Skee's 97 Stepside SAS Thread

[AirmanSkee]

ATTENTION: SAS IS COMPLETE! Ask as many questions and post comments as you like!

EDIT: I WILL post up a full parts list with links and prices when the swap is complete. I also have bracket drawings in the making so people who can fab, will have templates to make their own, if they wish to do so. Those will also be posted up with dimensions when completed.

I will do my best to put links for any parts I ordered that are available online, or the equivalent. I got ALOT of my stuff second hand through wheeling and dealing locally and through the off road club here in Alaska. But I am always on here and available by PM as well. This writeup will be done in chronological order that MY swap happened, but will include everything done, and can definitely be done in any order or variation. The information included can be used for many different axles, but know that every setup will differ, but I will try to help as much as I can.

To start off, the truck is a 1997 K1500 RCSS with a ProComp 6" lift on 35" KM2s with rear trac bars.

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The IFS was and has been wore out too many times, and I decided it was time for the swap.

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So started the parts collection.

Donor Truck: 1979 Ford F250 w/ High Pinion Dana 44 front & Dana 60 rear (only using the front)

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With new 4.09 gears in the Dana 44

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Crossover Steering including:

Machined Flat Top Chevy Knuckle (I am swapping to Chevy 8 lug outers to run 15" rims) $50 -WFO Concepts
Steering arm, studs, nuts, and cone washers - $139 from WFO Concepts LINK
Superlift 1104 Modifed Drop Pitman Arm - Available from WFO or many other companies
Curved draglink - Available from WFO and many other companies
New ball joints for both sides - Available from WFO when machining is done, can be pressed in at time of machining for free

(Knuckle before machining)

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And after with all accessories

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New 15x10 ProComp Rock Crawler steel wheels - Available on Amazon and many other places

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ORU SAS kit (bolt on kit, uses alot of stock frame holes and easy to install). LINK As well as 4" lift 48" long springs

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Custom U Bolt flip kit (comparable to WFO UBolt kit) LINK

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3 UBolts are 3"x8"x5/8" and 1 UBolt is 3.65"x10"x5/8" for around the pumpkin on the drivers side. Plates are drilled to match.

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Hardware kit as listed on installation PDF from ORU. I got alot of mine dug up for free and purchase the rest.

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[AirmanSkee]

FRONT SPRING HANGERS

First, remove most of the front end, to include the grille, parking lights, lower fill plate, and bumper with mounts. You will need to remove the center bumper brackets from the bumper, as they will be used to install the front hangers.

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My brackets were previously used on a 1 ton truck, and had extra bracing added, so I had to grind that off to mount mine.

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They mounted up using the existing 3 bumper bracket bolts (bolted into the bracket inside the frame horn), the two OEM tow hook bolts and plate on the bottom of the frame horn (had to remove OEM tow hooks), and drilled four holes on the inside of the frame horn.

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Once those are in, you can reassemble the front end. The brackets will not be in the way of anything.

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[willdabeast69]

im gonna beat you skee

 

[AirmanSkee]

Then while I was waiting on more parts to come in, and since weather was restricting the time I had to work on the truck, I started tearing down the rear, including trac bars and 2500# helper spring pack to prepare the truck for rear axle swap and rear shackle flip.

Trac bars put up a fight, so most of it ended getting cut off. Brackets are still on the truck, but will be removed when torsion bars are dropped, and rear spring pack is removed.

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Trac Bars out

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Auxillary shocks were SHOT, and wouldn't come loose, so just cut the shafts for now, til I can remove the whole bracket.

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EBrake was routed THROUGH the trac bar, but will have a new cable on the new rear axle, so cut the cable and zip tied if off.

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Bars off, UBolts cut releasing tension off helper pack. Truck rides like a new truck now.

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Yes, that is 16 leafs on the rear of a half ton truck...

If she had thumbs, this probably would go alot quicker.

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[AirmanSkee]

REMOVAL OF HP44

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[AirmanSkee]

TEARDOWN OF HP44

This is the teardown and rebuild of the FORD Dana 44 with Chevrolet outers. This will be a b@st@rd axle.

Disclaimer: I didn't have a chance to take a picture of every step of the teardown, so I will be using some stock images to explain the steps.

Place the axle on a good work surface. Jackstands are great, with a third one under the pinion to keep it from rolling. You can move it out of the way and roll the axle over when work on the bottom and sides are needed. I then removed the leaf springs, plates, stabilizer, and tie rod for ease of movement. You can leave the tie rod connected throughout the teardown if you want, as it may help keep the knuckles from moving as much when working on them. You will also need to remove the steering arm from the drivers side knuckle.

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Place drain pan under front differential and loosen (10) 1/2" bolts holding differential cover to housing. Loosen cover and allow fluid to drain. Remove bolts and cover and inspect gears for wear.

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Remove 9/16" caliper key retaining screw and drive out caliper support key with hammer and large screwdriver.

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Remove caliper and pads. The bottom will slide out first. May have to give a rap with the hammer to break loose. Inspect pads and rotor for wear and replace if needed.

