mazdamama's fullwidth 79 f150 sas build

[86ford]

I wouldnt waste any time on a LSD. Trust me ive fiddled with it all (mostly all) and i would just spool the rear. Its not NEARLY as bad as some people like to say it is, and you quickly get used to it. For the front... its up to you. If you are going to run hydro assist i would just weld it personally, if not... spend the money on a locker, but unless its an ARB or other selectable, there isnt much of an advantage of a locker over a spool in my experience. Just depends if you are going to go hydro or not, which I would highly recommend.

You are 100% correct.

86

 

[mazdamama]

allright so i dont think i will be running hydro anytime soon, its in the plans but not the budget right now, and i was wondering if i could drive on the highway with a spooled or welded rear, also i wanted to know if welding the rear just involves welding the carier gears, so if i decide to go with a locker in the end can i just pull the welded carrier out? are aussies, or any of the other lunchbox styles worth considering for the dana 44?

 

[NMB2]

allright so i dont think i will be running hydro anytime soon, its in the plans but not the budget right now, and i was wondering if i could drive on the highway with a spooled or welded rear, also i wanted to know if welding the rear just involves welding the carier gears, so if i decide to go with a locker in the end can i just pull the welded carrier out? are aussies, or any of the other lunchbox styles worth considering for the dana 44?

Not sure whats in your budget but trust me a hydro assist setup is fairly cheap. You can get a Decent assist kit for around $220. thats ram, lines, fittings, rod ends, bolts and tabs. You could literally hydro assist it for the same price range as an aussie locker and just weld it for virtually free.

If that is still out of your price range then here is what i suggest. Driving on the highway with a spooled rear has no problems.. not one. The only time you will notice it is turning, and at high speeds not even so much, mostly low speed turning on pavement or other hard surface. The thing about the 9" rear is its better to spool than weld, welding them is hard due to the closed case.

On the front, as long as you are using locking hubs and not drive slugs, you will have no ill effects of a welded front during street driving, and if you weld it and decide to use a locker later, yes its as simple as swapping the carrier out for a locker.

 

[NMB2]

i just went back and read your first post again, trust me... jump on the hydro. 37's and no hydro in the desert crawling sucks balls. I can show you lots of pics of my pump puking in the desert and my tires not turning.

But with it, you'll turn those 37's like you've got 235/75/15's on it.

 

[mazdamama]

i never got to looking that far into it, but now that you layed down some prices, hydro actually does seem pretty affordable, and necessary. ive heard some people complain about not liking hydro on the road, whats your opinion?
also, wouldnt i need to run something strong like high steer for this setup, because my original plan was to try to run the stock ranger drag link into the hole in the stock dana 44 tie rod, but i really dont know how safe this is and ive only seen people do it with little 35inch tires.

 

[NMB2]

with how cheap, and i realize cheap is a relative term because everyone has a budget, so i will say for about $100-$150 depending on your area, you could buy all the materials needed to do a crossover steering, which would give you a bigger tie rod w/ rod end, bolted to the bottom side of your knuckles, then the drag link will bolt to the top side of the passenger. Then with a good diff cover you can mount the ram parallel with the tie rod.

Here is my take on hydro on the street. Hydro assist on the street there is nothing not to like, you still have the manual linkage for a fail-safe, i dont know what else to say on it.

Full Hydro on the street. I have driven several setups including mine and here is my opinion. There is nothing wrong with it IF done right. I have driven trucks with peiced together hydro where they thought they knew how to match orbitals to rams and ect, and it makes the steering sketchy, it will jerk, not track back to center.. ect. With a nice full hydro setup like mine for example... its different, its weird not to get feedback in the wheel and with 2.25 turns lock to lock its alot more responsive. But its just that, very responsive and it self centers.

