1998 Ranger SAS Project

[CyberTech]

Ok. This looks like a good place to post the progress on my 1998 Ranger SAS. First off.....the 1998 Ranger XLT 4X4 hates to be lifted....you might as well save the money on the lift and replace your front end.....well I'm in the middle of doing so now. I'm planning on doing a Coil Spring SAS instead of the easier leaf spring assembly. Why? B'cuz I found the perfect axle.
I found a 1990 Jeep Cherokee Dana 30 axle. Yeah it's not as beefy but I'm not rock crawling in Florida...nor mud bogging....I'm just hunting in the forest and the IFS on the ranger SUX!

Parts I have gathered:
Jeep Dana 30 axle w/ everything
Both upper and lower control arms (believe it or not they will fit)
All steering still intact on the axle
Steering gear box
Coil Springs (OEM) from the same Jeep
Brand new bushings (upper and lower) - Yes replace them.
A Posi-Lock for the axle (to replace the vacuum crap)
4 X 4 sheet of 1/4" regular steel
6' long 1 1/2" wide by 1/4" thick flat bar
A 10" long piece of 1/4" thick round pipe 6" in diameter. (yeah I'll get to this)

Now - to put all this together and prep the ranger for surgery........ (Although I'm in the middle of piecing all this together it is already about 75% complete....I'll post pics as well.) We are in the welding stage.

 

[CyberTech]

A few pics of the beginning

Here are some pics of the beginning of preperation....

It's been torched!

Making sure it fits and leveled (for measuring purposes later)

 

[CyberTech]

Preperation Work

We torched everything dangling from the bottom of the front frame. I kept things intact on top because most can be utilized later for stability. We made a template from aluminum in order to custom make the Upper Coil Spring and Shock mount which will be welded to the frame. This part is finished and actually now tacked on to the frame - pics will come later. The alignment from the top where the coil fits in to the bottom where it attaches to the axle is almost perfect.....I was even impressed. Cutting out the steel with a torch of all the braces and brackets we need to make was the biggest part of the preperation. I cleaned the crap out of the frame where all this is being welded. the rest is just piecing together and placing the truck onto the axle.

The picture here shows the template sitting on the tire....

 

[beaujt]

Hey after you get all that done, you should put up how much ya spent, total... and maybe even how long it took ya, i'm thinkin of doin the same thing, with the dana 30, except i might a leaf-spring instead :/ I'm tired of all the TTB/IFS crap on my 93, and i'm not too crazy with my off-roading haha

 

[CyberTech]

Well, I have every thing needed (unless it is unexpected) to complete this project......as it sits right now, I have $1053.54 parts....total.....not including the people that have assisted me with labor. You will be cheaper going with a leaf spring project instead of the Coil/Shock combo. Mine is nothing fancy...it is 99% OEM parts. If that total changes.....I'll post it. The most costly parts at this point were the front axle and the metal. With construction projects in Florida, the price of metal/steel, etc..is very high.

 

[bobbywalter]

yup though i would not have used that axle as the later units are better, i would do that before wasting money on a sla lift kit

 

[CyberTech]

Yeah, your right in the fact of that model Dana 30 on the 90 Jeep Cherokee's. They changed everything in like 1992 and made them better. But, the parts for this axle came at a decent price. I couldn't pass it up.....the axle itself wa in excellent condition. The only $$ I had to put in it was to better it for my situation.

 

[CyberTech]

3/3/09 progress

Truck on the lift ready to put everything together

Driver Side Custom built Coil/Shock upper mount...

Close up of Passenger Side Custom built Coil/Shock upper mount....

 

[CyberTech]

We went ahead and replaced all the bushings in upper/lower control arms and on the axle. Once the axle is in place we will mount the brackets to hold control arms in place.

I forgot to mention but the drive shaft will have to come out....it was about 1" shy of actually bolting on.

 

[beaujt]

I've got a 93 ranger, i'm not sure if the 98 has the same suspension or not... i thought they do but as you custom-built the top end of the coil springs, i was wondering if they do? I want to keep coil springs, as i think they have more articulation, and it would ride better, and i heard the springs would fit on the rangers stock perches for the springs and what not. We've got a lot of scrap metal around back home! so the metal won't be too bad to come by, and i'm figuring about goin to spaldings and gettin the whole front axle with everything, or pull n save back home, i figure i'd spend about 500 if i did that.

