James Duff SAS

[Polo Suafilo]

So I am currently collecting parts to do a 44/9 SAS on my 94 sport. The goal is to build a low COG stable streetable crawler.

The plan is to use the James Duff(JD) Radius arms on the front w/ the full width 44 (79 F150). The axle I have is the cast style knuckle w/ cast wedges and I am unable to move the wedges inside and reuse the standard coil buckets. I have done alot of research over that past couple years but am still unsure about a couple things most of this stems from not being able to view photobucket images anymore. My plan is to use this set up because of my limited fabrication skills.

Does anyone have any gripes about the JD radius arms? So far everyone I have talked to love them.

Does anyone have experience w/ this setup, and can share some advice of what they did for upper/lower coil buckets(photos are very welcomed)? JD has these Coil Buckets (Full Width Axle Offset Coil Buckets 1966-77 Classic Early Ford Bronco) has anyone used them?

 

[BKennedy]

Solid Axle Swap Registry

 

[Polo Suafilo]

I have looked through almost all of those but for many that are relevant to what I am looking into doing the "Curse of the Photobucket" has hit pretty hard.

 

[410Fortune]

the duff coil buckets are setup for early bronco width axle are they not?
With cast wedges you are going to have a tough time making a full width work with their radius arms and coil buckets...things are spaced wrong for a full width axle
I would ask Duff what they think about this setup

 

[BKennedy]

Using full-width axles, you will not be able to purchase off the shelf brackets to make it work. It will work if you narrow the axle to early Bronco width (6" off the long side). That's what I did with my 1976 F150 D44. I used Duff long arms and their brackets for a C channel frame. I went with 14" coil overs instead of coils and shocks.

The axle can be narrowed by cutting the tube and sleeving it with plug welds. That's what I had done, and what most people do. It ends up being stronger than it was originally.

 

[Polo Suafilo]

I have talked with the Duff guys and they say that the Radius Arms they have will work for my application, fingers crossed they are correct. As far as the Coil Buckets I am still working on that, most of the SAS builds I have seen where they do the FW w/ cast wedges will use a piece of square tubing to push the coil buckets to the width they need. The sales guys keep referring me to the "ranger/bii/explorer" SAS coil buckets but like you say they appear to be back in the stock location. I have reached out to the Tech guy at James Duff but he is out of the office this week, so i am hoping he will get to my email. The linked Coil Buckets I posted for are when someone with a early bronco wants to go to FW axles, It spaces them out 2" on each side.

 

[Polo Suafilo]

Check out this image I found from their site. They use the non offset coil buckets and cast wedge 44. It looks like they slide the lower coil retainer over and there is a slight lean in the coil spring.

 

[BKennedy]

I don't think that picture is a full-width axle because their kit is for a early Bronco width axle. Early Bronco axles are 3" wider than the Explorer TTB axles. Full-width is 9" wider than the TTB axle.
Here is a picture of my early Bronco width D44 with the same radius arms.

Another issue with the Duff swap componets is the axle ends up in the same spot as OEM. If you are going with larger tires and have a bunch of articulation, you will need to push the front axle forward at least 1.5" for the larger tires to clear the firewall.

 

[BKennedy]

Another angle

 

[Polo Suafilo]

Good points I will keep researching and see what I can find. I do agree with the problem of them being in the OEM location, I have reached out to there tech guy but haven't heard back yet.