SAS "Betsy" 1-ton

[jjaganashi]

Update:
I got the truck to th driveshaft shop saturday. He only worked till noon so he go the rear finished(was bolting it in when i came back). have to pick up the front today..
I drove the truck on the trailer to load it up!!!! (first time in 2 years it moved under its own power)
Got home, backed it off the trailer, and like any good craftsmen would do, i had to test it... i backed up a little so i could pull in the yard, reved it to 5500 and dumped the clutch in first.. i must say that the 40's with 5:38 gears is an awsome combo.. smokes them bad boys with ease!

so i pulled it up to the shop and we did some axle squaring and centering front and rear and did an at home alignment.. double checked all hardware and welds and started test driving it..
originaly i thought the lower rear crossmember was a weak and bad design.. It was true. i could feel it flexing while running it in the pasture, pulling back up to the shop i goosed it a little and snap.. twisted the crossmember like it wasnt even there.. yesterday i cut everything out, rebuilt a much stonger and better crossmember and did some 4 link tube strengthening.
to day after work, i will re-center and square the rear up and continue test driving.. i also changed the caster angle some because the truck is haveing a bad "road walk" to it.. i hope it helps
other than that it runs great and with the tire/gear combo, seems to have close to factory power.. my only issue is i no longer have the rear diff vss sensor so i have no speedometer... i have to adress that somehow soon...

 

[brnbomr]

for all you people that are going to comment on how the back sits higher than the front. just think how much crap you need to bring when in the BC. extra parts,food,water,tools,your crap, a ton of beer, ext...


truck looks good!

 

[jjaganashi]

for all you people that are going to comment on how the back sits higher than the front. just think how much crap you need to bring when in the BC. extra parts,food,water,tools,your crap, a ton of beer, ext...
truck looks good!

I took care of that problem yesterday.. i said since i saw it the first time at ride height it was too tall and did have a foward rake to it which i wasnt fond of. last night i decided to adress the "wandering" issues it was haveing with the front so i looked up the specs of the deisel the axles came from. the caster and toe were way out of whack.. so i set the caster at +4degrees(spec is between +3.5 and +5), then i adjusted the toe to dead zero(spec is 0 with tolerance of +/- .25 degrees)
the road wandering vanished and it drove great..
then i decided to go ahead and get it lowered, i dropped it 7" front and 8" rear..
now the truck looks about right and the rear is about .5" lower than the front, im happy with it, it took the frame height from 38" to 30.25" which is closer to what i was going for..
Today when i get home, i have to move the front axle back 1.75" to re-align the coils and ill start testing and taking pictures.

 

[Torqueranger]

Update:

originaly i thought the lower rear crossmember was a weak and bad design.. It was true. i could feel it flexing while running it in the pasture, pulling back up to the shop i goosed it a little and snap.. twisted the crossmember like it wasnt even there.. yesterday i cut everything out, rebuilt a much stonger and better crossmember and did some 4 link tube strengthening.

I knew it was coming because there was too much rotation force being applied with no support ... I would love to see your new design and see what you came up with ..

 

[jjaganashi]

ill take some pics this afternoon, i went back to an original design with a one piece solid crossmember clearanced for the driveshaft.. then braced the h3ll out of it..

 

[Juggernaut31]

JJ, first awesome build!!! speed? no problem. usually GPS, is with 1-2 MPH of even a calibrated speedo. problem solved. also thanks for the post on my beginning build. the Info was a lot of help.!!

 

[jjaganashi]

JJ, first awesome build!!! speed? no problem. usually GPS, is with 1-2 MPH of even a calibrated speedo. problem solved. also thanks for the post on my beginning build. the Info was a lot of help.!!

No problem man, thats why were all here.. to learn as much, and to help as much as we can.

i didnt think about my navigation for a speedo. Great ideah, it will definatly work for now..
i will probably end up going with an autometer 4" electronic speedometer and modify it to take the place of the factory gauge.

 

[Kazer]

Don't know if you have an Android, but when i went from 29's to 35's i just used a free app called Speedometer HUD on my phone

 

[jjaganashi]

New Update: WOOHOOO!!!
She lives! Did a little bit of changing.. moved the passenger single arm up to the top hole on the axle to provide extra support for the caster bar on the driverside.. Changed the "feel" of the driving quite a bit.. Because of dropping it 7" front 8" rear, i shifted the axle back to center and relocated the upper shock mounts to accomadate the drop.. it was too dark last night so i didnt do anything crazy but i did go drive it around the block a few times(stage 1 testing), it drives and handles great, that 3.Slow V6 with the 5:38 gears and 40's is a nice combo in my opinion, it pulls good. Downloaded a speedometer app and ran my navigation on speed mode and got the truck up to 45 with no issues at all.. i was suprised the speedo app was right on with the navigation..
So this afternoon when i get home and its daylight, ill take a bunch of pictures and get some (stage 2 testing) action shots!

 

[Juggernaut31]

Great Glad to hear she's motor-vating!!

 

[jjaganashi]

Had me some fun yesterday...
Heres the new trans crossmember to clear front shaft.

And the new lower rear 4 link mounts.

And some sexy flexy! Here she sits on a 40" tall gooseneck!!!

[/QUOTE]

Thats it for now... im gonna beat the crap out of it this afternoon and see whats gonna break first.. Got to find the weak link before the 15th...

 

[Dweeberman]

It's so pretty.....

 

[jjaganashi]

Definatly looks better with a little bit of brown splashed up on it..

 

[GRNMACHINE]

Very Cool Build! Subscribin'

 

[MidnightRebel07]

Looks great man. I plan on doing a full exxo and cage bed on my Sport Trac similair to your's and DB1's. Started builing up the front Dana 44 for my SAS. Can't wait to get rid of the IFS !!!

 

[jjaganashi]

Had a little fun this weekend.. Problem was that it started storming... so flexing and going slow turned into bogging and romping on it...
it was fun either way..

 

[Dweeberman]

How did your sealed toolbox hold up? Snorkel working as planned?? Looks so much fun! I just get to dream while here at work lol

 

[jjaganashi]

Tool box is spotless on the inside..
Snorkel worked wonderfully, i pulled the filter and checked.. no water or mud..
She did damn good in the mud and was doing damn good in the rocks.. i made gas money while i was out there, pulled like 6 trucks out at 20 bucks a truck..
im very pleased with how she turned out and handles offroad..

i do got to get the bed plated though, everything back there is covered with mud, even my wakeboard speakers were covered in slime and just kept on playin..
some friends took some videos but it was dark and all you see is all of my lights on..

 

[Dweeberman]

Awesome to hear! Glad the toolbox worked as planned.

that is hilarious how you made money lol...i think you may have found a part time job

 

[jjaganashi]

Heck yea, i have some door stickers i had made that say "OOPS, Offroad Recovery" and my number under it..
around where im at, i get called by friends all the time asking to come pull people out..