MyNameIsAric's 98 FULL width SAS

I will keep this first post updated with my progress so people don't have to weed through all the boring crap associated with these buildup threads.
So far I have:

Front axle:
Dana 60 35 spline kingpin high pinion from a 79 f-250/350
detroit locker
dedenbear knuckles
5.38 gears
alloy usa shafts
longfield u-joints
warn hubs (should have went with drive flanges)
high steer arms with full hydraulic steering

Steering:
2x8 double ended cylinder from surpluscenter.com
steering valve out of an old forklift
misc. hoses and fittings from surpluscenter.com

Rear axle:
Dana 60 30 spline low pinion from a 79 f-250/350 (should have went with a 14 bolt)
full spool
5.38 gears
Disk brake conversion

Tires/wheels:
16.5" hummer h1 8 bolt double beadlocks recentered with custom stazworks centers.
36x12.50 wrangler rt II 6 ply military bias tires(sucky but cheap)

Things I need still:
new rims and tires and hopefully she wont shake so bad at 60mph.


Got axles

Got a new truck so i can dismantle the explorer and tow it around when i'm done.
Welded Diff covers

Rear axle almost done

Front axle almost done

Rear axle under truck

Welding up rear driveshaft (yes, it is square)

Machined parts for the upper control arms

Made coil buckets

Made lower control links

Mocking up Front axle and welded up hydraulic ram mount.

Got myself a forklift orbital for my hydraulic steering

welded on lower control arm mounts

Dropped the front IFS

Sent it to the scrap yard

IFS gone

Front axle starting to go in.

off jackstands

Took out the A/C system and cruise control. Also removed ABS brake controller, but I ended up having to put it back in later for the speedo to work.

Mounted new/slightly larger fluid reservoir for the hydro system.

Mounted the stock power steering cooler for the hydro system

Got this mounted in the engine bay where the A/C junk used to be

Had to chop down this thing first though.

Made some tie rods out of 100% grade A beef.

Installed hydraulic ram and tie rods.

View of the filter, and you can see the high pressure hose running from the pump down to the steering valve.

This is how i connected the stock steering wheel to the steering valve. 3/8" swivel

Better view of the steering valve.

Poor planning caused track bar issues

Made a new track bar bracket

Cut off first track bar bracket

Plated for good measure

Welded on new track bar bracket. Still had minor interference so i move the axle forward another 1/2"
Also started putting on shocks.

Tacked a tone ring to the rear d60 carrier

Reinstalled tone ring sensor so i can get speedometer back

blah blah blah tidied things up and poof.... an explorer that can only go 55mph now. If you have questions, just ask or PM me.

 

[mynameisaric]

Got my clarke180EN. Put it together. Just needed a plug to go into the outlet(i don't think sticking wires into a socket is safe). Also found out i need this little thing that costs 13.97 shipped from sears.com to plug the gas tube into my current regulator, or i could buy the regulator kit from Sears or Menards for $70.... Anyway, put it together and it welds amazing. Wouldnt think it is an off brand at all. I need to play with the settings. I'm burning a little hot and the slag isn't falling off right, but that is my problem and not the welders. Also layed down some beads with my arc machine setup for Tig. i was happy with them. I was going to do some patch panels to fix some nasty rust spots, but 22 ga. is a little too thin for my abilities and/or welder. i will be ordering knuckles, gears, lockers, tomorow from a pirate vender. Getting kingpin rebuilds, coils from jeffsbronco.....com and mostly everything else will be from napa.

ITS TIME TO GET IT ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :exporange :exporange :exporange :exporange

 

[rookieshooter]

I like your enthusiasm for the project. Don't forget to let that welder rest a little between welds.
I was saving receipts at first on my project then trashed them. Took up too much space. HA HA. It was all the zillion little things.

 

[mynameisaric]

gettin closer

Well this week I got alot of parts in. I still have alot of parts left to get. Mostly little things like heims, johnny joints, steering box etc.

What i do have so far are my dedenbear knuckles(bling bling), 5.38 r&p's, install kits, kingpin rebuilds, front and rear rotors and calipers. So as i said before, i have been totaling the expense and right now i sit at $4,031.19... That includes both sets of axles, rims, tires and the parts mentioned above. Does not include the welder as i figured I need one of those anyway. To keep myself busy in the mean time, i have been cutting out rust and replacing it with new sheet metal. It is now officially a 10 foot truck (only looks good from 10 feet away.)

 

[j602]

Weld that biotch up in the front. If you do it right it'll be just strong as a spool and will do the same thing. Just unlock a hub if you need to make a tight turn.

Patch looks pretty good.

 

[mynameisaric]

I got a detroit for the front and a spool for the rear.

 

[j602]

Neither. Get the Cage's.

