Im very new to the SAS world so try not to attack me too hard here...I know there are some very good sources for info on here and I need an experts opinion. for a 2006 f150 4x4...I want to convert to I'm thinking a dana 60. optimal would be 2.5 tons but I feel that I just dont have the *** to turn the rubber attatched to them.

If someone could...give me a ballpark range I would be spending and time the truck would be down for.

If you could, price including labor..and price without.

Last, any info on being roadworthy after the conversion would be great. thanks

 

unless you plan on offroading fairly frequently then i wouldnt mess with the 2.5 tons.

D60 with a GM 14bolt would be a great setup. The price will vary greatly depending on how you set up the suspension. Bare simplicity would be leaf springs, this will run you are 6-10k for a shop to do. Radius Arms and coil springs will give a softer ride but will be alittle more work to setup id still say 6-10k for a shop to do. 4 link suspension will be the most complex and could possibly be the best in ever situation. However its extremely expensive and something a first timer would have trouble completing them selves, look for the prices to 4-link a truck starting around 8k-15k.

All of these can be done for cheaper yourself if you know what you are doing. If you decide to run 2.5 ton rockwells you will need to add more to these estimates

And dont worry about having enough power to move the Rockwells, the gearing alone would move them, you are running 6.72:1 in Rockwells so you will want to run nothing smaller than a 44 but id recommend nothing smaller than a 46.

with the prices i listed, this will be a GOOD shop doing quality work. It should take no more than 2 months TOPS. And with that being said, yes it would be road worthy.

 

haha I knew trimble would chime in on this. Im glad you did.
the reason Im asking about being road-worthy is because I would be treating this truck as a daily driver.

As for the suspension set-up, I'm aiming towards leaf springs...quick and easy and I dont plan on jumping cars or anything with it...just an ocasional deep mud hole.

the dana 60 seems like the best route for me....plus i think I can pick one up pretty easily.

As for tire sizes..i think its pretty much pointless to go with anything under a 40...so Im thinking a 44 would probally be the best all around with a good varity of makes.

Will I have to change my 4x4 selector switch to a manual style one? also are there any major wireing or sensor issues I would run into when changing out the IFS?

 

I dont know much about the electical of the 04+ but i can tell you this.

1. you will need a steering box from a 97-03 F150 or Super Duty id go with Superduty one.
2. You can keep the T-case the stock one since all you will be doing is changing axles.
3. Get the D60 from a FORD F250 older than 97 the bolt pattern will be 8x6.5, it will also have manual hubs and high pinion.
4. I recommend the GM 14 bolt for a rear axle, they are 8x6.5 and are extremely strong even in stock form.
5. Gearing. With 40-44 and a 5.4l you will want something in the range of 5.13.
6. ABS sensor will definitely need to be plugged, the TPMS sensor in the tires would probably not work. not sure what other sensors these new F150's have

 

umm two things. you have to have a vss or make a kit or even buy one. the vss is in the rear axle. so a 10.25 or 10.5 will work. but anything else and youll need to start making or buying things to adapt vss.

the selector as far as the dial can stay. all it does is swap the shift motor over 4hi 4lo and 2wd. so it does not care what axle is in there one bit.

 

i thought the newer trucks VSS was in the transferrcase. I know mine is.

 

should check into it. theres various sensors. input speed, output speed, my 97 expy has a vss as does my dads excursions, 01 and 02. i know for a fact the heavy duty trucks 250 and 350 have them in the axle. actually sorry i did just find that the 150s are in the trans. so yea you should be good to go on that one,

 

ok Im kind of a little lost when your saying vss...what comes to mind is variable selector switch.

Im guessing that the 4x4 switch can stay no problem because isnt that switch run to the t-case? shouldnt have anything to do with the axel itself I dont imagine...esp. if I have manual locking hubs.

Trimble- you mention the rear axle should be changed out as well...why is that? is the stock one that I have now not really up to par for that setup? Mabye some beefier axel shafts may make up for the lack there-of?

as for steering box...superduty seems like the way to go. are you referring to any year superduty? If I can pull one from..say a 95f250+ from the junk yard...would that be doable?

...man talk about custom fabrication and bracketry for this stuff...now I can understand why a shop charges soooo much for quality work.

 

the newer the vehicle the more complex this is going to be. your not going to be able to chop off the front ifs and make some leaf mounts and your good to go, ( i dont want to sound harsh but i want you to understand this is a serious project, i did it to a ranger when i didnt know what i was really doing and it was a big project and i ran into a lot of problems) if your doing it yourself do not give yourself a time frame you will exceed it and then some.

i dont know about shop prices at all so i cant help you with that, but trimble has a decent grab on the situation.

From my experience the steering will be the hardest to make work, you have to take into account a couple of things, first off the size, not any old box is going to work, your converting it from a rack and pinion to a box, where are you going to put it? does the frame rails have room on the inside to mount one? i put a toyota 4runner box on the outside of my frame rail on the ranger and was lucky enough that there was nothing blocking the steering shaft from meeting up with it, speaking of the steering shaft your going to need to either fab one up or see if the vehicle you get the box from has a shaft that will bolt up to the stock ones place, but then again it may not be long enough or it may be to long.

if your looking to do this on a cost effective basis, this is not your project. and even if a shop does it, there will still be problems with it if your using it for a daily, im not saying huge problems but stuff here and there WILL go wrong and i hope you are somewhat mechanically inclined so you can fix little stuff here and there.

