95 Ranger Dana 44 sas help!

[Rangernick8]

Okay guys so this will be my first of im sure many posts!
Im planning on getting rid of the old ttb and swap in a dana 44 and i would appreciate it if i could get a push in the right direction on how to do this!

So i just picked up a high pinion dana 44 out of a 79 f150. Came with steering and new hubs and bearings for $150 so i felt like it was a good deal. Now is where i stop knowing much! Any idea what kind of parts list i need now!
I am brand new to the sas idea and need any help i can get. I use my truck as my daily but would like to have the option to hit a few trails here and there. The biggest tires i want to go to are 35's maybe 36's at the most but i dont want to rub or do any fender cutting. Any idea what kind of coils to get to accomplish that? Another thought was coilovers... anyone have any experience with coilovers on a daily on 35's? I plan on running my 8.8 in the rear still and have a 4 inch lift on now. Im sure i will need to lift the rear some more to level everything out. any ideas on how to do that? I need to know how steering and radius arms will hook up. I will also need suggestions on what gear ratio to pick! Finally last thing i would love to figure out is how to shorten up my new D44 to match up with the width of the 8.8 so it evens out. Any measurements? I hear you can cut it 6 inches to run old bronco axles? Anyone have any experience?

Sorry guys im sure i sound like a mess being my first post and all and im quite anxious! I would love to try to keep the build as cheap as possible! Again any help would be awesome! Thanks guys!
(I will post a better picture soon, this was from the guy i got it from)

 

[bobbywalter]

well.


with your goals i would sell the d44 for a profit and keep the d35, maybe upgrade it with ttb d44 outers and nice springs and arms.

 

[Rangernick8]

I would do that but I definitely like the look of a sas ranger and plan on putting the money into doing that

 

[bobbywalter]

in that case, i would consider staying full width and buying some wide fenders.


i love the full width.

i have rbvs i drive regularly with full width and early bronco axles. full width handles much better, and offers better steering radius using stock parts if you want to run 37-40 inch tires.. with your initial goal of 35-36 in tires the narrowed axle wont be bad and actually very acceptable if you keep lift sane.

but, when you narrow to eb width it places the pumpkin in a position that is almost centered under the k member so you have to cut the hell out of the k member, which is not really a big deal as many just make a custom piece anyway, but the pumpkin limits uptravel and ride height potentials...again usually not a big deal as most want 6-8 inches of lift. you can basically just bolt it in using the sas truck donor parts, but when at eb width it will rub the arms before full lock, requiring custom work to the oem arms or custom arms altogether.

i like to stay as low and wide as possible, but thats a personal choice.

so, in the general using a full width axle, running it forward of oem wheel base centerline 1-2 inches, custom coil buckets or even stock coil buckets you can bolt your axle in using standard 79 parts and a few selected duff parts...and custom adjustable drag/trac bar links.

this part

http://www.dufftuff.com/SAS_Track_Bar_Bracket_Bronco_II_Ranger_Explorer_p/5410.htm



and a call to dan from ruff stuff for trac bar and your steering drag links make putting that axle a bolt in deal rather cheap and easy.

it wont be perfect but its a solid start. i have done this many ways, bt before these awesome aftermarket products were available.


between ruff stuff and duff you can buy awesome radius arms and bracketry/steering that makes the swap quite easy even for the novus.

 

[dirtcowboy]

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/narrowing_a_ford_dana44.shtml