 

[RFR2212]

I've got wild horses on my bronco. They do pretty good. However I hear the Cage are a bit flexier, and haven't heard a think bad about 'em on the EB forum

 

[mynameisaric]

Well, i went with the cage coils. picked up a 94 xploder steering box, also got the coil buckets off of it, but when i go home, i realized those arent what everyone else is using, but oh well. I'll tear them apart and fab something homemade up. I'm still waiting for a reply from the guy that is suppost to regear my axles. He has a good reputation, i just only have one way to contact him. He is probably busy or maybe he is ignoring me. So i'm begining to look elsewhere. I've come to the realization that this swap may not happen this summer. If i can pay back what i owe to my parents, then maybe i can get my 250 so i can tear the explorer apart and still have something to drive. I'm not going to waste my time/money on a cheap lil car. So i have to see if i can afford a 250/350 anytime soon and i may be able to do the swap in the fall. The summer is not over yet so i still may yet get it done. In the mean time, i have been cleaning up and painting.

Other projects i've done so far are my exhaust and my mom's leaf springs. My stock exhaust decided to disintegrate recently, so i took the cheapest possible route and welded on some glass packs. They sound good at idle and high rpms.... i mean REALLY good. But between 2500-3500 they fill the cab with a nice exhaust hum and makes something rattle in the top right corner of my dash.

My mom's leafs have been needing replacement for about 2 years now. Toooo many car trips with the truck wayyy overloaded.

 

[mynameisaric]

dropped off the axles to get regeared today. should have them back in less than a week hopefully.

 

[mynameisaric]

I have a question.... I decided to start working on these axles again. I had a short stint where i wanted a sports car for some reason and put my truck on the backburner...... i duno what i was thinking...... anyway.

I was setting up the kingpins.... and i forgot how they came apart. so tell me if this is the correct order please. The dana 60 exploded views i see online are too grainy to make out the small parts.

Edit: Nevermind, it is the correct order. This writeup on pirate4x4 was muchos nachos el grande helpful. http://pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/PR-Kingpin/index.html

 

[mynameisaric]

for my high steer arms, can i get longer bolts? or do i need double ended studs. I can't find 1/2-20 double ended studs anywhere and they are $30 for a set of 4 online. Napa has 1/2-20 double ended studs, but they are 1/2-13 on the other side.

 

['97 V8]

buy the set online. Your driver side studs should be long enough, however they will most likely be too big for the hole in the arm. I drilled mine out on a drill press with a 9/16'' bit. They fit great now over the studs. Also, the seal you are using is the wrong one. You need to use the the one with no lip.

 

[mynameisaric]

the seal is the same one billavista used in his writeup and he said nothing bad came of using it.... we'll see.

What do you mean about my studs being too big for the hole in the arm? I'm taking my high steer arms to school today to locate and drill the 5th hole for the dedenbears, and i'm going to taper the holes so i can use acorn nuts. I got my arms off ebay for $110 i think. they already have the chevy tre taper in them, thats why i picked em(and the price) but i want the 5th hole and i want to use acorn nuts for better load dispersion.

I'm going to sandblast the paint off of them too so that the surfaces mate better.

What do you guys think of using a grade8 bolt and cutting the head off? it'll be an all threaded stud, rather than having a shoulder which is better for shear, but with the acorn nuts, and metal on metal contact (no paint), it should make the friction hold better, taking alot of the shear force away... it makes sense in my head anyway.

 

[sn0border88]

studs are not bolts, bolts are not studs. There are reasons for that.

 

[mynameisaric]

Finally got off my lazy bum (my fri/sat class ended actually) So i started to put together my rims. I only got 2 out of 5 done. Pics below. i plan to have all 5 professionally sand blasted and maybe primered when i'm done welding them up. No telling what they would look like up here in the salt belt after a season.

 

[j602]

looks good! welds aren't too bad either. looks like stick?

 

[mynameisaric]

looks good! welds aren't too bad either. looks like stick?

flux core

 

[j602]

eh. i hate flux core. i'm too friggin' lazy to go get an argon bottle.

 

[mynameisaric]

I like dual shield the best. it leaves some SEXY beads and the slag just falls right off. flux core is alright. pretty comparable to stick. If i had 75/25 mix, i would have MIGd them.

 

[mynameisaric]

well i got warn 35 spline hubs, alloy shafts(35 spline), reid racing studs for the high steer arms, longfield u-joints... and i think thats about it. my welding hoood apparently doesnt like being left in the garage when it is 10 degrees outside.... the damn thing cracked and half of it doesnt auto-tint anymore. luckily its under warranty and i'll be getting that replaced and maybe get a bottle so i can finish my rims. i'm thinking a thermal dynamics cutmaster 39 might be in my future... and i broke a zerk fitting on my longfield u-joint. so i need a new cap. a class i've had on mon & weed will be over soon so i'll have a little mroe time to work on this project. like locating and drilling the 5th hole in my high steer arms. finishing my rims, aquiring tube, cutting and fabbing brackets, aquiring a new form of transportation, getting a higher paying job to pay for all of this... did i forget anything?