97 ranger SAS questions.
 

one of these days im going to SAS my truck,when i get the money.
i want to keep 5 on 4.5 so im going to have to figure out a way to use an axle out of a jeep(d30 i think).

i really don't care about axle strength.
will a jeep axle work without any mods?

i mainly need to know if the axle will fit under the truck and match up with the spring buckets, i can work out the steering myself.

what year/model jeeps, etc should i keep an eye out for?
i looked for EB's and i couldn't find any 76-77's in any of the local junkyards.

I concur,

http://www.getbent4x4.com/uploaded_i...oll-704417.gif

wtf?!!?

lol you guys are crazy.

A d30 is just about the right width. It's got the right bolt pattern too. I can't make any promises that coil buckets will line up properly though. It would be strong enough to hold up to 35s unlocked/unwheeled and 33s locked/wheeled.

How are you going to mount the axle? Obviously coils... but radius arms? Link suspension? Long-arms like zabeard? You'll likely have to cut off all the old stuff and make your own spring retainers, brackets, shock mounts, etc.

Kyle. TJ or YJ =] If I remember correctly, a YJ has a high pinion leaf sprung D30 with some type of air actuated hubs possibly. And A TJ is low pinion coil sprung blah blah.


And also, Zach Beard is running 35s locked on his, with some (at points) hard offroad situations. 33s unlocked is just nice and safe.

i dont think his truck has seen "hard"..
but thats just me.

i have seen locked with 37s pushed kinda hard on a D30.. but he coulda given it some more and probably broke something


but if your planning on keeping that 2.3, a d30 would probably hold up to 37s :icon16:, unless you get some low ass gearing

I think he once dropped his truck into something like a 3 foot deep hole, and had to beat on it to get it out. There's a thread somewhere. I know technically it'd not rock climbing, but it's showing that some force had to be applied to get it out, and the truck stood up to a bit of beating.

yeah, i think im just going to cut everything off a jeep, im not sure what i need tho.

btw, i only want like, 4" of lift so i can run 33's.

plus my truck is on the street most of the time, i just want to make it 4wd.
that way i can attempt to keep up when i go offroading.

yea, it should stand up to the occasional beating, but not hard, very frequently

then your going to get addicted, and want bigger tires, so your going to need bigger axles yada yada yada, you might as well start off with a D44 :rambo:

I guess. But it's not like your(or mine) axle is bigger than it, and we manage to thrash them on 35s. I'm personally of the feeling that if you're a careful offroader who doesn't use as much skinny pedal as possible that you will be fine.

I want to SAS my truck but unfortunately I don't have a garage to do mine in. So for now it may never be a reality.

A TJ D44 front might be a good choice, though I heard the axle tubes aren't very thick. Maybe get a Waggy D44 and use the knuckes off of a TJ D44 or '70s Dodge PU (maybe the later model ones have the 5 on 4.5 bolt pattern)

this has been explained before. The Rubicon D44 is not a Real D44. it is a bastard D44 center section with Dana30 tubes and outers. The outers off of it will not fit any other Dana 44.

The dodge pickup has weak Unit bearings, and is not a good swap.

It had a CAD system on the passenger side axle shaft. The hubs them selves are like the ranger live axle system, always engaged.

figure out the width of your current coil buckets. I will tell you what the width of the coil mounts on the D30 is.

oh and the comments about the D30, depends on how you use it, but i bet its no weaker than the stock ranger diff and CVs. not to mention I have about twice as much suspension travel as you do.

you can poke fun, and whatever about me using a D30, but the fact is I did the SAS, with a front driveshaft and completed it to be drivable in 3 weeks.

just a thought.

how about getting one from a older wrangler with leaf springs?

that we can fab in very easy, and could be made coils down the road

If you do go that route you can run a TJ axle shaft to replace that goofy two piece shaft they have and just make a block off plate for where the actuator was.

why tho, i already have coil buckets, it would be easier to use an axle with coil springs then to go all out with leaf springs.

zach, how do you want me to measure the buckets?

Uhh duh!

Measure center of coil buckets to eachother, on the ranger.

Measure fron center of coil buckets to eachother on jeep.


Voila.

well i didn't know that, now i do.

Damn straight you do!

Your only cool if it takes you over 2 years to do an SAS....

We'll wait until the SAS is done to claim it "to do an SAS" Right now you're just hacking up your truck.

your project is more than a SAS, its like a new truck, new design. lol

Front, rear, engine, who knows what else