Is there an advantage to doing a SAS or TTB besides the SAS would be a D44 ?

dallor for dallor doing a SAS and TTB lift are close. So I am just wondering if I had an older ranger with a TTB would it really be worth it to spend the little bit extra for a SAS even though I am confident in the D35 TTB to hold up to anything I would throw at it and them some.

 

TTB is a small step under SAS as far as articulation I believe. As far as strength, I think a D35 would only handle up to 33s if you've got a locker in the axle. If I were gonna buy a beater Ranger, I'd get a 98-00 4x4 with a 4.0 OHV and solid-axle it with a fullwidth D44 and 9" or full-floater D60. Of course, to me, the experience is a higher priority than cost or difficulty. I think my project would be an 80s toyota with the same axles, flatbed, and exo cage.

 

Earl has a TTB on 35's and he wheels a lot harder then me.

I am asking because my brother has a 94 Ranger and he wants to come get dirty with the rest of us so he might be lifting his truck. So i am trying to figure out if its worth it for him to do a SAS.

 

TTB's are nice, you can run a jeep lift spring and get a lil more flex outta it, heard it can make for a wishy washy ride though... I had a 94 and put 2" lift coils to level my truck out, and it was a PITA to keep aligned.. might been because of the coils... I would think if you have the money for a SAS and a lil extra incase you incur other costs, i'd do it instead... your gonna get added strength and such...

 

well, teh SAS will cost more than a decent TTB lift, and has its advantages too, but if you arent trying to run 38s and doing serious hard core rock crawling thrashing on things a TTB lift is perfectly adequate. as of right now the best quality TTB lift is probly the skyjacker. If done right the TTB lift will ride just as good, if not better than the truck does now as long as you do the steering right. if you want 8+ inchs of lift though then your best bet is to go SAS. If you have the money and feel like doing all the extra work then feel free to go SAS, but a TTB lift can be put in in a few hours, a day at most unless things break of course and you cant find the parts. It really just depends what size tires you want to run and what exactly you are trying to do with it. there are quite a few people running 36-38s on locked D35 TTBs on TRS and they survive fine as long as you use your head when you wheel. one of whom does all rocks and crawling and it manages to survive.

 

Thats basicly what we are thinking. I know Crazzyearl has a D35 TTB with 35's and he wheels a lot harder then I do and he survives. I don't really see a reason to spend the extra money on the SAS for the type of wheeling being done.

 

yea, for the money the skyjacker TTB lift is a great product, and there are different versions depending on what you wanna spend. the extended radius arms are definitly nice if you have the money for the full kit but the drop down brackets and factory radius arms work just as well if you're not trying to get tons of articulation from it. also the TTB lift is very easy to do considering you dont have to setup the steering geometry and trac-bar that a SAS needs and there is a lot less engineering and fab involved. but again, as far as strength, the skyjacker and james duff lifts are top notch.

 

TTB ain't the best for sure but it's usually underated or snubbed at by most folks. No biggie, it's worked for me for years. however, I broke two front axles , one with 38's & the other with 37's when I was giving it more hell than needed. By the way, the front has had a detroit locker in it all that time.

Scroll through the pics HERE to see the kind of wheeling I do.

 

good to see you here Larry, if anyone can stand up for TTB its you. whenever people doubt it and put it down I just think of what you do with and to yours.

 

If you have a ttb stock you can use it. The ranger ttb is good up to 35s, altho some ppl have gone larger ok. a TTB swap would be wierd to be honest. It has some weaknesses that make it not worth stoppin in. But the TTB is not a bad axle really.

Aaron

 

LOL I didn't think a TTB swap was possible if you didn't have it. Yeah my bro's 94 Ranger has a D35 TTB already.

 

Of course ya can man! It's really easy too! Think about it, all you're doing is swapping on a stock axle onto a stock vehicle. Nobody does it tough because SAS is the next step to go from there.

