what to look for in a SAS?

[matthurd]

i may have an opportunity to buy a truck that has already been swapped. it's a v8 and has the bw4406 swapped in, already running on 35's, which is what i wanted. winch bumper too. if it's done right, it will be a huge cost saving to me compared to modifying the explorer i already own, and that's not even factoring in the cost of the SAS. i'm just comparing it to transfer case, regearing, bumper, and lifting. already puts me at the cost of the new truck. and it's about 50k less miles than mine.

so obviously this seems great. but the guy did it himself, and i'm not sure what i need to know before i waste a ton of money.

 

[SWIGIN]

I'd post some pictures of what your unsure about.

 

[RangerX]

Does it belong to anyone from this forum?

 

[matthurd]

Does it belong to anyone from this forum?

not to my knowledge, i looked through the SAS registry and didn't see it. and i feel like he'd have mentioned it if he documented the build.

[MENTION=277199]SWIGIN[/MENTION], i know literally nothing about SAS'd vehicles the explorer was my fitst car, and I've bought and sold 2 more in favor of it. so i know nothing of solid axle vehicles in general.

 

[2TimingTom]

Post pictures.

It's a can of worms that can have issues. Is it going to be a daily driver? While I could daily drive mine, I'm really glad I don't.

What kinda of suspension? Leaf spring or coil? 3 link or 4? Does it have a front sway bar? What axle? Has the axle been stiffened up? What axle shafts? What kind of steering? What kind of gearing? LSD or locker?

Have you driven it? How well does it turn tight (like parking lot tight)?

I had my SAS built for me. Since then I've been chasing wobbles from small to the dreaded death wobble. I've changed the springs for significantly stiffer ones. The driveshafts have been revisited on several occasions for one reason or another. Right now everything is sorted out and it seems to be running great.