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Project Green Hornet '01 Sport SAS

I have been at this for a little while now. I haven't really taken any pictures of the steps leading up until now. I am bad about blogging as I do things, so I will take pictures when I think to and if any of you guys have questions or input I will snap pictures along the way. I fabbed the outriggers from scratch. I used the boomerang shackles to give me more clearance around the body mount and give me a littler better ride. The front cross member was made from a 2"x3" rectangle tubing with hangers from ruffstuffspecialties.com. I then bolted it to the frame in a few places as well as used it as a back mounting support for the winch. I made a dimple die to press the clearance holes and add some more strength and make them look better. I opted to use heims instead of using tie rods. I got the teflon lined 5/8 holes with 3/4" shank both for the tie rod as well as the drag link. I plan to use a pitman arm from either an astro van or a jeep wagoneer. The gear box is from a jeep cherokee which is what I got the Dana 30 from. I bought a crossover steering bracket from bluetorchfab.com made specifically for the jeep dana 30/44 axles. This is a great setup which I will transfer over when I find myself a good dana 44 to swap for the dana 30 I got now. The steering shaft is a hybrid of the stock explorer shaft and cherokee shaft. It had to be shortened by about 13-1/2 inches and reinforced for peace of mind. The gear box will be drilled and tapped later for hydro assist when I find a new 44. I am still in the process of re-plumbing the box, but all my fittings should be here this week. When I do the setup for the hydro-assist I will be adding an adjustable relief valve to upgrade the steering pump pressure that I read about somewhere on this site recently. The pitman arm right now is facing to the back and is looking all kinds of hell, but don't worry I plan to flip it to the front. You can see it's got a little of that explorer detroit lean to the driver side that I will have to address at some point. I'm sure there is more to cover that I haven't covered, so just let me know what you think. Be gentle this is my first major project like this. I’m all for constructive criticism, but don’t be a dick. I will grab a bunch more pictures tomorrow in the daylight, but here is a couple teaser pics.
 

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Here are some more pictures.
 

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Nice build so far man. I'll be watching this closely since I have a 2003 Sport Trac and they have the same frontend. Got a couple questions about the steering brackets you made for the upper bar and the choice for the rear shackles.

Got anymore pictures of the brackets and why did you go with the shackles on the rear?
 






The bracket for the steering links were purchased from bluetorchfab.com. It is the crossover steering bracket for Jeep Dana 30/44 Axles.

I chose the boomerang shackles to give me some clearance around the body mounts. The straight may have cleared just fine, but this just gave me peace of mind. I bought them off ebay for like $30 or something like that.
 






the springs are interesting, but did you look at this configuration too ??
this is whet i am going to put under my Ranger,

1010057.jpg
 






Yea I did, but to be honest it was more work and more money than I felt was necessary for the same end effect. The 5 year plan would be to convert to coil-overs with 3/4 link, so I didn't want to spend a ton.
 












Fyi, I don't think you can just flip the pitman arm forwards. If you do, you tires will turn opposite of your steering wheel. Looks good though.
 






That's a good point. I didn't think about that.

Edit: My shop hand crawled under the truck this afternoon and told me I was an idiot and to do it again.
 

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Looks pretty good. You're going to want some stronger d-rings on that front bumper though if you are going to use them as a tow point!
 












While I'm thinking about it, anyone know if there is a kit to reverse the rotation of the steering so that I can flip the pitman instead of remounting/replacing it?

Sorry, the box in question is a power steering saginaw box from a mid 90's jeep cherokee.
 












That is useful information. Thanks. I heard the astro box has the same mounting spread so I will try that first and if that doesn't work, then I will swap internals.
 






I got the back SOA done this weekend. Well mostly. Here's some pictures of the whole truck and how it sits. Now I just need some bigger wheels/tires. i still have that lean to the left to look at. I'm hoping it's just the way it sits in the drive way or something. Right now as it sits:

Front Driver - 41"
Rear Driver - 42"
Front Passenger - 43"
Rear Passenger - 43"

All these measurements are to the fender well, so I am going to take some measurements to the frame and see what I can work out. Any Ideas would help.

Ignore the tape on the doors and fenders. Those are just possible body mods down the line. Just getting a feel for it. Not sure how I feel about it yet or not.
 

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This is what I'm thinking it will look like with new wheels/tires:
 

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Here are some pictures of the steering complete. I switched to an astrovan steering box so that the pitman would face forward and was flat. This weekend I am going to get the front end off the ground and check for any clearance issues.
 

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