Aaron

 

yea, all it would take swap TTB into another vehicle is to swap the engine crossmember in from a vehicle with TTB, seeing as the engine crossmember is where the TTB attaches and is specific to the TTB vehicles...

 

I like the ttb, but.............................if I had a truck (ifs) that did not have a ttb to begin with & I was looking to do a swap, I'd definetly swap out the ifs for a straight axle setup instead of a ttb setup.

 

the flange style hubs suck **** on the D35 TTBs, otherwise its not to shabby.

 

whats so bad about the hubs? hell compared to the pvh hubs they went to 98 the warn manuals are amazing...

 

any truck that when u take the wheels off the hub comes out with it, is a piece of ****. :-)

 

Wow, I wish I would've known that sooner. Dang, that means I've driving a piece of **** since '97, I'm such a dumba**. I wish you woulda let me know this in '97 cause I never woulda bought one if I knew they were pieces of ****. Hmmm, all this time & I never knew any better. I guess it's time to trade in the gen 3 for a gen 4 or newer so I can can have a 50-50 chance of the hubs locking in when I go wheeling, & have cv joint/halfshaft issues, & torsion bars hanging down getting bent or broken from slamming on rocks, & a low hanging torsion bar crossmember to get caught on rocks. Yup, you convinced me......I'm gonna sell the gen 3 to some unsuspecting fool that doesn't know any better (like I used to be until I got educated today). Thanks for the helpful info

 

Thumper, much of a drama queen, eh? do u feel better now u had ur chance to try to make urself look like a fool? do u wanna prize or something for ur accomplishments? good for u that it works well, i also seen dana 44s live with 44s in mud drags but that doesnt mean it was a good set up.

is that set up strong? sorta. is it a dumb set up? definatly. i seen many stock rigs fubar hubs up somewhere in the flange part that comes off with the wheel. but come on Ford, whats up with that set up, someone in the engineering dept. must have been the night before. the same goes for the 87/88 F150s, cant buy aftermarket hubs for them and the overall set up is silly. its not a strenght issue, its just a stupid set up.

oh and incase u didnt notice, i dont own the ranger.

 

Not doggin what you're sayin but umm, our trucks are nothing like you say. First of all, torsion bars don't get bent or broken slammed on rocks. They're actually really strong. Second, 50/50 chance of 4wd working? What are you talking about. 100/0% chance maybe. It either works or doesn't work, there's no "sometimes work,sometimes not".

Aaron

 

Nah, I'm not doggin' on the torsion bar type Rangers, I was just being a drama queen (to quote optikal illushun) & a smarta**, meant in a joking/kidding kind of way. No hate was intended, he must not have noticed the "roll on floor laughing" smiley. No biggie.......all's good on this end. No offense meant & I apologize for the joking/sarcasm

 

aww, hugs all around!

 

there is actually a pretty simple solution to that issue with the flange style hubs, aside from just getting the retainers that were originally on the studs that held everything on, you can drill a hole in the hub with a tapered seat, then drill a hole in the rotor behind it, tap the hole in the rotor and use a flat headed screw and screw the hub onto the rotor, just a simple little screw, it doesnt hold any load, just keeps the hub held onto the rotor, which if you use a small bead of rtv around the hub before placing on the rotor and then screw it on it will at least seal up that side of hte hub completely, leaving only the inside seals to have to hold up to mud and water and such. then when you need to take the hub off, you just unscrew the one small simple screw and take the hub off.

 

Are you guys saying i could swap a TTB onto my IFS ? That sounds harder then doing a SAS. I would think you would have to cut the lower frame out just like you do on a SAS.

 

No a TTB swap would be hella easy Ben. You jus need to make the crossbrace in the front for hte TTB and then swap it on. It's much simpler because it's all made to fit your vehicle perfectly. And what is this cutting hte lower frame out for SAS? You have to torch off the old suspension but you don't actually cut the frame. There's a crossmember under the engine i believe that has to go. CAn't remember, too lazy to look outside.

Aaron