People are afraid of blowing lines and not having a fail safe, which is a valid concern except for if you do it right, you have nothing to worry about. A line rated for 6000psi isnt going to blow w/ 2000-2400psi. I just do a PMCS of the truck but mainly the hydro before i drive it, which is easy... does the wheel have pressure? do i see fluid forming around the fittings, are any lines cracked? is there power steering drip marks under the truck. If not... good to go... if so YOU NEED TO FIX IT!. It takes about 30 seconds if not less to look and check for these things, and drip marks on the ground are also a good indicator.

 

[mazdamama]

what pitman arm do you guys think i should use? i have the stock one, a 4 inch lift one and an extreme drop one.

 

[NMB2]

depends what type of steering you go with. if you do the crossover steering like I described you might be able to do the stock arm.

 

[mazdamama]

depends what type of steering you go with. if you do the crossover steering like I described you might be able to do the stock arm.

could you recomend a good hydro assist kit to buy?

 

[NMB2]

could you recomend a good hydro assist kit to buy?

this kit has everything for $219 (you want the 2" x 8")
http://www.trail-gear.com/ram-assist-kits.html

or for a little bit more you can call PSC and peice together all of those parts, I havent done it so im not sure how much more it would be.

the PSC stuff will be faster if you go with a 1.5 x 8 ram and higher quality but if its that much of a difference in price, the trail-gear stuff is still good. Make sure to do the saginaw pump upgrade though.

 

[VICTORHUGO]

Lol

I THINK BEFORE,ONLY THE MEXICAN LIKE THE LINCOLN LOCKER,BUT I SEE IS EVERYBODY LOVE THE LINCOLN LOCKER!!BUT REALLY GUYS,IN THE CURVES THE TIRES MAKE A NOISE,AND DONT FEEL COOL DRIVING FAST IN THE CORNERS


IS MY POINT OF VIEW,I LIKE MORE THE LSD,OR LOCKER,HERE MY JEEPS GUY LIKE THE OX LOCKER ,AND ARB,AND FOR ME IS WASTE THE MONEY THE SPOOL IS MORE CHEAP WELDING THE GEARS!!

 

[mazdamama]

I THINK BEFORE,ONLY THE MEXICAN LIKE THE LINCOLN LOCKER,BUT I SEE IS EVERYBODY LOVE THE LINCOLN LOCKER!!BUT REALLY GUYS,IN THE CURVES THE TIRES MAKE A NOISE,AND DONT FEEL COOL DRIVING FAST IN THE CORNERS


IS MY POINT OF VIEW,I LIKE MORE THE LSD,OR LOCKER,HERE MY JEEPS GUY LIKE THE OX LOCKER ,AND ARB,AND FOR ME IS WASTE THE MONEY THE SPOOL IS MORE CHEAP WELDING THE GEARS!!

i think i will put a spool in the rear, and an aussie locker up front, i know it wont get the most traction but it will probably have better road manners

 

[NMB2]

i think i will put a spool in the rear, and an aussie locker up front, i know it wont get the most traction but it will probably have better road manners

an aussie will fully lock, there is no issue with traction, its just weaker design and money that could be spent elsewhere. On road there will be no difference, because hub are unlocked. When i had my spooled front and regular power steering it sucked balls, horrible manors, poor turning radius, ect. Now with full hydro, you dont even know its a spooled front.

 

[mazdamama]

time for an update!!
ive got the axles in the shop being geared right now, with 5.13's and a detroit in the rear and a lunchbox style upfront.
heres some current pics of things.

cut the leaf pads off with the plasma and ive got a magnetic angle finder for welding them back in the right spot with right angle

how ghetto it looks now with a bunch of crap torn off

did the centers gloss white to go with my two tone look

got the bronco II gas tank

extended the lines and wires

now i just need to figure out how im going to mount the tank in the bed. does anyone know any links to the bronco II gas tank swap. it looks like im gonna have to grind out my rear crossmember near the bumper to clear the tank.
oh, i also got a saginaw pump off of a 72 chevy pickup but now i gotta see if i can even make it work with the right pulley.
im almost done with the custom radius arms.
more pics soon.

 

[Andres629]

Whoa, you're alive! If you figure out that BII tank thing, post up. I had been thinking of the same thing, just never got around to it... haha!