard
5.13 Yukon Ring & Pinion
Superior Chrome Molly inner and outer axles.
SuperJoint U-joints
Warn premium manual locking hubs
14" travel 2.0 SAW resi coilovers
Light Racing Hydro Bumpstops
Trail Gear Hydro Assist Ram
1st. gen steering box, tapped for hydro.
CAGE Arms

Rear Axle:
Explorer 8.8 31 spline
Superior Super 8.8 axles
Detroit Locker
5.13 Yukon Ring & Pinion
Stock rotors re-drilled to 5.5
Fox 2.0 resi shocks
Spring-over
McNeil Racing Anti-wrap bar
Mag High tech Diff Cover
Add a Leif.

Tires:
37x12.50 17 MT/R's

Rims:
17x8 Black Pro Comp 7089 Aluminum Rims

Body Mods:
Glass front fenders
EBAY black headlights
Harbor freight roof rack lkights
Pro Comp 130 driving lights
ABS plastic rear windows
Removable vinyl side windows


Body Armor:
Custom Built Bumpers by Renoso Racing Tijuana
Full roll cage By Renoso Racing Tijuana
Under body skid plate and transfer case guard by Renoso Racing Tijuana
Rock Sliders by McNeil Racing Tijuana

Miscellaneous modifications:
Currie Universal AntiRock
Headers
K&M intake
BamaChips tune
MileMarker 9,000 winch
2" wheel spacers


Here it is when we started cutting the IFS stuff off;

The new front axle getting re-worked;

Here is the steering work done by Willy's 4x4 shop in Tijuana. They reinforced the frame and tapped the steering box and mounted everything as well as making a funky custom High Steer arm using a pitman arm, cut, flipped and welded to the knuckle (so good so far);

Some more shots of the work done at Willys and the truck standing on its own to be moved to Renoso's for the cage and hoops;

Over at Renoso's shop we started the bumpers and mocking up all the steering components;

Once everything was lined up we finished the steering stuff and added the coilovers;

After that, we started on the cage. I wanted the cage to be inside the pillars and channels and welded to the body. That way I could hopefully put back most of the stock interior and give myself some extra interior space;

The rear storage and bumpers came next. I wanted to mount the CO2 tank, battery's & spare tire inside, down low, and still have room above for my footlockers for storage. I can fit 3 footlockers inside and 2 more on the roof rack. They are marked; Spares & tools, Camping, kitchen, clothes. Plus a misc. one. I only load the ones I'm going to use on any given adventure

Here is a few of the radius arm mounts, the transfer case cross member, and the skid plate which incorporates a front cross member in front of the oil pan;

OK! that's about it Here are a few shots from my first trip out with the new locker and rear axles. I ran the truck hard to try to find the weak spots and except for being a bit tippy (I'm going to lighten the AntiRock settings) the truck worked great!!!

It was a 2 hour freeway trip to Jacume & the truck was a dream on the road. No wobbles, shaking, or anything unpleasant. It drove like a comfy truck & wheeled like a Hell Raiser!

 

[Blaine122300]

Sweet setup. Any issues with the low pinion D44? Would you have rather gone with a high Pinion?

 

[IZwack]

Awesome !!!

And this is ingenious (chopped pitman arm?), that shop must be great :

 

[Burns]

Man looks good.

 

[section525]

Super sick, indeed!

 

[sn0border88]

get rid of that knuckle as fast as possible

Rick had a similar knuckle setup, I know it broke. Ive seen alot of others that go sour, and steering isnt something you want breaking on the trail.

Im curious, you have a ton of coin in the build of this truck (im betting an easy 12k with shop labor)
and you go ghetto on the steering>

But eh rest of the build looks killer.

 

[FROADER]

Looks great! Truck Haven starts in Oct!!

 

[FAT CAT]

Thanks all! I'm pretty happy with it so far, of course they is still a bunch of little things to finish up with the wiring etc...

get rid of that knuckle as fast as possible

Rick had a similar knuckle setup, I know it broke. Ive seen alot of others that go sour, and steering isnt something you want breaking on the trail.

But eh rest of the build looks killer.

