1998 Ranger SAS Project

[bobbywalter]

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!

yeah. keep the d35.
oh...my truck is my daily driver too. running 200 plus miles per day with it.

i do not like the eb 44 for cost effective swaps... if you source one that is already upgraded for a good price thats a different story


to me the only logical step up from a d35 ttb was a d60

a 30 is way too small for me, a 44 would have ended the constant fiddling with the alignment headachs though....i was twisting the beams and arms regularly and if good clean parts were still easy to get i would likely still have ttb 35

but i live in the midwest....if i was in fla doing big mud i am sure military axles ad 50 inch tires would be my goals....thats a reason why i dont live in fla btw...


it really is a case of what do you need?




cyber, its nice to see prices and availabilities for sure to get an idea of budgets and locations.

a diy 30 with leafs here can easily be done for under 500 bux with careful shopping

44 is a lil harder as its mostly gm stuff, but if a guy is running a fullsize powertrain its easy and cheap to adapt right or left hand 208/205 t cases to match axles.

 

[CyberTech]

Well we are now cleaning the driver side frame in order to house the steering box (from the jeep). We placed the box up there and it actually lines up with the original Ranger steering which surprised me. We only need to modify it slightly. We cleaned up the frame in order to prep it for the steel which will be welded in place for the steering box to attach to.

 

[CyberTech]

On the other side we had a mount in the way..which we torched but was very careful in selecting where we torched it due to it being part of the actual motor mount. This was on the passenger side of truck.

 

[KELLY88]

Cool swap, looks like it's going well. Where in Florida are you located?

 

[Big Red Ranger]

cant wait to see the end result

 

[CyberTech]

Yeah - Me too.

 

[beaujt]

yeah. keep the d35.
oh...my truck is my daily driver too. running 200 plus miles per day with it.

i do not like the eb 44 for cost effective swaps... if you source one that is already upgraded for a good price thats a different story


to me the only logical step up from a d35 ttb was a d60

a 30 is way too small for me, a 44 would have ended the constant fiddling with the alignment headachs though....i was twisting the beams and arms regularly and if good clean parts were still easy to get i would likely still have ttb 35

but i live in the midwest....if i was in fla doing big mud i am sure military axles ad 50 inch tires would be my goals....thats a reason why i dont live in fla btw...


it really is a case of what do you need?




cyber, its nice to see prices and availabilities for sure to get an idea of budgets and locations.

a diy 30 with leafs here can easily be done for under 500 bux with careful shopping

44 is a lil harder as its mostly gm stuff, but if a guy is running a fullsize powertrain its easy and cheap to adapt right or left hand 208/205 t cases to match axles.

I don't go rock-crawling or anything, just muddin mostly(actually got stuck the other day, was about 2-3" from the frame-rails in the front hahaha)

Thats why i figured the dana 30 would be alright, getting one out of a 95+ plus xj or yj and upgrading the shaft, and converting to manual hubs. BUT i do wanna run 35" tires so i dunno about that? i've heard of guys complaining about em breaking when they run just 33's but i've also heard guys say they run 35's no problem because they don't romp and stomp on the gas. I don't plan on doin any motor swaps or anything, just gonna leave the 4.0L, but i do wanna get about 6-7" suspension lift when i do the SAS so the 35's can clear for the most part.

I did find a rebuilt EB 44 for 1700 w/ disc brakes and 4.88 gears... i have no idea how that is for price or not? i know i've seen most of the housings, just the housing, go for about 500 typically.

 

[CyberTech]

Well, I worked on this thing all weekend. We have all the mounts for the upper and lower radius arms completed. Once we lowered the truck in place over the axle and alighned everything, the clearance on the top of the radius arm bracket mounted on the axle was only about 4" below the engine mount (passenger side). Soooooo....instead of trying to fix what I had using the OEM coil springs I have decided to toss those aside and purchase some SkyJacker Coils that will lift me up 6 inches......let's see how that goes

I eventually want to get rid of the 31" tires and go with 33's.....but that's about as far as I want to go.

 

[CyberTech]

Ok...here are some new pictures.......

The front of the truck lowered onto the axle full weight.....This is where I found that I need to really get new coil springs.

This is the Coil and shock housing......it actually worked out pretty well....

Photo of the upper arm brackets before we welded them together.

Photo of the Lower Arm brackets before they were welded together.

Here are all the parts I have taken off the Ranger

 

[pickuptrucker]

you cut off the whole engine cradle?

 

[Toreadorranger]

you cut off the whole engine cradle?

Thats normal with 98+ trucks.

 

[wohlf 16]

Did you have to do any modification to the jeep axle in order for the coils to line up?

 

[CyberTech]

Actually No. I did not have to do any modifications to the axle itself.

 

[BlackBII]

Looks good man!

Once I get a newer ranger, I will be doing the same thing, keep the pics coming!

What's the bike leaning up against your lift?

 

[dangeranger01]

What's the bike leaning up against your lift?

Truck is coming along good. Looks like a Yamaha R6.