Time for A sas

[MikeyFord3]

hey guys,
just wanted to let you know that im finally gathering all my parts together for my dana 30 sas on my 1988 ranger. Im getting them slowly, but im getting there Let me know if im forgetting anything or if you have any suggestions that would help me out and make this swap better.(besides going to a dana 44)

so far i have a
complete dana 30 off a 97 Cherokee
ford 8.8
4:10 gearing already in both axles
stock jeep steering
im using the buckets off the Cherokee for coils and shocks
6 inch jeep coils
universal track bar mount from poly performance
now for the radius arms, i am either buying stock early f150 radius arms. I was wondering if there was anyway you could use the ttb radius arms on the axle maybe fab something up to make them fit? idk yet..

im not sure about the whole driveshaft and transfer case thing still doing some research....

if everything goes to plan.... ill be starting the swap right after i graduate high school. Thats about june, i have nothing else better to do but work on the truck and this way i know it will be getting done and wont keep gettin delayed and pushed back .

 

[Shran]

Get the F150 radius arms and the weld on wedges. TTB radius arms would require a lot of work and probably not be worth it.

 

[alaskan155]

or some t and t custom/ rusty"s off road cherokee long arms(can use factory brackrey on dana 30

 

[MikeyFord3]

yeah i was just thinking about making a bracket that has the coil perches on it connect the ttb arms on but idkk... if anyone has a extra set of radius arms let me know id like to buy them..

 

[machinist]

so this weekend i was at a bog, a guy was running a dana 30 in a newer blazer with 36s. snapped the rightside axle shaft, fixed it. got to play for about another half hour until he snapped the left side shaft. iv never been so unimpressed

 

[MikeyFord3]

yeah, well i mean im 18 years old and , still in school and working part time. Im on a lower budget then most of the people doing the sas on the forum. Im getting the dana 30 axle complete with steering and 6 inch coils for free from a buddy, he has a whole bunch of extra jeep parts laying around and helped me out. The dana 30 is better then what i do have on the truck now (D28) and i was just going to put a lift on that and 35's... dumb idea..I would love to do a dana 44 swap but dont have the money and all the 44's around where im at are all full length and if there not they want a arm and a leg for them...

 

[alpinestar]

its all good. i just got done doing a dana 30 swap in my '89 bronco II and they can run 35" tires just fine if your not planning on doing hardcore beating on your truck. my buddy is running brand new 36" Iroks and still hasnt broken his front dana 30 and both him and i have railed the shit out of that truck. there not as bad as people talk them up to be, their just not as desired and dependable as a dana 44 if you plan on running anything bigger than 35 or 36" tall tires.

thats my 2 cents. if you wanna see how mine turned out heres the link. i dont really have good pics of the build process but i can give you any advice ya need.
http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45947&page=1

 

[MikeyFord3]

Yeah i was following the thread when you were posting. It turned out pretty good, congrats.Yeah my buddy has a jeep with 35's and beats the living crap out of the thing hasn't broken anything in the front axle yet . The only thing he broke was the rear spider gears so we just got used ones and welded the rear up. HA turned out pretty good..
Another reason im picking the dana 30 is because it seems to be the easiest. The Cherokee axle is already set up for coils so i shouldn't have to worry about the camber or pinon angles. It seems like a pretty straight forward swap, something i could do in a weekend or so. I mean just take of the old ttb axle put the solid on.. The only fab i'll really have to do is the track bar mount and the radius arm mounts with the transmission cross member. That doesnt seem to hard at all..

 

[alpinestar]

eh its not that hard if you research before you start screwin shit up... i would definitly make sure your radius arms are either far in enough that your tires wont rub them or but a bend in them. its pretty common i see people who's wide tires will rub while turning and or flexed out.

 

[MikeyFord3]

i might just end up doing a leaf sas becuase i have a dana 30 from a wrangler he thought it was the one from the cherokee but he already used it and now its set up for leafs.. so now i guess its back to the drawling board for me have to see how to mount the leafs and stuff

 

[alpinestar]

post a pic of the axle for me.. does it have the crossover steering still? and is it spring over or under? if you want i can take some close pics of my leaf front setup and you can see how it works. and you've seen how it flexes so theres no doubt there.. its still got more too btw, need tall objects and 4wd lol.. but anyways get some pics of what your workin with and i can help you with whatever...

 

[MikeyFord3]

id have to get the axle from my buddy.The axle is from a 89 wrangler everything is stock from the axle. The gearing is 4:10. The axle is spring under. It's the stock wrangler steering..i guess its the cross over steering?idk now that im thinking about doing it this way...would building this with leafs be cheaper then doing the coils?

 

[alpinestar]

hmmm sounds like a good deal. well its cheaper if you can get everything for a good price. whats he want for the axle? what can you get for springs? and the perches and shackles and hangers? price it all out... but most of the time leafs is cheaper than coils. you can get more leaf flex for the price than you can to get good flex out of coils. i recommend 4" wrangler springs from rustys. and you can use that stock jeep steering. works good too, only thing i may need in the future would be a Z shaped drag link.

 

[MikeyFord3]

well my gear ratio is 3.73 so it kinda sucks to get a 4 10 front axle. i want to do the sas like asap before the summer comes up becuase thats all we do is wheel like ever day. There is this place we call silica. its a bunch of blue holes but all around them are like mudd boggs, huge hills, and water crossings. its a really big place there i think four or five blue holes and we call them pit one, pit two exc...I guess if i cant do the solid axle right now, i will just have to get a lift and run 33's on the D 28

 

[alpinestar]

4.10 is better tho you just need to find an 8.8 out of an explorer with 4.10's... and just start gettin all your parts together... you'll be happy to have a straight axle. and it took me 6 days to do mine, you got plenty of time.