Zhanx's SAS - HP Dana 44 on 37's thread

[zhanx]

Todays bugs.

Fixed a clunk up front. Dont let little guys tighten bolts. the only boly my buddy put in for me was the upper trac bar bolts.. and it was loose.

Realigned wheel its where its suppose to be !!!!. Need to find something to take out the little bit of slop in the steering from cutting down the shaft. The plastic bushing broken in pieces when i took it off to reuse it.

Installed front drive shaft so i wont lose the bolts and straps etc.. while moving. Wish my rear fit like it does. I got 3" of slip yoke left on it.

Double checked everything for tightness and all that good stuff. When on a long drive. 100 miles later everything is kosher.

Added up total cost of my SAS.

825 - not bad considering i sold the old front end for 200 so my out of pocket was 625.. But i got a lot of free stuff that helped out a lot on the price.

I"ll have more in to it once i get gears and my axle shaft shortened.

 

[JoshC]

Wow that is a cheap SAS!!! But the gears are going to about double that unless you are installing those yourself.

 

[zhanx]

and josh it was spread out over almost 1-1/2 - two years.. so it seemed cheaper for me. it would have be more to fix then to go ahead and SAS it.

Yea I know the gears are gonna hurt. Hopefully I can get them in july but i dont think they be set up till like oct - nov. Plus it will be another 100 for the shaft and another 100 for misc stuff, then u-joints and thinking 400 for setup at least.. so I'll be done with about 1500-1600 .. about the price of the superlift kit and the same about the same amount of lift as the superlift and a T&T. without the issues and alot more flex. Its amazing how more it dropped when i took off the body lift.

Mount the rear bumper and finished painting it... Now its sexy..

 

[zhanx]

Ok got yet another freebie. Steering Stabiliezer..Seems you can't mount on a sammywith no power steering and steer it.. especailly when you buy the super duty one.

so after he chucked it at me. and said here you can have this many swear word thing. I fab'ed up mounts and It's nice. no more bump and wandering steering. Just need to clean up the slop in it..

 

[zhanx]

need to redo the trac bar. At full Stuff it just bearly hits the pitman arm.. It ok cuase its the really only ugly peice up front.. since i cut it beveled and sleeved it. A solid peice will look better..

Driveshaft is now lengthed in the rear.

Total is 665 - 20 for steel and 20 for welding rod.

 

[zhanx]

Couple of pics

off the deck at the in-laws house next to a full size 79 bronco with 4" of lift and 35"s

need to get another 37" on of them was junk. So i have no spare right now.

better pics to come.

 

[zhanx]

Replaced my getto steering stabilizer with a BDS one for a 79 ford bronco. Too bad the shop only had one shock and i have to wait for the other.... still handles better than my getto temp job.

Starting staring at my suspension to mount dual shocks all the way around.. didn't need them with 33"s but with 37" i do. The last of my 4wd drive parts will be in soon. Got my open carrier, spider gears and install kit today.. too bad the kit was missing the side bearings for the carrier.. still waiting on my axle shaft to get back and gears to come in. Picked up cheapo brute force u-joints rather break those then and axle shaft.

 

[zainyD]

Picked up cheapo brute force u-joints rather break those then and axle shaft.

I know you don't want to snap axle shafts, but take those Brute Force joints back and get some Spicer 760's. Those Brute Force joints are garbage. The caps on them are junk. The Spicer units are much stronger and will last longer to. Why leave yourself stranded with broken u-joints when you don't have to?

 

[zhanx]

zainyd. i have a bench vise as part of my trail gear. So I can change it out on the trail.

Stranded is just a state of mind or lack of tools.

 

[mynameisaric]

I heard when u-joints go, it usually axles with it. i don't know if that is what zainy was trying to get at or not. I've heard alot of stories of u-joints going and taking the axle shaft with it because of the cap stretching and warping the ear that surrounds it. thus welding caps helps delay but not stop that event from happening. take all that with a grain of salt though. Its just what my little mind is telling me to type from crap i'm recalling on the internet. And i know nothing about brute force u-joints, so i couldnt tell you one way or the other on those.

edit: i agree with your statement about being stranded though.

 

[zhanx]

aric they are cheapo joints.. i still have time to switch.. and spicer joints arnt that much more.. i should use hub fuses. that would solve all of this.

 

[james t]

The hub fuses suck and dont work out as planned. As said, usually when a ujoint goes in a front shaft it takes the ears with it. Just throw some spicers in it and be done.

 

[sn0border88]

its funny, because I just saw a 10 bolt brute force u-joint explode and took the short side and stub shafts with it.

but this was waiting to happen, welded 10 bolt's f/r with 39's and a big block.

 

[zainyD]

zainyd. i have a bench vise as part of my trail gear. So I can change it out on the trail.

Stranded is just a state of mind or lack of tools.

I agree with you on that, but 9 times out of 10 if you blow up a u-joint you're gonna take some other stuff with it. Why take the unnecessary risk. To me you're a lot better off spending a few extra dollars for good joints, but do what you want.

I used Brute Force joints the first time around because I didn't know any better. Just trying to help somebody else avoid the same mistake I made.

 

[zhanx]

I agree with you on that, but 9 times out of 10 if you blow up a u-joint you're gonna take some other stuff with it. Why take the unnecessary risk. To me you're a lot better off spending a few extra dollars for good joints, but do what you want.

I used Brute Force joints the first time around because I didn't know any better. Just trying to help somebody else avoid the same mistake I made.

true.. i was thinking of making the weak link there. but may have to reconsider. Maybe i'll put a 5 dollar u-joint at the pinion and just carry and extra one. Either way i kept the reciept. and dont want to kill an axle shaft, i'd rather break a 5$ part first. Cause we all know stuff breaks. Either way It will be an open diff for now. Since I have a year in korea it will sit.

 

[zhanx]

well its Finished after 2 years!

I finally slaped the front axle together, since the shop that was suppose to do it while i was gone never even touched it.

I took it out last night and wheeled it like i stole it till about 4 am

I got a couple of issues now... Fuel line leak, and a bad bushing and you can see the other one in pics

http://www.zhanx.net/main/pics/4x4/

It great.

 

[IZwack]

Glistening as always, good job baby boy!
Now get some action shots instead of showing us your parking skills :

 

[zhanx]

Glistening as always, good job baby boy!
Now get some action shots instead of showing us your parking skills :

last night was all night wheelin bad time to try an get a photo

 

[zhanx]

12 hours of fun where to start, oh yea my crappy welding allowed my steering box to rip off the frame. Mind you i just hopped in to drive it to storage, yea not so much.

So after calling a buddy getting a truck and trailer at 7 am, which amazed me he was up at that time and willing to help. He was wondering tho why i decided to move my x at 6 am instead of a normal hour. anyways i digress.

So at the machine shop. Used 5/16 plate to make a bracket. After measuring for width and frame width i bend a 90 degree angle on the top to match the frame. Then added a small piece to the top with gussets for the last mounting hole. 2 shims for the pump and bam! 20 pounds of bracket later the steering box is a pita to install some aint right... 4 trys and 2 hours later i realized the shim was flipped the wrong way. 10 minutes later its in and being welded up. After i buttoned everything up, filled it and watched the fluid pour out of the high pressure line. I tried everything including turning a custom bushing on the lathe. so now i am gonna have to get a new custom line.

Anyone know the fitting on the 2000 ford explorer high pressure line? so i can order the right one to mate to my f150 steering box?

 

[IZwack]

Your Explorer's line's should mate up to the F-150 box -- they should both be 18mm.