SAS Questions: Planning my Summer

[interscope8]

Ok, I have managed to already pay off my whole first year of college. Im also working full time over the summer and will have plenty of spending money. Ive done some reading on SOA's and SAS's but have a couple questions...

If I do a SAS what kind of axle do you all recommend? Ive heard D44's are a ton more reliable too. Any input on this from you all with ST's?

Also, what is the stock rear axle in a trac? would it be worth while to swap it out with a D44 as well? Im doing all my own welds, just having a mechanic friend help me out with letting me use his shop and a lift and what not. So labor costs aren't there... its just parts.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

Study the hell out of Chad's build or you could just buy his Trac for $7k right now and safe $$$$$$$$ thousands.

 

[rjcooperss396]

I used a Dana 30 for my front but am constantly snapping the front driver’s side axle u-joint. I have a Dana 44 sitting in my garage waiting to go in once I build it up. So I’d say go with a 44 minimum. You have an 8.8 in the rear which is a lot stronger than a 44 so don’t worry about changing the rear axle.

 

[OffTrac]

Having paid my way through undergrad, I'd recommend you have your next year completely funded, $1,000 extra in savings, and then allocate any extra for the SAS. Just my opinion.

Anyway, after you ignore that opinion , the easiest swap is going to be an early Bronco or Wagoneer D44. I think I'm going to hold out for a D60, though. I want to do this job once and I feel like I might get the D44 in there and then wish I had gone with a D60. As for the rear, don't trade down to a D44, but maybe go up to a 9" or a D60/70.

 

[interscope8]

Thanks for all the feedback guys.

Having paid my way through undergrad, I'd recommend you have your next year completely funded, $1,000 extra in savings, and then allocate any extra for the SAS. Just my opinion.

Anyway, after you ignore that opinion , the easiest swap is going to be an early Bronco or Wagoneer D44. I think I'm going to hold out for a D60, though. I want to do this job once and I feel like I might get the D44 in there and then wish I had gone with a D60. As for the rear, don't trade down to a D44, but maybe go up to a 9" or a D60/70.

So far I have this whole year paid off and my next semester is in the bank. Assuming my pay grade for the road company I work for stays the same or gets larger I should be able to hit my 4th semester (winter 2013) and have plenty to do my SAS and a SOA. I'm hitting a full time job for the road company that pays pretty well for a college kid and my current job at a Kroger Grocery on top of that. I'll be working 60+ hours a week for sure.

 

[interscope8]

Also, doing more reading will I lose my abs from swapping a D44 in?? This confuses me haha.

 

[rjcooperss396]

You will loose ABS but that isn't a bad thing if you wheel it a lot. ABS sucks in loose dirt. My truck stops much better offroad without the ABS.

 

[interscope8]

Im not doing a ton of wheeling, and here in IN i feel like ABS is a good thing in the winter any ideas on how I could go about keeping this?

 

[Blake A]

I've been thinking about this too but for $$ reasons i've also been thinking about a coilover conversion. Would it give me any more lift? Any pros or cons? I hate my torsion bars.

 

[rickybobby]

I've been thinking about this too but for $$ reasons i've also been thinking about a coilover conversion. Would it give me any more lift? Any pros or cons? I hate my torsion bars.

you wont gain any lift with coil-overs with stock suspension, but you will have a much better ride, and more control over the suspension. there are better threads to post in about coil-overs. there are several threads speficly addressing them

 

[colintrax]

Keeping the rear abs won't be an issue (obviously) but for the front I'm not sure how the sport tracs work. If it's like my 97 x, then you could just make new brackets to hold the sensor and it should work (get it right the first time with lots of math and measuring or keep modifying till it works)

If rear abs is enough, you could try swapping out the abs system from a 1st gen x. Although someone else might wanna chime in on that. Just a thought

 

[MidnightRebel07]

In the long run it will cost you way more to do the coilover conversion due to parts replacement, tires, etc... It's costly to do an SAS, SOA at first but will pay for itself within the first couple years.

 

[JohnnyO]

A late-model Cherokee D30 is plentiful and will work but is not real strong, as mentioned. An early Bronco D44 is the right width and bolt pattern but only the last two years (76-77) had disc brakes. Since they haven't been made for 35 years they are kinda scarce.

 

[interscope8]

Well, sounds like I just need to hunt for a 76-77 Bronco in the local yards as for the coil over conversion... let me know what you find out because I have been reading a ton about that and just from what people have said on here a SAS and SOA would be the best bet

 

[interscope8]

BUMP

Ok, so being fairly uneducated in all of this, what all would I actually need to part out of a Bronco or Waggy?

From what Ive gathered I'd need some new leaves up front, the axle (duh), but what else? Or even better could someone point me to a thread I maybe havent been through yet?

 

[MidnightRebel07]

If you go with the a Waggy axle get this kit to save a ton of fabrication.

http://www.sky-manufacturing.com/new/detaproduct.php?id=197

In your free time scour throught the SAS build threads to get an idea of which suspension setup you wanna go with.

When I do mine I'll be using Waggy axle and leafsprings.

 

[interscope8]

Mayb Ill wait on ur build and mimic that in mine haha.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

LOL, I'll be pretty much copying Chad's build and taking some hints from other builds in the registry as well.

 

[interscope8]

Well, do the site a favor and make a kick ass build thread with lots of pics!

 

[fla_ex35]

Not to jump in here and step on toes. But i built a 02 edge ant its got a 330 hp. 302 5speed 488's on 35 km2s and the d30 front n 8.8 disk rear. And has been just fine. I built everthing custom with 10" travel bigshocks...if i knew how id post pics of it on here for u to see. And i have all the tabs n brackets on cad. And can email them ..