officially looking into a 4WD conversion!

[01STrunner]

You mean for the front?

 

[LONO100]

I mean for both. I'm sure I will need one for the front, but I'm thinking I will need to source a rear shaft as well to mate with the t case. I'm not sure. I'm going to need to get under some explorers at the junk yard and compare some measurements to my trac.

 

[01STrunner]

I'm pretty sure it'll be shorter because their wheelbase is shorter than ours.

 

[LONO100]

yeah, i figured. im just not sure where i will be able to find a rear driveshaft for a 4WD sport trac.

 

[05dakotatrac]

little heads up a while back you feared trans differences between 2wd and 4wd. from past experiences with both a buddies ranger and my parents gmc 2wd trans have a longer output shaft and the tail housing is usually different one long one sealed on 2wd and a shorter bolt patterned one on 4wd. so output shaft and tail housing might be an issue as for trans gearing its the same from 4 to 2

 

[LONO100]

Yup, i figured as much. So to do this, i will need to source a 4wd donor 2gen explorer, a rear driveshaft specific for a sport trac, and if i go sas, itll be a dana 30, waggy leaf packs, a gen 1 steering box, custom fab parts, and im still not sure what kind of front drive shaft. Sounds like a lot of stuff! If i can keep the cost down to under 3-4 k, i think this will ne a project worth doing.

 

[LONO100]

Ok, so heres another thought that swung the pendulum of sas or irs is the abs issue. If i go sas with a dana 30, is there a way to retain my abs? I was pretty set on going sas, but this issue alone may be enough to sway me toward an irs set up if i cant retain the safety of the abs. Anyone have any advice on this?

 

[mounty71]

That is one pretty significant thing that I was also considering, that not many people do. For a truck that is street driven a lot, I wouldn't want to get rid of ABS, especially in norcal with all the rain we see. I have no idea if you can maintain ABS with a D30, I'm guessing you would need to be able to mount the stock sensor on the knuckle and have a tone ring with the same number of spokes as the stock one...but that's just an assumption.

 

[OffTrac]

You may want to consider long travel considering where you live. There seems to be a trend of go fast/crawlers being built with long travel suspensions. Kind of hybrid off road machines. Check out the trucks being built for King of Hammers.

Of course, bring a dump truck of money, lol.

 

[05dakotatrac]

i bet ABS wont work with out some serious electrical customization. the theory is the same whether individual sensors at the hub or a single sensor on the axel (tracs rear end) they all run on the same concept. the diference is in the programming of the computer.

im not sure of the dana 30 whether it's a single sensor or two sensors. if its two sensors then you can try tapping the wires to the factory wiring and try it out but the tooth count on the ABS ring has to match factory count.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

The man to talk to is Stang5ltgt. he using Dana 30's in most of his SAS's.

 

[LONO100]

Yeah, there are over 5 pick n pulls within 50 miles of my house. This abs issue has really cramped my plans for an SAS. I'm going to pm Chad and mustang and see what their thoughts on the abs issue are. My trac is no longer ny DD and has gone into full toy status, but as much ad it goes off road, it spends maybe twenty times that in miles on road just getting to the trail, not to mention all the snow time it gets, so the abs may be a deal breaker for me on the SAS.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

Search thru the Offroad (especially the SAS section) about the abs issue, everyone has asked this question and depending on what axles you use it can be easy or difficult. I would geuss if you use a newer Dana 30 from a wrangler or better yet a Cherokee that came with abs it should be fairly easy. You're on Jeep forum since you have a Jeep right? I'd ask which would be best for your application.

 

[LONO100]

So after starting this thread and talking to lots and lots of people, I'm leaning toward finding a donor Gen 2 X and converting to am ifs. I just don't want to lose my abs, but I still haven't closed the door on an SAS with a Dana 30. So I've had it suggested to me that I can avoid a lot of electrical mess by going with a manual transfer case. So I'm guessing this would mean punching a hole through the floor for the shifter right? I'm intrigued by this route, especially if I do go sas. Any info, opinions or knowledge on this would be awesome. Thanks fellas.

 

[01STrunner]

I forget who exactly but a few SAS guys have gone with manual t cases. If you look around the SAS registries I'm sure you'll find them.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

There's a couple threads and a how to on doing a manual transfercase swap in the stock and modified 2Gen Ex forum. I may go with a 1354 myself eventually.

 

[LONO100]

Cool, I know what I'll be doing at work today! So 1354 is the manual case? I'll start searching on that.

 

[LONO100]

So I got my Chilton for 91-99 explorers. Would it be worth it to get the Haynes manual as well? And is there a service manual out there that goes specifically into 01-05 sport tracs? If so, which manual is that?

 

[MidnightRebel07]

Don't waste your money on the other Ex manual. They sell both computer software version and paper book version of the '01-05 ST factory manuals on eBay. I have both but hardly ever use them since I can get an answer faster and easier here, google search or on MyST.com. The computer version has all ford trucks and suv's on it as well. I'll see if my wife can make a copy of that and I'll send it out to ya if it can be copied.

 

[01STrunner]

I wouldn't get the Haynes manual either. I have that one but its also for 2nd gen ex's so it'd just be redundant with the Chilton manual you already have.