How much does the dana 30 affect the stock ride height? I was reading around hear it was about 3" higher than stock just by doin the SAS... wondering if that was true? Ya got any tips on how to do it? haha i'm 19 and prolly be doin it myself, my older bro might help... maybe... but i'm not a retard at welding but i would like to keep everything bolt on, i just don't trust welds enough.

Oh, i'm almost forgot... you took the vacuum assembly off the dana 30 and put in all the manual stuff right? how difficult was that? I figure i'll be getting the axle this summer, and upgrading it this summer, while i'm home, then next summer, when i'm home, putting it in... as im in college right now too.

 

[bobbywalter]

i wouldnt swap a good d35 for a 30.


but i wouldnt think twice of putting a 30on a 2wd or sla truck

 

[beaujt]

bobbywalter do ya have any suggestions for an axle swap then? Kinda on a budget and can't afford the EB 44, but i can definitely buy the axle and assembly, and work on getting everything together to do the axle swap. As my truck is my current DD i kinda have to keep the width the same as the ranger

I've heard the wagoneer has the dn 44 about the same width but it seems to be difficult to get a hold of!

 

[cappin90]

im just glad someone is documenting a sas swap on a 98... how much have you spent so far??

 

[CyberTech]

I'm not real sure on the front suspension of the 1993 models...I thought they already had some type of Coil spring setup. I do know they totally re-engineered everything in the 1998 and 1999......specifically the sucky IFS suspension (with torsion bars) YUK! If you do a SAS in the ranger and it has a Coil spring setup already...utilize that as much as you can.
I do agree with bobbywalter in that if you are going to do a SAS project...make sure you engineer it to fit your needs. If you are doing a lot of hard core mudding or rock climbing then yes...go with a D44 or something strong. My D30 for this project fits all the needs and all the parts are available. When I first researched this project I started looking for an older model Bronco (late 70's) to get the axle out of....unfortuanlety they are very hard to come by where I live. I actually got lucky and found one a guy had in his yard down in Perry, FL (about 4 hr drive for me) and he wanted WAAAYYYY to much money. The reason for that was because he was in the Mudding Capital of Florida....he knew if somone wanted it that they would pay top dollar....as for me....I don't think so.

Now, there is several pieces I had to cut off the truck in order for the Dana 30 axle to fit properly and have decent ride height....but it wasn't a show stopper or anything.

The 90's Jeep axle I got was anolder model that had the Vacuum crap to lock the axle....for about $90 I took care of that with a posi-lock system which bolted on in about 15 minutes....no biggy.

Now - what will really throw you for a loop is in my list above I said I have the stock OEM Coils that came out of the Jeep.....after some measuring from a 96 Jeep Cherokee we had in the yard we fabricated the shock/coil bracket to sit where it is shown in the picture in order to still give me a 4" lift without getting new coil springs. It actually worked really really well.....I was surprised. And very stout little setup I might add.

If you notice in the picture above on the fabricated coil/shock mount you will see that large 6" in diameter pipe I listed in my parts list....we cut that down and the coil fits perfectly inside it....this way it doesn't slip out for any reason....yeah it might be overkill but it makes me feel better if anything.

 

[CyberTech]

Although I listed above that I have over $1050 bucks in this project already.....it does include filling up the gas bottles to torch out the metal, welding rods, bushings, posi-lock setup and even a few receipts where we ate at McDonalds <Laugh>.....So yeah - it can be done for maybe a grand depending on where you get your parts.....most of the parts came from our local salvage yard called Pick N Pull.......but you had to labor it your self and they would not allow torches, battery drving equipment, etc.... at all....so if it could be unbolted and hauled off you could have it......they were a little on the pricy side (I think). I bought the complete axle itself for about $190.00. The steering gear box (off the same truck the axle came from) was about $60....just to give you an idea.....None of this includes labor as I have good friends that love doing this stuff and have helped me for cigs, sodas and an occasional outing at a fast food restraunt.