If i were you i would go all out on the project, 4 link front and rear with coilovers and a set of 44's with hydro assist. that would be a rocking truck.

i do NOT want to come off ****ish at all in this post i just want to stress the seriousness of the project so you know its not a 1 week walk in the park, i said this to trimble when he first started as well and he knows what im talking about now. his truck is at a good height but i believe he is redoing a good amount of the suspension work because of a crap shop.
So watch out for where you get this done, of if your going to do it you better have some good skills.

good luck and you can contact me if you have any questions ill be glad to give you my best info.

 

The rear axle would work but you will have 2 different bolt patterns. Theres really no reason not to swap it out. Thats the easy part. For 40" tires or bigger you need to start looking at a bigger axle.

The VSS is what tells you how fast you are going, older trucks had it in the axle. Your truck and mine should have it in the transmission. So you wont have a problem there.

If a shop is doing the work id let them tell you what Steering box to use, as it will have to fit in a tight area. You wont need this till after the truck is on its own weight so no rush there. You can run full hydro but its not cheap, and DONT SKIMP here its not worth your life. And in most states full hydro isnt exactly street legal.

Search on Pirate4x4 and Chuckstrucks.net to find ideas. Make sure you are looking at 04+ F150's as they are different.

 

Im actually right outside of tampa, im in riverview. This build..if I decide to go that route will a semi-budget build. Im looking at no more than about 7500 from start to finish 100%....with wheels and tires (yea i know...el cheapo)

I need to go down and hang out with the farmboy fabrications guys and do some research im thinking.

I was one of those guys who said why the hell would anyone convert to a solid axel...now understanding the physics of it all...if you plan on nearly limitless lift and durability...its dumb not to switch it out. I dont see too many newer body styles around here with a SAS.

trimble, I was looking at your build pics, Im trying to figure out how the hell im going to get my front drive shaft to line up good with my front axle...seems like an extreme angle.

As for mechanical ability...I have never done any custom fabrication of my own but Im pretty good with a plasma cutter and can weld. I have a mechanical background. My only challange ahaid of me seems like..just getting everything to the right specifications and having it actually work...right. haha

hopefully with the old f250 axel, I wont have one extreamly wide axel up front and the narrow stock one in the rear.

 

If you can get the axles for cheap, and buy used tires and wheels then you can easily do it for 7,500.

The driveshaft can be hooked up, might have to do alittle reroutin of crossmembers and maybe a transfer case clock but it would beable to be hooked up.

I HIGHLY recommend replacing both axles, its not worth leaving the 9.75 in there.

If you get ahold of Jesse @ farmboy fabrications tell him what you want tell him your budget and tell him what parts you can and cannot get and im sure he can do it for your budget. Thats the first place id start.

 

Like trimble said ditch the stock rear axle as well. It just doesn't have the aftermarket support you need. If you can find a kingpin d60 that would be best but if not ball joint w/o unit bearing will be good as well. I don't see how you could possibly reuse the stock driveshaft though. At the very least you'd need to have it lengthened. Fortunately this isn't too pricey, mine only cost like 100 something bucks and they totally re-tubed it. A d60/14bolt would be a great combo. As far as the the talk about the vss, you probably do have an abs sensor back there. From the thread about the custom 9" on here this sensor is used to calculate load which will effect how the tranny operates https://www.f150online.com/forums/ot...004-screw.html . In order to retain this though you can make tone ring and relocate the sensor if one isn't available for the 14 bolt. After some very quick searching a d70 tone ring can be used with a little machining. Or find a newer 14 bolt that has a tone ring already built in. http://www.pavementsucks.com/board/t...-the-REAR-axle

From what i've read on here regarding the newer f150's the biggest issue with an SAS is the engine crossmemeber. You need a lot of lift to clear it or you will need to build a new one.

I have just completed an sas on a 93 explorer. Very different truck but there are similarities. I think you should go with a linked suspension (like a 4 link) instead of leafs. The linked should ride better. In order to get the amount of lift you are looking for from leafs you'll end up with some really arched springs. This is not good for flex or ride. The trade off is cost, leafs will be much cheaper than a linked setup.

There's a lot of variables though, no truck is exactly the same. My advice...start reading reading reading. Try to find as many thread on www.pirate4x4.com and www.fullsizebronco.com as you can. I would suggest also picking up the book "Chassis Engineering" by Herb Adams. It's geared more towards circle track cars but it gives you a good understanding of the different kinds of suspensions, chassis, and geometry. It will deffinaly help you get up to speed on the various terms and pros/cons to different suspension systems.

Good Luck

 

thank you very much for all of your info. i agree with you on having a linked suspension but the downfall i have toward that is pretty much only the cost. it seems like its 50x's stronger than just a typical leaf setup and probably a wwaayy better ride but then again...the price. I dont want to have to drop 10 grand+ for that kind of setup..ugg wish i had a friend who is really into doing tube chassis work and would frame it all out for a few cases of bud and a pizza haha.

 

Here's this... just some food for thought

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showt...=536206&page=3