hiridin's dana 30 sas

i'm going to be doing a sas on my 98' Explorer Sport 4x4 its a high pinion dana 30 from an xj that will have the early bronco suspension setup with 5.5" wild horse lift springs. i'm going for about 8" of suspension lift with a combo of spring over, add a leafs and blocks to raise the rear end. it will be riding on 35" Xterrains on 15x10" black rock crawlers with 2.5" bs. so far i've gotten the front end stripped with the exception of cutting off the cross member and shock perches ect. no pics yet but i will be taking them throughout the process and will eventually figure out a way to post them or give a link to them. this should be done in under 3 weeks but who knows could be more or could be less. i'll keep ya'll posted. thanks

 

[hiridin]

thank you soo much for the link thanks for the compliments, it did sit nearly level with the back maybe a .25" higher at the most but the front has started to settle some. but if the rake gets too bad i will use little spacers to get it level again. the good thing about it is that the trac bar and radius arms and everything is adjustable. and whats not adjustable yet is going to be replaced with heim joints and adjustable bars so WHEN something gets out of whack we can easily compensate for it. the final steering setup is different, it was changed some from the pics i have up. but i will show all that next week. a lil flex up front was sacrificed for amazing road manners for what it is. as this is my daily driver weekend warrior vehicle. but it still gets the job done. jus yesterday i got my new/used lengthened driveshaft for my manual 1354 tc. so i'm back to 4wd again. i DO NOT like my Xterrains! there great on road except i hydroplane super scary bad when there is water on the road but i guess thats to be expected with tires this size. i dunno i have nothing to compare them to. but i personaly think they suck in the mud. not as bad as an all terrain but definitely not like my bfg mt's were. i wanted to try something different now i'm sorda stuck with them soo...

 

[Hokie]

What did y'all do to reinforce the frame here? Looks like you cut on helluva chunk out of it before you welded the plate back in.

Also, I'm not an engineer yet, but my mechanical design classes give me the gut instinct that you may want to triangulate this radius arm mount to the frame

I'd recommend welding in some square metal tubing back to the frame (behind the mount) and then welding a piece on the side of the mount on each side. That joint will probably sustain a load going in a line from the front to rear of the vehicle but putting some square behind it will further reinforce it. If you get the front end flexed alot I'd be worried about a transverse load (side to side) bending the mounts. The steel looks plenty strong, but flat steel has very little strength against bending moments (think of walking across a 2"x6" laid flat, it bends... if you make and I beam of 2"x6" s its very sturdy ~ which is why floor joists are made this way)

 

[JoshC]

Those look just like my rear mounts Hokie and i've never had any problems with mine. Not saying you're not right because you can never have to much reinforcment!!!!

Truck looks good man, anxious to see it flexed.

What coil springs did you go with?

 

[hiridin]

as far as the frame notching... its pretty much solidified inside with thick ass angle iron all around and in between. even being notched that much the rest of the frame will bend before it does. that coil buck was also reinforced plenty good. that was a early pic of right after it was first welded, it since has been beefed up. never really thought about the radius arm mounts... guess my dad figured it would be strong enough. but thanks thats definitely something to think about. and its not like it would be hard to do. so i might as well. i went with 5.5" wild horse early bronco lift springs.

 

[hiridin]

ya'll might be a bit dissapointed with flex as its not up to par with most i've seen. not sure y but i don't need limit straps or anything it simply doesn't flex alot. the back ofcourse is fine jus the front. i don't have a ramp but i already tried on the frame machine at the shop. which works jus as good, jus pull a tire on and lift till it looks like it'll fall over. even took pics but like most i took u couldn't see a thing. but no worries i'll be glad to do it again. and take some pics u see. thanks all for the compliments, i LOVE it! except for power... but maybe i jus expecting too much.

 

[Hokie]

Those look just like my rear mounts Hokie and i've never had any problems with mine. Not saying you're not right because you can never have to much reinforcment!!!!

