yo,
Information & Parts Sources.. EXCELLENT
Source: by ocalabronco at
http://broncozone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=6595
EXCERPTs:
This is not meant to be the SAS bible, but rather a "cliff's notes" for this swap. First before you even consider engaging in this extensive modification, you need to ask yourself if you really need it. For the everyday, average wheeler, the TTB is fine. a simple investment in a lifetime alignment plan. The TTB has its place, and will hold up to 36" tires with smart driving and proper maintenance. Now, with all that said, I'll get on with the info/writeup.
1/2 TON PARTS
First, you will need to get a hold of a Dana 44 front. most of these came from f-150's and broncos, but some F-250's had leaf sprung axles, refered to Dana 44 Heavy Dutys. these axle had 8 lug outers, with a matching 8 lug D60 out back. for ease and simplicity, find a coil sprung axle, since our broncos are already setup to run coils. For a clean looking swap, you'll need to acquire the upper coil buckets, radius arms (should come with the lower coil retainers), and radius arm brackets. you will more than likely have to fabricate your own track bar bracket at the frame. you CAN re-use the stock track bar, but some prefer to use aftermarket ones or make theirs custom out of DOM tubing. Most people like to use shock mounts from a mid 90's f-250 or 350, because they allow for the use of double eyelet shocks, instead of the crappy stud mount shocks that come factory on our rigs. this opens up a wide possibility of shocks to use.
/4 TON PARTS
most of the above applies here, with the exception that your parts will come from a 78/79 f-250 with the D60 rear. the front comes with leafs that you more than likely will not re-use. refer to the one ton section for info on that.
ONE TON PARTS
This will consist of a leaf sprung D60 front and one of many 1 ton rear ends. if you have a 92 or later, you must use a sterling 10.25 or modify a D60 or D70 to accept a tone ring so the E4OD can read the signals coming from the VSS. for this, you will have to fabricate a front crossmember to mount the front leaf spring hangers or shackles to. some people mount their shackles on the front xmember, others do a shackle reversal at the aft section of the spring. for more in depth information, visit the SAS forum at fullsizebronco.com and read the stickies at the top of the page. this axle will come from any f-350 from 77 to 97, but there are slight differences. the 77-79 60's had a narrower mounting distance than the newer axles, because the frames in the early days were straight, as opposed to later frames that widened at the motor. this isnt to say you can use them, but make your mounts accordingly.
PM me with specific questions and i'll try to answer them. and please, READ THIS FIRST
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Most have a lift installed along with the Dana straight axle susp such as
Installation, Dana 44 in a 92
Source: by Jeremy M (Big '92, jermil01) at
http://www.supermotors.net/registry/2896/15047
Gonna start my sas tomorrow afternoon and hope to have finished this weekend....
I will take tons of pics and doccument everything
* Basicly 78 d44
* Stock 78 Steering ..Sleeve the drag link if necessary to get the right length for now
* Possibly sleeve Trac Bar ..and build Trac bar bracket on frame of bko
* Stock 78 Radius arms .. utilizing rad arm bracket off bko just relocated
* 2" rancho coils off 78 netting 4" used with stock ttb bucket
* Utilize exsisting coil buckets and shock Mounts on bko
* Rear factory shackle flip
* Rear AAL
I know ppl may flame about sleeving the steering but ive done it in the past and it worked great.. im not going to run it like this forever but for now it'll work for me until i go with dom over knuckle but i wheeled a full width bko2 with steering sleeved for years and it worked flawlessly
Next i hung the 78 Rancho 4" colis from factory buckets and slid axle under..
Bolted on the radius arms with new 7* shims and hung the axle on the springs.
I used 2 ratchet straps to set axle close as i could to square and a little foreward then used a bottle jack to jack up the radius arms
I ended up using the ttb rad arm bracket therefore needed to use the rad bushings off ttb setup there a lil diff then the 78 ones just a note...
Once the radius arms were raised up and the brackets on one just for mock up .. i determined the final location of the mounts
I ended up needing to cut the cab mount a little to get the radius arm bracket to fit this is a picture of passanger side i did the driver just a little different ..
how i determined location was by taking a square and scribing a square line from bottom of frame through centerline of cab mount hole and then using that line as the centerline or top rad arm bracket hole .. the height was determined by centering hole on line and clamping the bracket so that the underframe mounting surface was flush
this is a pic of the passanger sida bracket mounted the bracket covered a little of the cab mount so i ended up taking some plate steel the same thickness as cabmount making a tamplate with bracket and cutting then welding to frame you could just cut more of the mount but i opted to do it this way because i had the material and didnt want to cut anymore of the cab mount out
Here is a pic of driver side with radius arm in the bracket..
Getting the arms in once both brackets were on was the biggest Pita..
basicly i just used the ratchet straps to agian pull housing as far foreward as i could while using the bottle jack to raise arms and a bar to get the arms in one side at a time..and then releasing the straps and jack...
Keep in mind there are probably better methods but im doing this toptally by myself..
Heres pics of the modified stock 78 trac bar mount its setup to weld to bottom of frame just under the front of the ttb coil bucket if you look in next pic i notched the bucket to make it easier to weld in bracket
some pics of the newly braced up trac bar mount
welded 1/4 inch thick steel gussets on a 45 deg angle on each side of the chopped 78 trac arm mount
Plan on using the stock trac bar off the 78 mounted to stock location on axle for now maybe use something else down the road but it worked well on the bronco2 i did a few tears back.. And ill post a pic ot the mount welded to frame
Just an update the axle been in the truck two weeks had a serious death wabble due to trac bar bushings being shot... it was serious i ended up ripping trac bar mount off frame and had to take a tow home.... i ended up replacing the bushings and rewelded a new trac bar mount using same factory style mount to bottom of frame similar to old one allthough i droped it an inch lower.. LOOK AT LAST TWO PICS IN POST 25.... but this time i added two triangle gussets one on each side of mount to frame to help distribute the load..as well as a brace to the engine crossmember.... so far so good second day of shakedown runs and ill try highway driving a little this afternoon....
Just a side note that if retaining the factory ttb buckets and shock mounts you need ttb 6 inch shocks to fun the 4 inch sas the ones for a 4 inch ttb are a little short... i just ging to run this though for now im planning on a shock hoop and some14 -16 inch travel shocks in near future.....
also thought id add i still havent done the rear yet as im making sure i get front taken care of first in totality... but it did net me right at 4.5 inches over the stock ttb setup ill post pics later today
by rollingmenace
http://fullsizebronco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=159676