Remove (6) 9/64" hex key screws holding manual lock-outs to hub and remove lock-outs.

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Remove inner retaining ring, gear, and spring (not required but it doesn't hurt to remove it and clean it up while you have it apart). Inner ring will pop out easily with a small flathead screwdriver.

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Remove outer lock ring retainer and outer gear. This will be probably the hardest part of the dis-assembly. The ring may be in there pretty good, but using two small screwdrivers, and a very small alan wrench or dental pick, pop the ring up out of the slot, and then out, and work your way around the ring til you can grasp and pull the ring out.

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Then using (2) of the 9/64 hex screws, pull the outer gear out.

Using a special spindle bearing lock nut socket, remove bearing lock nut.

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Remove retainer ring (large washer between the two lock nuts. Can be removed with needle nose pliers, or long alan wrenches and a good pull.)

Remove the next bearing adjusting nut with special socket or homemade tool.

It helps to lay out all the pieces in the order you removed them.

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Remove (5) 11/16" nuts that hold the spindle shaft to the steering knuckle. (NOTICE: The Ford knuckle and spindle will have 5 studs, the Chevy will have 6.)

(According to Haynes) Carefully tap the spindle loose from the knuckle. (In reality, I had to wail on it with a large rubber deadblow hammer, and from the back with a long pipe and big hammer, and pry it away from the knuckle with a 4 foot crow bar... ...carefully.)

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Inspect the rubber seal that goes between the shaft flange and spindle and replace if necessary.

Inspect and grease bearings at rear of spindle. Replace if necessary.

Slide axle shaft out of axle tube being careful not to damage splines. (Make sure you drained the differential before pulling the shafts, unless you want a big mess.)

Now you will have a bare housing, with just the knuckles on. Remove the pin, and then Loosen the castle nuts on the upper ball joints (1 1/4" IIRC). Then loosen the lower ball joint nut, which will not have a pin. A 28mm wrench worked for me, boxed end on, and using the deadblow to break it loose. (The new ones will go on ALOT easier. This axle had been sitting close to as long as I've been alive.)

Then, using the trusty pickle fork, or even better, a BFH, knock the knuckles DOWN and out of the housing. It would be a good idea to leave the lower ball joint nut on a few threads to keep the knuckle from flying out when the ball joints come unseated.

Then, there will be a threaded sleeve inside the upper ball joint hole on each side of the axle. Using a flathead screwdriver, tap on the notches with a hammer counter clockwise to twist these sleeve out. I believe there is a special tool to remove these, but why?!

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(This is the new one, to show what the sleeve looks like. The new upper ball joints will come with a sleeve. The lower ball joints do not have this.)

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NOW, if you are staying with Ford outers, then now is a good time to put it all back together. I, however, am swapping to Chevrolet 8 lug outers, using the smaller single piston caliper to run 15" rims. Continued in the next post.

 

[AirmanSkee]

At this stage, with a bare housing, I chose to clean it up, using a wire brush attachment. The housing and all external parts will be getting coats of satin black paint.

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Then came the similar teardown of the axle on a 1990 Chevy Suburban 2500 to scavenge the outers. I could not use the knuckle on the drivers side, due to it being a tie rod UP knuckle, while my passenger knuckle that was machined is tie rod DOWN.

The teardown on that axle is essentially the same, except having (2) 3/8" alan bolts holding on the calipers, (1) 9/16" banjo bolt for the brakeline, and (6) spindle nuts on the knuckle instead of (5).

Chevy outers inside. Rotors need turned, but are essentially new. Will be getting new pads, stripping the dust cover off the caliper bracket, and cleaned up with new grease.

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I started assembly of the axle today with what I could do.

Putting in the new upper ball joint sleeve. MAKE SURE this is adjusted correctly, to allow the ball joint to seat properly.

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Putting the machined knuckle on BEFORE putting on the steering arm. The ball joints were pressed in by WFO Concepts at the time of the machine work.

Slide the knuckle in from the bottom, putting the castle nut on the top ball joint and nut on the lower ball joint. Tighten both nuts as tight as you can by hand, upper ball joint first. Then torque the lower ball joint nut to 30lbs on the first pass, upper ball joint to 100lbs, then on the second pass torque the lower ball joint nut to 70lbs.

Here is a good chart to help with torque specs for the Dana 44.

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Then install (3) studs into the machined knuckle. Slide the steering arm on, tapered holes up, then cones, then nuts. Torque nuts down to 90lbs.

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THIS IS WHERE I CURRENTLY AM AS OF 2/23. I am currently waiting on a new pitman arm to complete the steering, and will be pulling the correct Chevy knuckle this week as well. Purchased new axle UJoints today, new brake pads, and more paint.

And for just FYI, the rear will be a D70 from a 1989 IFS 1 ton. Using shackle flip. This will be updated as I go with more steps and stages. I am fully caught up now on the build, feel free to comment and question.

 

[Justjoshiny]

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[dagen_1]

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[thz71]

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