Stupid Mechanical Design 1 class... Last fall when I was designing tow hook drop down brackets I actually had that book out and took a few designs to my professor. Geez I'm a dork Maybe there's a reason I set the curve in the class

I also overbuild the **** outta everything.. You should see the hitch mounted cargo rack that I'm building, I think i could carry a dead moose on it if I wanted too.. lol

 

[hiridin]

took like 10 more pics... with the shops lovely digital camera and got 3 visible ones out of it. borrowed a digi camera from a friend at work and took like 6 or 7 more but he has to load them on his computer at home... he left today for a hunting trip and won't be back till sunday. then he's supposed to e mail the pics so i can get them up. i got some flex pics and the finalized steering setup. but those won't be up untill monday or tuesday.

http://www.cardomain.com/member_pages/view_page.pl?page_id=730638

 

[Positive Vibes]

Looks *****in!!!

So have you taken it out on the trails yet??? I'd like to see how well it flexes.

 

[Doug]

Might want to work on some of those welds, Some of them don't look to good. And your gonna want to work on your steering it's plain scary. But that's just my humble opinion, dont want your isht falling apart driving down the road.

 

[JoshC]

Truck looks really good. Hope you like it.

Doug did have a point about the steering. From the pictures you have this is the one that caught my eye

It may be a very good weld, but trying to turn 35's if very hard on the steering, trust me. Just ask some of the other who have went through SAS, that stuff breaks easy. I would seriously look into getting some DOM tubing and making some solid links and you can get some kind of blocks to weld to the tubing that are made just for steering so you can eliminate that weld you have on there.

Truck does look good though, what kind of coild springs are you using?

 

[hiridin]

the welds in the pics were taken care of... the coil bucket was removed after that pic and moved down some. then fully welded up and reinforced. as were all welds. first it was simply getting everything in position. making sure it worked and then finishing the welding up. as i've said before i had many pics from the beginning but only a few were visible. it jus gives the general idea of what was done. as for the steering... true it never hurts to be beef everything up as much as possible. the center links mounts will be changed and will get heim joints. i feel it'll be a more solid setup. though im fairly confident in what i have. although i wasn't even thinking about how most everyone breaks things even with a good setup. so mine is no exception. and could prolly use more beefing up. my springs are 5.5" early bronco wild horse. i am very happy with it gas mileage sux but i figured it would neways. the trac bar is actually my biggest concern. its adjustable but not heim jointed. its more solid (in a bad way) like a ring with a huge ass bolt in it (something used on tractors). and worked great at first. but its now getting a lil slack in it. the bolt is actually wearing slightly though nowhere near unsafe to use at this time. it screws up the good handling it had. but it will be fixed. and handling will go back to being good. its jus a matter of my dad finding time to help me. joshc yer pic wasn't working but i'm pretty sure i know what caught ya'lls eye. it will be changed. JOSHC yer pic is working now... thats actually not like that anymore. that was changed before i ever drove it. a new pic of how it is will be up monday.

 

[JoshC]

Good, glad you go some things fixed. At least you know what you are talking about and know what we are explaining to you. Some people dive into this not knowing what they are getting into.

How much did you pay for those springs?

Can you get another shot up of you knew position of the coil buckets, i really like your design on that.

 

[NOTAJP]

Looking good.

What gears are you running? You should have a minimum of 4.56s with the 5 speed.

One note: I can't see all of the track bar mount on the frame but you might want to keep an eye on that. That mount takes some serious leverage and a lot of force. Making a track bar mount that won't break is a tough one. I personally don't run a track bar(I'm running leafs) but I've done several SAS's and if anything is going to break, that's where it'll be on a coiled front end.

Can't wait to see the new steering. Cross over (hi steer) with heim joints is the only way to go IMHO.

