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Squeaky SAS thread

06 H3

06 H3

a.k.a. "The Jackal"
Messages
9,504
Location
Meridian, ID
Its time to start this build thread. I will reserve a multiple posts so I can add everything to the top so its all in the beginning of the thread.

First off I want to thank ThorParts, aka 4speedfunk aka CJ. He is helping me with this. Emails, tips, tricks, phone calls etc. Hes been through this but my goal is to document it. I am not the first to do a DIY low buck (relatively speaking) SAS but I hope to be the first to do a DETAILED build thread. I have not seen a step by step process of every minute and every action taken place during a SAS so I hope to be the first and help people make the jump!

My goal: The goal of this SAS is to focus on the things that are tougher to do like keeping it streetable, sounds gay I know...but I know without a doubt that a SAS will improve reliability, power (due to the ability of a regear) and off road capability. Streetability must be retained and I will make efforts to do so.

Squeaky will still be driven every day to and from work, to and from school, to and from the movie theater, on road trips, and then offroad in rocks, mud, high speed, to the snow etc. You get the point it must be well balanced and I must be able to throw to keys to anyone and without the fear that they will kill themselves. It must be quirk free. It may take some tuning to get it that way but it will get that way.

So with all that said here is what I started off with a 1973 Chevy Blazer Dana 44 passenger drop.



I could of done a 10 bolt, a dana 60, a toyota axle seeing its passenger drop too but I went this route for 2 reasons.
#1 and the most important thing ThorParts sells ABS hubs for the Dana 44.
#2 I found a built dana 44 for a price I couldnt pass up. It was $1000 but with 5.13 gears already installed (my planned gear ratio) a detroit locker (will swap it for selectable), chromoly shafts, new bearings, seals, warn hubs, beefy diff cover and a box full misc. stuff I can resell. He easily had 2k into it. The shafts and locker alone were $1400. Now before I get the why didnt I go with a dana 60 questions I feel that if I kept the piece of **** AAM-7 front diff alive most of the time with 35s on trails an H3 usually doesnt go the 44 will last on 37s-38s. The factory diff trained me to have a careful foot

Next thing I got was a set of ThorParts brackets. They are similar to Ballastic fab coil mount, control arm mount and shock mount (all in one) but the tires will rub the the control arms so he redesigned them on CAD and moved them inboard to avoid the tire rubbing at full lock. They are top notch... Along with the all in one coil mount it came with the adjustable coil buckets for the framerails.



I also ordered from ruffstuff an inboard track bar mount

http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/PAN-IN.html

http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/CHLB.html

http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/LINKT10.html

http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/3LEGZERO.html

http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/XOGMSTE.html

I am going with Johnny Joints instead of heims or bushings, I feel its a happy medium between offroad and an road performance.

3 of these
http://www.partsmike.com/index.php?crn=239&rn=1594&action=show_detail

and 3 of these
http://www.partsmike.com/index.php?crn=239&rn=1596&action=show_detail



you can tack the thor part brackets on the axle or off. Here they are off, when tacking them together it must go 2 long pieces and one short. The shock mount hole and coil bucket mounts (long pieces) must closer to the axle end! the Control arm mounts are inboard.
Tacking is your friend, if they are fully welded and you ****ed up your screwed.

4speeds advice is to not weld the coil mount till the rest of the brackets are fully welded to the axle and the mounts themselves.

To line them up I used the axle center from the top of the ball joint to the top of the ball joint. which was 54.5 so 27.25 is axle center. from there I measured the shock mounts to axle center and got them as even as possible.

Using an angle finder and a level I put the angle finder on the top of the knuckle and set my caster around 6-7 degrees then used a level and made everything was nice and squared away. I then tacked them on to the axle.

After that I took the upper control arm mount and tacked it. I set it 17in over from the end of the axle tube and set it around 17 degrees back when its set at 6-7 degrees caster. Again I tacked it. Nothing will be fully welded till its under the rig so I can make adjustments.



I also welded the tubes and I recommend keeping the bead thin so you can push the brackets on the passenger side as close as possible to the housing if you need to.

thats all for tonight!
 
06 H3

06 H3

a.k.a. "The Jackal"
Messages
9,504
Location
Meridian, ID
Today was the cutting day. My goal was to cut everything off squeaky, have clean bare frame rails and have frame plates tacked on by the end of tonight and we achieved that goal.

First thing is get her up on the stands and start removing all the IFS, after my buddy Kyle and I did that then we moved to the plasma cutter. Cut off all bracketry and took out 2 brakelines...

Flipping off the AAM-7.



cutting brackets.



Cut off the stock brackets with the rancho stuff still on it



Next make frame plates



This will help stregthen the frame for the added stresses of a SAS. All the weight of the truck will be on the front end now vs when it was a torsion bar





More to come tomorrow.
 
Last edited:
benlaud87

benlaud87

Well-Known Member
Messages
849
Location
Maryland
Can't wait to see the progress and end results! I have been going back and forth about ditching the ifs, but Im worried my h3 will ride like a dollar store shopping cart. This is my daily driver most of the time though I do have another vehicle. Comfort is a high priority.
 
