I have a question. Normally when a person does a SAS the usually go with a larger amount of lift, right? how much lift do the people that do it usually end up with?

The thing is, I like my dads 79 F150 with a solid axle, and after having trouble with my TTB (95 F150) such as bent passengers side axle housing and radius arm (the passengers side shaft still rubs slightly where it goes through the housing) I want to do a SAS, but I dont want a bunch of lift, I would only want about 4 inches. is this possible?

anyone have any information on this? Thanks

 

you can most def. make it 4" of lift, just find a d44 from a late 70's model ford, and just get some 4" radius arms drop brakets, get some 4" lift springs from the same model as the axle, IFS springs are different, and use the older style radius arms and your in business.

 

If I was doing this swap, I would find an axle that was already set up for coils like the one under your dads 79'. Then I would consider buying a 4" kit that included radius arms, and brackets that mount them to the frame. ( for the 79)
If the rise in the frame from the under the cab to the mounting point of the spring bucket on both trucks, are equal, or close to the same, everything may just bolt right up. That would be simple. Now the big question. Is the 95 F150 front output shaft located on the same side as the earlier Ford? If no, then you will have to find an axle from a different vehicle with the diff on the pass. side. (I just do not know where it is located on the 95 F150. probably common knowledge, but I dunno!) Then brackets will have to be added for the radius arms, and springs, but even that is not all that difficult.

 

output shaft should be same, i have heard of lots of people using these year of front axles, although his is in the process of a restore, so I cant jack his! I know that there are other people that have done this swap, I just need to know if things work with a smaller lift than most, I have heard problems with angles of shafts and steering components anyone have anymore info?

also, thanks for the previous posted info guys!

 

I didn't suggest that you jack pops for the axle. LOL, you are gonna need him when you get stuck.
The lower, the better for all angles involved. Your driveline will like it, and the radius arms will like it, and even the steering will like it. Heak we have talked about it so much, I like it! Might go out and buy a 95, just so I can do the swap myself. O.K. I am getting a little crazy, but you get the idea. Good luck on the swap, should look sweet.

 

You will end up with a minimum of 6" of lift to clear the factroy crossmeber with a solid axle. I've done it with 2 vehicles now, and any less than that isn't going to work without doing some seirous modificatuons to that crossmember.

 

Both of the following links should help you out. All four wheel drive Fords have the front driveshaft on the left side of the truck. The reason you need to lift the front of your truck for the SAS is so that the axle will clear the engine crossmember in the 80 and up trucks. The ideal axle for your swap would be from a late 70's F150 or Bronco. Back to your original question I believe a 4inch lift is the minimum required for the swap. Good luck with your decision.

http://www.ford-trucks.com/article/i...1995_F150.html

www.fullsizebroncocom/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=29

 

ok, thanks for the heads up ramboss. i guess 6 will have to do, just need bigger tires, maybe. you wouldnt happen to have some pictures of the process would you? or know someone that does? we and my dad have all the tools and everything we would need in our shop, except all of the knowledge needed to do it - which can be aquired from some one who has done it before...twice...

thanks again for the tip ramboss

 

Check out this website.

Its probably one of the best write ups on doing a SAS. I don't have any pictures of the '83 F150 we did the swap on, but I do have some of mine (1967 F100 2wd to 4x4 conversion).

Tech Write Up For SAS

 

hey thanks again ramboss, and thank you mudman - didnt mean to exclude you, somehow i managed to not see your post, but i guess it was early in the morning when i looked at the thread, thanks again guys for passing on the good information!

 

here, My F350 on 33s sits about 7" taller than my F150 on 31s...just to maybe give you a visual, I know I like to picture things and get an actual visual.

 

Josh,

You will LOVE the SAS!!! You can get away with a 4" lift, but you will need to trim your crossmember. Even with the 6" Skyjacker coils I used, I trimmed and boxed the bottom of the crossmember to make sure I had enough when the suspension flexed. The $$ from a 4" to 6" is not much different, so I went with the 6". Also, a bit of trivia for ya, when you change out from the TTB, keep your pinion flange and re-use it on your 79 axle. The one that came on my 79 was different than my 95 and to make sure I didn't need to modify the front driveshaft, I used the flange from the 95.

Also, the stock radius arms are much longer than your original, so make sure you get the arms from your doner axle. As for the drop brackets, Jeff's Bronco Graveyard sells a complete replacement drop bracket so you don't have to mess with the stock bracket and drop bracket deal. I had to mess with the stock/drop bracket deal and it was a pain. If I had to do it over, I'd go the second route. Here is a link to the bracket kit:

http://broncograveyard.com/bronco/i-...racket_kit.htm

Also, make sure you get the extended brake lines. I changed my lines over to the 79 style which has 1 line that goes down from the drivers side frame rail to above the diff instead of the 2 that are in each wheel well. I guess it is a matter of preference, I just wanted to keep mine out of the way from the larger tires possibly rubbing the lines.

 

One more question, I am not sure if this would work, but say someone puts a 6 inch lift (from any maker) on the TTB front end at one point, can they use all of those components on the SAS, or will there be a lot of parts from the lift kit that cant be used with the SAS? just wondering about doing the lift first and then eventually doing the SAS. ideas? thoughts?

 

yes its the same lift kit except they add the ttb drop brackets! just remove those and its a swap in

-cutts-

 

Cutts,

That's not always true. When I did mine I thought the same thing and found that the coil winding on the bottom of the TTB coils was a smaller diameter than from the 77-79 F-150 coils. I am sure there is a way to make it work with some modifications, but for the price and what I needed, I went ahead and just got the 77-79 coils.