Old member first time posting. My SAS.

[rjcooperss396]

Nice fab work as usual man. Glad to see you're still around.

Thanks and I'm still around. I don't plan on getting rid of the truck anytime soon since it does everything I want it to and my wife still loves it.

Are you still running the welded on high steer arm? Have you had any issues with it?

Still running it and I haven't had any issues so far even with 5 years of wheeling with it.

 

[Styx]

Great build love the rear bumper and tire carrier...

Cheers...

 

[Dbowling19]

I have a 2001 sport trac 2wd and I was wanting to convert it to 4wd, is there any size front axle I could put in it? What size would fit or could I get one off a junk yard truck?

 

[Dbowling19]

Great build love the rear bumper and tire carrier...

Cheers...

I have a 2001 sport trac and wanting to convert it to 2wd to 4wd is there a straight axle size I could use or maybe get one off an older explorer with a straight axle on it?

 

[rjcooperss396]

I used a Dana 30 off a Jeep Cherokee for mine. It is 1.5 inches wider than the factory width of the Explorer if I remember correctly and I moved it 1.5 inches forward so that the 33s I planned to run would have the same clearance from the fender as the 31s I was running had.

 

[Stanced_Explorer]

could you post a picture of the steering box installed? thanks.

 

[rjcooperss396]

could you post a picture of the steering box installed? thanks.

I don't have any of the box installed but I do have some from when I had to modify the bracket for the V8 swap.

The bracket in the old position.

The hole in the frame.

The piece I removed.

0

Welded in place.

 

[rjcooperss396]

I've wanted to build a roof rack with a mount for a LED light bar for a while now. While talking to my nephew a couple weeks ago he told me that he had a bunch of 1 inch square tube that I can have plus a 40 inch light bar so I decided now is the time to build one.

I searched online to get an idea of what I wanted to build and found that most people using square tubing just did squared off corners which I didn't like. Instead I cut 2 inch pieces at 22.5 degrees to give it a 45 degrees corner. I also made it 4 inches tall because I didn't like the way 6 or even 5 inch tall racks look.

I started out by measuring the roof and decided to make the rack 83 inches long and 42 inches wide. Then I drew it out on my garage floor so that I could lay the tubing out to weld it.

Once I had the frame welded I cut the cross braces and welded those on.

After that I removed the old rails from the truck and cut plates to roof to seal the holes from the old inserts. I welded those on and painted the roof. I taped off the tops so that I had clean metal to weld to.

I then set the base on the roof, spaced it up from the roof and then cut down bars to weld to the plates.

After that I welded the top frame together and cut the tube to connect the top and bottom.

 

[rjcooperss396]

Then I made the base for the light bar and painted the rack.

I test fitted it with the light mounted and decided I didn't like how high the light sat with the way I had the mounts. So I cut them off and lowered them. I also added aluminum sheet under the light to keep it from glaring off the window.

I was ready to weld the rack to the roof when my brother convinced me to make it a bolt-on so that if I ever need to remove it I can. So I cut out some tabs to weld to the roof plates and then painted them.

 

[rjcooperss396]

Then I bolted it on and ran the wiring.

 

[Styx]

Well that suck's none of the pictures show up for me...

 

[rjcooperss396]

How about today? They are all on my photobucket and I heard they went down yesterday.

 

[Fish Man]

pics show up for me and they are !! I wanted a "wow" emoji, that one says eek...what I'm trying to say is the rack, rear bumper, and fab work are sick!!

 

[rjcooperss396]

Thanks.

 

[Dofter]

Did your Exploder not have a rack and pinion steering system? I have a rack and pinion on my 99 Mountaineer and looking to SAS, but I need to know how to make the steering work.

 

[rjcooperss396]

Yes, mine had rack and pinion. I used a steering box from a first gen Explorer when I did mine but I don't like the ratio. I heard the F150 is better but a friend gave me the Explorer one for free so that's what I used. My steering wheel take four turns lock to lock.

 

[WormsExplorer]

The Pictures of Steering Box are still not showing up. I am now seriously thinking of doing the same SAS as you did here. Love the look of your Explorer.

 

[rjcooperss396]

Sorry about the pictures. They are on my Photobucket account so no one can see them anymore. I'll see if I can find the originals and then upload them somewhere else.

 

[WormsExplorer]

Just wondering if you figured out the pictures.

 

[KurtECV]

If youre using firefox and a few extensions they will show up, at least about 80% of them.