Hi everyone,

I recently bought a 1980 f150 4x4 with the ttb up front. Ive been looking into doing a SAS on this truck. My plan is to use this kit (https://www.skysoffroaddesign.com/co...39612606480450) with a 90's dana 60 and sterling 10.25. I will be using f350 springs. Im just looking to see if anyone has done something similar to this, and maybe could hear some advice/ parts and tools list. Let me know thanks!

 

Not many people do it because the dana 60 is very expensive to buy used, and you will have to go to 8 lug wheels. Very heavy duty running gear for a f150 frame and truck.

 

You might get lucky and find some parts in the salvage yard. Recently, there was an OBS IDIT truck near me that I should have pulled more parts off of. Oh well...

Use this search engine.

http://www.car-part.com/

 

I’m usually up in the OBS section, but noticed this thread today.. I can’t answer specific to your model or year, but I just did a sas last winter on my 96, and rebuilt a D60 out of a 97.

There are two types of locking hubs, auto and manual, each use their own socket. I didn’t have one for auto, had to buy that. I disassembled and was able to reuse pinion, ring gear, and main bearings. I didn’t use a spreader, would be nice, but I got away with out it. I bought materials to build one if needed. From what I’ve read, some get away with it, some don’t.

You’ll need a tool to replace the inner axle seals, or make your own out of threaded rod. The tool is simple though, and sets the depth. Some people play with the depth of setting the seals, if there is a grove on the axle shaft from the old seal.

At the end of the day, I went to the bare axle and replaced everything from the differential outward, I used Dana/Spicer, XRF for steering and bj, Powerstop for brakes. Brakes, all seals, hubs, bearings, ball joint, steering components, axle shafts (new updated outer shafts and outer axle seals) Ujoints, spindles, rebuilt my manual hub locks, etc etc etc. it added up quickly. The D60 are getting older, high miles, and well used. New leafs all around as well. New drive shaft.

If you disassemble the diff it self (it must be disassembled to replace the inner axle seals) make sure you keep track of the shims, and set the pinion nut back exactly where it was, or you’re into a proper gear set up. A beam tq wrench is required to set it up properly. I’d recommend reading through the FSM before doing (or committing) the swap. Lots of you tube videos on it as well and read as many D60 swap / rebuild threads as you can on it.

Looks like Sky gives everything you need in the kit. Steering though, not sure about the pitman arm, or what they do there, assuming they reuse the 350 steering components. I just had a quick look at the link you posted. Something to make sure of.

Make sure you get the LH (drivers) side ubolt plate. Hard to find separately, and easy to loose if you are not disassembling yourself. If you’re buying at a junk yard, take it all, everything.

It wasn’t cheap. I didn’t keep track (haven’t added it up yet), but some guys are saying it was about $5k to buy and rebuild just the D60, wouldn’t surprise me to if even higher now. Torque King is a good web site to use for planning, good parts / tool supplier too, but expensive.

Good luck with the project if you decide to do it,

 

Okay, thanks for all of the suggestions everyone! I'll keep you posted once I get started.

 

I'm now in the parts accumulation process for this project. So far, I've bought the kit I listed above, an adjustable track bar, 5100 shocks, and my axles. I'm going to be doing an OBS f350 axle swap with OBS f350 springs on my 1980 f150. I have bought a ball joint Dana 60 front axle with 4.10's and a sterling rear with 410's.

I actually have a friend who has recently gone through the same swap, so that will be a huge asset to have. Hopefully I can help some folks with their swap in the future, as there isn't a ton of information on this. I'm hoping to get started on this project over the winter as my job slows down a fair bit, so you'll see some updates as the snow starts flying.

Next steps:
- Wait for parts to come in
- Rebuild my new axles and breaks
- Paint axles

I'm anticipating around 4-6 inches of lift with this kit. If anyone knows what kind of tire I can fit under the truck under these circumstances I'd really appreciate the input, thanks!

 

4 inch lift fits 35 inch tire easily. The 35 inch tire is not too bad since you have a 4.10 axle, though it still kills the power of the truck some.