Sas on the ranger??

[Banger91]

I was hoping you guys could give me some advice. I am looking to rebuild the entire front end of my 91 ford ranger, Upper and lower Ball joints, Wheel bearings, Front pads and rotors, Drums and shoes. So I was going around to some local parts stores and getting an estimate on everything and parts alone came to almost $900 bucks! I went in to a shop and had them estimate how much it would cost to have it all done and with labor it would come to $2100. So I was courious to know if it would be worth rebuilding the whole front end or just swapping it out and doing a SAS?(not sure how difficult they are but I know that all the parts have to be custom made from scratch) So any future advice to what would be the best route to take would be great thanks!

 

[crawlin91]

Welcome to TRS........Well you could SAS it with a d44 from early bronco. Nearly a bolt in swap but really no difference in strength than a dana 35. Unless you have a d28/35 hybrid axle, i think they put em in 91s but mine was a dana 35, there are axle codes in the tech library to help with identifying what your truck has as well. You can use a 31 spline Explorer 8.8 in the rear, just have to relocate the spring and shock mounts.......newer ones have discs, the 91-94 have 10" drums which is still an upgrade from your 27 spline 7.5 that has 9" drums. Or you could always go full width. There are alot of options out there if you dont mind a little cutting and welding. Check out the articles in the tech library.

Daily driver or strictly wheeler? Rocks mud trails? Give us more info and we'll point you in the right direction.

 

[Banger91]

Welcome to TRS........Well you could SAS it with a d44 from early bronco. Nearly a bolt in swap but really no difference in strength than a dana 35. Unless you have a d28/35 hybrid axle, i think they put em in 91s but mine was a dana 35, there are axle codes in the tech library to help with identifying what your truck has as well. You can use a 31 spline Explorer 8.8 in the rear, just have to relocate the spring and shock mounts.......newer ones have discs, the 91-94 have 10" drums which is still an upgrade from your 27 spline 7.5 that has 9" drums. Or you could always go full width. There are alot of options out there if you dont mind a little cutting and welding. Check out the articles in the tech library.

Daily driver or strictly wheeler? Rocks mud trails? Give us more info and we'll point you in the right direction.

Wow, thanks alot crawlin91! Yeah I have a wheeler but this ranger is my Daily Driver, so I take it off road but not very often. I'mjust curious if there is much of an advantage to having a straight axle for just driving it on the street. I plan to swap a 8.8 explorer rear end with the 4:10 gears in but my front end needs to be fixed before it snows. So I was not sure if it would be a good investment to go ahead and spend close to a grand rebuilding the front end, By the way I do not plan on ever selling the truck, but I was wondering if a straight axle would be a better investment. Keep in mind this is just my DD. Thanks for all the help!

Austin

 

[RangerSVT]

A few more detais are needed...What year truck do you have, motor, trans, what size tires are you running and plan to run, how much lift you have/want to have, do you tow and if so, are they heavy or moderate loads??...If you are wanting or planning more than 6 inches of suspension lift now or in the future, I'd go SAS. I have close to 10 inches suspension and from 6 on up alignment is always a constant issue, especially when turning. Strength wise a 44 is only about 15% stronger, and thats due to the knuckles and hubs only. The 44 and 35 share the same size u-joints, your biggest benefit is stronger bearings and hubs and better brakes, and much more stable steering/alignment setup
SVT

 

[dangerranger83]

Ball joints are a PITA to replace, I agree that much but brakes in a ranger arent that hard to replace. I'm not trying to talk you out of a SAS. But if you can do a SAS, you can change brakes, you'll have to do it anyways when you do put a solid axle under your truck. If your wanting to do a SAS before the snow flies, you better hurry up with that.

 

[beaujt]

i did the ball joints in my truck, and they actually weren't too bad(first time doing them). just took some time to make sure i did it right. but if you have a press, that helps out tons! but i don't see how the parts would be 900 unless you're rebuilding the pumpkin too(entirely gears too)? cause i went to napa to redo my trucks front brakes(pads, rotors, calipers) and they came to like 70-80 for the calipers, about 30 for the pads, and like 120-140 for the rotors complete for both sides. and the wheel bears were like 15 a peice with a $3 seal. are you doing the steering too?

 

[Banger91]

yes I'm redoing, Ball joints, front pads and rotors, rear drums, Wheel bearings, seals, tie rod ends and I'm not going to napa They wanted about $400 for everything but I've had issues with them in the past with wrong parts, so I'm not a big napa fan. So I'm going to a local S&H auto parts and they offer lifetime warrenties so I'm getting the best parts from them. ( or most expensive)

 

[Chance]

Are you wanting to sas it just because of cost? Terrible idea. If you were gonna pay someone to rebuild your front end, I will assume that you'd also pay someone to sas it, which will end up costing 4x as much.

I'd just rebuild the front since it's a daily driver.

Or grab another dana35 pig out of an explorer at the jy and throw it at it and hope most everything is still good on it.

There's no point to sas'ing a dd if you already have a trailrig.

 

[NMB2]

I just want to add because i always hear the D35 shafts are just as strong as 44. Thats not true, the U-joint isnt the weak point, the shaft is... and its 1.16" 27spline vs 1.30" 30spline, not to mention the ability to run bling shafts in the 44.

 

[beaujt]

oh dang, sorry about the bad deal with napa. i have had good luck with them on correct parts, just not price usually. as for the lifetime warranties, checkers/schucks/o'reilly, whatever they are called these days. They have lifetime warranties on almost everything and they are typically cheaper than anybody else, and if they aren't, they'll beat the price on other people. but i've had problems with wrong parts or incomplete parts, and on occasion, i ordered parts and didn't get all of them.

 

[4x4junkie]

I just want to add because i always hear the D35 shafts are just as strong as 44. Thats not true, the U-joint isnt the weak point, the shaft is... and its 1.16" 27spline vs 1.30" 30spline, not to mention the ability to run bling shafts in the 44.

You're forgetting the 1.09" neckdown all stock D44 shafts have. The D35's shaft is 1.11" behind the splines. Yeah, not a huge difference but there's still the fact that the u-joint DOES infact fail far more often than the shaft (at least in an offroad environment with a locked differential).

Banger91, try www.rockauto.com for your parts. 4 GOOD quality balljoints is about $110 or so, then whatever the rest is will still likely be cheaper than at a retail chain store.