06 H3

06 H3

a.k.a. "The Jackal"
Messages
9,504
Location
Meridian, ID
benlaud87 said:
Can't wait to see the progress and end results! I have been going back and forth about ditching the ifs, but Im worried my h3 will ride like a dollar store shopping cart. This is my daily driver most of the time though I do have another vehicle. Comfort is a high priority.
Click to expand...

Dont worry comfort is a high priority! Its #1. I know the other goals will come without trying. 4speedfunk assured me that it rides nice. He drives it cross country without blinking an eye. Thats what I want.

I will also do everything to I can to retain ride quality. When I did the rancho I was concerned about ride quality sure enough it was better then a t bar crank but doing the SOA made it even better and changing out shocks made it even better then that.

I like the infinite amount of adjustability. With adjustable coil buckets I can adjust ride height once I pick out a spring I like. It makes it easier. As of right now I have 4.5in JK AEV coils. My brother ran them and they were too stiff for him. I think they will be perfect for the H3 because I think the nose is a tad heavier then the JK. If not I will go with synergy JK springs. If I want the softest ride ever you can go with 6in TJ springs. If you want a stiff ass ride you can go with F250 springs. It will take some time to dial it in but any project like this will. Shocks I am doing it once and doing it right. 2.5 Remote resi swayaway shocks 14in travel. Most people say you cant go wrong with the big 3 King, fox, swayaway especially if your not racing. I chose swayaway because they all have great reviews but my buddy has a friend who works there and if I order them through him I get 40% off.

I wont quit till this thing rides and steers like it does now if not better.

My brothers JK rides nice. I think the biggest problem I have is the steering and the overall comfort of the rig itself not the suspension. The seats SUCK the steering SUCKS. His box is almost out and he has little to no caster. Caster makes a HUGE improvement. I am going to run 6-7. I forgot what he has but I think hes around 2. He also has no steering stabilizer on it right now either. Ride quality is good though.

After watching KOH I think you can make any setup work well with time, money and effort. IFS can do the rocks well (which most people say they cant) solid axle rigs can hit big whoops and 90 mph (when most people say they cant) Any setup can work. Its just the IFS technology is too far out right now. Give it another 10 years. Who knows I may be doing an IFS swap lol Squeaky isnt going anywhere.
 
4speedfunk

4speedfunk

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,250
Location
Tardville
Remember...every degree you add to caster, takes a degree away from the pinion. You should be fine if you keep your ride height low but, 7 degrees of caster is on the big end.

I would never try high-speed whoops in my SA H3. I have accidentally done some low-speed whoops and ended up biting my tongue and flinging coffee everywhere. I got 2" of free space and about 3" of bump squish after that. Once these two spaces are maxed out...its axle tube on frame rail. Its not harsh or un-safe...just very firm. No way in hell I would ever intentionally launch off a 3-foot jump. If you want to take high-speed whoops...you need more up travel to absorb the landing hit. With a solid axle in the H3, up travel is automatically limited by the axle tubes & the frame rails...no way around it. If you want more up travel...you need to raise the ride-height (which poses its own set of issues) or cut some notches in the frame (ridiculous). So...like pretty much every aspect of suspension, its a compromise. For the type of wheeling I do... droop is where its at! Up travel is of very little concern, and it takes a back seat to COG and ride quality.

Ride and handling are super-important to us H3 guys. Probably more so than any other group of wheelers. We're spoiled!
 
06 H3

06 H3

a.k.a. "The Jackal"
Messages
9,504
Location
Meridian, ID
I gotta check my brothers up travel but I think he's 7 down and 5 up which is probably similar to you on a 12in travel shock and his handles amazing at speed. We both hit 55-60 down a dirt road and got a tad airborne on a small whoop. His felt better then mine...we took multiple passes at speed in both rigs. I think a softer spring will help and I need to do my research but Ive read air bumps help with high speed on a rig with lack of up travel.

My goal is to let the frame or oil pan be the limiting factor. As of now a low steer setup the tie rod will hit the pitman arm. If I can go hi steer or reverse steering arm I can miss the pitman arm and let something else stop my travel further up.

But at the end of the day you have seen all these things first hand. You know the limitations. I am just starting to see them on the axle and I haven't chopped one thing off the frame yet. Just getting the track bar mounted up in a spot further back is a nightmare. I can't wait to see what other nightmares I run into on this project
 
J

jakesz28

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,056
Location
Cabool MO
I'm sure mine will end up like this. But with the limited wheeling in Iowa no since cutting what has not broke yet. I will make it back to Moab next year. Just did not happen this year do to truck and camper purchases. We all know trips like that can eat some parts, but it is all fun.
Can't wait to see the finished product. We keep looking for jobs out that way. Hopefully I find something and get closer to the wheeling hot spots.
 
Zach

Zach

Mall Crawler
Messages
4,812
Location
So Cal
Can I buy your rancho front half? [emoji12] Really surprised no one has asked that, yet.
 
Panzer07

Panzer07

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,548
Location
Ontario, CA
TAPDH3T said:
This is perfect timing!!! Ruff stuff is on sale so I will be buying ur list tonight.... bAMMMM thanks bubba
Click to expand...

Is there a promo code ??? If so can u share it I wanna get my components for my SOA.


"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man."
-Mark Twain-
 
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