This set up is working good for about 30 jeeps done by Willys shop. I didn't trust it at first, but I've seen them take huge abuse & not break.

Ricks broke when he attached the hydro assit. ram to the drag link instead of the tie rod, which put huge pressure on the knuckle. He has since relocated the ram back to the tie rod which takes a lot of pressure off the knuckle and shares it with the tie rod.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

Very nice stuff- I like the roll cage welded into the body. Did you tie it to the frame? Wheels are cool, too.

 

[j602]

Why not just get a pass side flat top and use a high steer arm?

Also, why did they put an X brace behind the windshield? Seems like a good dash bar would suffice. It looks like that would just hinder your vision.

 

[j602]

Very nice stuff- I like the roll cage welded into the body. Did you tie it to the frame? Wheels are cool, too.

If it doesn't tie into the frame then what's point? A body cage doesn't do ****.

 

[FAT CAT]

Sweet setup. Any issues with the low pinion D44? Would you have rather gone with a high Pinion?

None so far... I have the axle upgraded to the max so we'll see how it holds up.

This build was dictated by wanting to keep my current rear axle as I already had so much invested in it, with all the mounts and all.

If I was starting from scratch, I would use a full width 8.8 or 9" and Hi-pinion Dana 44 for the front.

BUT! since rust never sleeps, the next build up of this truck (2-3 years out) will have Dana 60's front & rear (I already have the axles), 40 - 42 tires, tube front end and tube back after the rear seats (truggy style) with a fuel cell under and storage over, linked rear & all kinds of other good stuff.

I think I like changing my truck as much as I like wheeling it

For now, the only other change I'm making is going to be replacing the Atlas 3.8 with the Atlas 4 speed.

Edit: Cage is linked to the frame with tubes coming up to from the frame bolt to the floor plates. This way, I can take them off if I want to take out the body lift & reattach the frame mounts

 

[MountaineerGreen]

If it doesn't tie into the frame then what's point? A body cage doesn't do ****.

Right- I just didn't see where it tied to the frame.

 

[Brian1]

Looks great. The only 2 things I dont like has already been mentioned - the welded steering knuckle and the x brace in the dash.

I like the rest of the cage. I have seen it done that way before but never on an Explorer.

 

[sn0border88]

Thanks all! I'm pretty happy with it so far, of course they is still a bunch of little things to finish up with the wiring etc...



This set up is working good for about 30 jeeps done by Willys shop. I didn't trust it at first, but I've seen them take huge abuse & not break.

Ricks broke when he attached the hydro assit. ram to the drag link instead of the tie rod, which put huge pressure on the knuckle. He has since relocated the ram back to the tie rod which takes a lot of pressure off the knuckle and shares it with the tie rod.

Uhh, whats the tie rod connected to? The knuckles. The knuckles see any and all force from the tie rod and draglink, plus any force from rocks hitting the tires.

But my point is, why would you buy top dollar eveything, and then use some ghetto rigged steering setup?

 

[IZwack]

I think Rick's setup was welded differently.

This setup (the nature of the process - the booger looking welds) looks like it was cold stick welded (half-inch or so at a time) with a hi-nickle electrode. Of course only time will tell whether or not this will hold up .. but I'm relying on the same type of cast welding on my upper third link (on top of the diff housing) and so far its held up.

BTW CG -- I didn't notice it but I see you were running Maxxis CC I have yet to try mine out on the rocks but were they are good as people say?

 

[sn0border88]

Well, carry a spare one then I guess.

The welds on ricks truck look to be of much better quality, and you can see they didnt penetrate on the cast at all.

 

[Burns]

I thnk that the main bolt or shaft he has here will help some of the stress in all this. I think he will be fine but i have not had that much expericnce in this dept....

 

[colindo94]

I like it, i like it a lot. Nice job

 

[sn0border88]

I thnk that the main bolt or shaft he has here will help some of the stress in all this. I think he will be fine but i have not had that much expericnce in this dept....

Now that I see that, it may last even less. Ricks only saw forces from the draglink, cats will see forces from the tierod and drag link. Ok, im done.