before you guys shoot me for asking a question about a sas, i know there's a million threads already, and i've been looking into them, but i have an few questions.

i have a 96 f150 that has a 4 inch tuff country lift and 33's right now. i am sick of the damn ttb and im sick of spinning off axle shafts, so since there's no upgraded shafts that i could find, i'm finally going to go solid. my plan is to go with either a d44 or a d60, despite kubota insisting i need rockies, shaved ones at that. i want to go up to 6 inch coils so i can run 35's or 36's. is it possible/safe to keep my extended radius arms from the 4inch kit, and fab up a new 2" drop bracket to keep the same mounting location? i know i will lose some flex, but thats fine. if not, should i go with the radius arms for the 6inch kit, or try to fab up a four-link setup? also, should i go with a built d44(35 spline chromo's, and a l/s) or a stock d60 with a l/s? if i go with the d60, is there a way i can keep my 5 on 5.5 bolt pattern? price is an issue, but i plan on buying the axle in the next month or so, and slowly building it over the winter. the truck needs to be a daily driver when its done, so i cant go too crazy.
future plans also include stroking the 302 to 347 and going with an frpp e cam, gt40x's and a ported stock upper and lower intake, etc etc.

 

Ok first off your radius arms wont work at all. Completely different hook up than on a solid axle. If your not really jammin your truck hard the 44 will do fine. Heres a link from awhile back. He used cage arms but the stock arms from a 73-79 will work. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/622882-my-sas.html Also talk to tony (surewhynot) He did a solid axle swap on his F-150. I think its a 94. Hes runnin 40s. For cost sake Id go with a 44 from a 73-79 F-150. Also id check into using the 9" rear if you can get a matching set. Hope this all helps. Oh to get to Tony easy he just left a thread called "on a redneck mission"


Cheeto

 

I run the solid D44 from a 79 Bronco in my 95 F-150. I went with the 6" lift coils from the 79. Make sure you get the 70's series radius arms and all of the brackets that go with it (i.e. radius arm drop brackets, track bar bracket). I kept my stock 95 upper coil buckets and lined everything up from that. Broncograveyard sells the complete radius arm drop brackets so you don't have to get the 70's stockers and add a lowering block to them. Makes for a cleaner install. My buddy had the extended arms on his 89 Bronco, and when we did his SAS, he was able to reuse the extended arms brackets (not the arms, just the drop brackets) so that may be a possibility for you. You will also need either an adjustable track bar, or have a way to extend the stock unit that you get with the axle. The better bet is the adjustable/extended unit as you can dial it in better to center your axle under the truck.

If you want to keep your 5 on 5.5 pattern, then you deffinately need to run the D44. The swap isn't all that hard, but make sure you have a good welder, grinder, and an assortment of tools handy when doing the swap.

 

do you guys know if the trutrac and 4.10's i put in my ttb will swap over to the earlier d44?

 

imho, One of the best things about a SAS is dropping the TTB -AND- radius arms and going leaf springs in the front. It is much more bullet proof and the steering easier to correct.

imo, The only reason for not going leaf springs is if your vehicle is so small or so limited on room underneath (van) you can't afford to lift it the required 4+ inches (example: Bronco II) to fit the axle.

Plus, you could easily add the shackles and shock mounts, while stlll keeping your vehicle driveable, and only remove the old TTB axle once you are ready to swap the new axle and steering linkage in.

 

The only complaint i have with the Bronce Graveyard arms is that they have no adjustment. The Cage Offroad arms have an adjustable heim joint at the end instead of the junky factory bushing setup.

 

i saw the cage arms in the write-up on fsb. the guy had an early 80's blue shortbed i think. i like the idea of adjustable radius arms, but i dont know if i can stomach 850 for just the arms and brackets. anyone made a setup like the cage arms? if so, how'd it turn out?

 

Yeah thats the link i posted above. i dont know of anyone here thats made a setup. Theres been alot of talk about it and there are a few of us here that have the knowledge and abilities to do it but noone has yet that i can think of.

 

how's the SAS coming Pat?

 

go with rockwells! its so much cheaper in the end, and you get way more bang for your buck

 

not true...i did it...check my gallery

 

Check this thread for D44vsD60 comparisons
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...pics-pics.html

 

If your end product has tires 44" or bigger then by all means go rocks but if not D60/70 is the way to go.

A Chromo'd 60 front is stronger than a stock rockwell but put the same amount of money that you'd put in a chromo'd 60 into a rockwell and that motha' Fer would be bad. Ouversons 2" shafts are among the first things that come to mind.

It all depends on end product. Im never going bigger than 40s so a D60F is fine for me. 60 rears cant hang though

 

: sniff sniff : do i smell rocks in the future for kris? Well atleast for the rear? hmmm...

 

Nice Bump.