 

[hiridin]

NEW PICS up. the gears are 4.56's although 4.88's would've worked much better. definetly could use more low end power. but gas mileage is bad and that would prolly make it worse. i bought the springs from a member on here with the front axle and suspension parts and what not. so not sure how much the srpings actually cost. as for the trac bar that personally was/is my biggest concern but will get a different trac bar and new mounts. the final steering setup which will also need to be changed to accomodate heims, doesn't look incredibly strong in the pics even though it is reinforced and welded good and yada yada. i asked my dad about beefing that part up when it was first done but he says it'll hold up fine. sooo... i'm taking his word. and i trust him. let me know what u think. his biggest concern was also the trac bar. this coming weekend will be the first time to do some rockcrawling with it. as long as it doesn't rain. which its not supposed to. otherwise i don't have access to them. so i got my fingers crossed. check out the new pics... got some flex shots up. joshc i'll be sure to get some more pics of the coil setup
http://www.cardomain.com/member_pages/view_page.pl?page_id=730638

 

[hiridin]

well it finally stopped raining long enough for my grandpa's farm to dry up enough for him to let me go out there. its been about 5 months since its gone without rain long enough. i went saturday and sunday. saturday i was only out for like a 1/2 hour before my left radius arm snapped in half and my spring popped out :fire: but it was fun untill then. so my dad had to drive out there with a welder and a jack and welded the radius arm back together and put the spring back in place and straightened the bracket thats supposed to keep the spring from coming out. don't know y or how the radius arm broke. it was made out of hd rollbar tubing. it wasn't even the weld that broke the tubing itself broke. so now the radius arms will be beefed up to prevent that from happening again. i took it out again suday and got to play for a few hours till it got dark. it was a blast got to try it on rocks, mud, water steep uneven dirt hills and gravel. took everything i threw at it. except the mud... i never got stuck and i had plenty power to go through it but the tires don't dig or grip for $hit. walks right up and over big rocks and blah blah blah but not through mud. no pics as i went by myself and couldn't get out and take pics as i was trying everything. slid into thick a$$ branches and lil trees and sticks like 3 times as the incline was so steep going down my back tires lost traction. no body damage i don't think. but covered everything but the lift gate with big ass scratches all down the sides and hood and grille and bumper and roof and now i don't have to worry about scratching it anymore wish i could do it every weekend but its going to rain again this week. so my chances don't look to good. next time i'll try and bring someone so i can get pics of it all. i guess the only problem is that now i don't know what else to try. pretty much tried all i could. after i beef my radius arms up and i go over rocks that'll drag on my radius arms, is that going to be ok? how do others deal with that? thats stopping me from trying a few things. can they handle that if they are strong enough...?

 

[nissanboy]

did you turn your tires all the right direction??

 

[james t]

Most guys use DOM tubing at .120 wall thickness for rollcages. If this is what you used, they will never hold up as a radius arm. What outer diameter is the tubing? Your gonna have to go to a heavy wall thickness especially since your running one tube as the arm. Alot of guys use .250 wall on links and a link wont have as much force on it as a radius arm.


Oh, and to add- Xterrains arent a very good mud tire. They work decent, but they aint gonna dig in or clean out very well.

 

[hiridin]

nissanboy yup i got my tires all the right direction before i ever drove it. and jamest your right they aren't good in mud and i don't know how or why i missed/overlooked that fact when i bought them. kind of an expensive lesson to learn but next time i won't make that mistake. and they aren't absolutely horrible in mud they jus kinda suck. and i spent my tire groover $$$ on a flasher so if i do modify them it won't be for a while. someone want some bad ass xterrains? i'll trade for some cheap no good bfg mt's

 

[hiridin]

finally FINALLY got some more pics of where the frame was notched. joshc i know u wanted to see some. sorry it took sooooo long. there up at my cardomain site. if those aren't exactly what yer looking for let me know...

 

[hiridin]

i jus ordered 4 35x12.50r15 bfg mt's i'll get them in thursday. i'm getting rid of my xterrains! which is good cuz i don't like them. :thumbdwn: