Ok so i am finally gonna start my thread ( I'm bored at work) i will post pics when i get home. OK one thing, I am also working with very few pictures because our house got broken into and the bastards jacked the camera and the laptop that the pictures were on. So most of the pics are of what I could find on my phone and pics of it now. So unfortunately I don't have a ton of pics of the actual work, if you want more detailed pics of anything just ask and I will take as many as possible.

So the back story, i originally started with a 2001 Nissan Frontier that was already 4 wheel drive and was just going to SAS it. So i started gathering parts.


I picked up the axles, radius arms and misc. brackets off a 79 bronco. So i scored a ford high pinion Dana 44 and a 9 inch.

Then things changed. I realized the truck was worth to much and i didn't want a double duty truck (wheeler and DD) and around this time my grandpa passed away and i was given his truck. It was a all stock 2wd non-power anything mighty max. So i sold my Nissan and picked up a new DD, a 01'silverado 4.8L extra cab for 3500.

Then the destruction began, stay tuned

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/camcw103/IMG_1077.jpg
This is the truck I was going to SAS.

So now it was time to figure how I was going to turn a 2wd into a 4wd with a solid front axle. Most of my ruck experience has been with Toyota's and have spent many a night crusing Marlin Crawlers boards and have come across divorced Toyota adapters, so i found an adapter used on pirate for 150 bucks I then found a top shift case and came up with this.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/camcw103/pic-1.jpg

Well since the Toyota case is a passenger side drop I needed to come up with something other then my drivers side Ford Dana 44. Since I already had all the parts to rebuild the Ford Dana 44, I wanted to stick with a Dana 44 axle. So I picked up a Chevy low pinion Dana 44.

Then a new problem arose, Since I had already built these extended radius arms, for the SAS on the Nissan I needed a way to be able to use them. One call to James Duff and these showed up in the mail.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/camcw103/IMG_0544.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/camcw103/photo7.jpg


In the box are cast wedges which allow you to use the radius arms on anything with a tube diameter over 2.75"


Ok the radius arms are stock arms with the ends ground down so I could slip a piece of 2" 1/4 wall DOM over it. I extended them a total of 12" which gives me final length of 46", now that's a long ass link.They are plated on both sides with 1/4" plate, and use Trail gear's Creeper Joints on the ends. They arms were inspired by Whiterhino on here he has a bad ass ranger in the Ford section, if you want to know how well this thing should flex when its done go check out his build.

Your only going to use one transfer case? I hope you put 4.7:1 gears in it.

Sounds good so far! How much lift and what size tire are you going to run?

Yeah i know, it will get 4.7 but for now it will work. Its looking like belly pan will be around 23 with 35's. I have not set up the front air shocks so it could change.

Stop wasting time with those radius arms and that design, you WILL bend them. Your best bet would be to notch the hell out of that DOM and slide it down the radius arm and plate the hell out of it. The factory arms are at their limit when wheeling them, adding even 4" will bend them, yours will taco in no time.

That is one clean truck to start with though - looks like you have a good start.

Go look at whiterhino and others on the ford board then come back and tell me that. No this is not the ideal set up i would have much rather have done a three link front, and will do a three link front when i put a 60 under it. But i am broke and am tired of letting parts sit in my garage for 4 years collecting dust. The frame side mounts will be able to be used when I do go this route. Also the arms will get a piece of angle iron ran the length of them.

Go look at whiterhino and others on the ford board then come back and tell me that. No this is not the ideal set up i would have much rather have done a three link front, and will do a three link front when i put a 60 under it. But i am broke and am tired of letting parts sit in my garage for 4 years collecting dust. The frame side mounts will be able to be used when I do go this route. Also the arms will get a piece of angle iron ran the length of them.

You forgot to mention that your arms are plated on both sides with quarter inch plate, or is it one side? I cant remember. Either way I bet it works. :D

Go look at whiterhino and others on the ford board then come back and tell me that. No this is not the ideal set up i would have much rather have done a three link front, and will do a three link front when i put a 60 under it. But i am broke and am tired of letting parts sit in my garage for 4 years collecting dust. The frame side mounts will be able to be used when I do go this route. Also the arms will get a piece of angle iron ran the length of them.

I don't need to look, I know what happens to those arms when you extend them like that. It could be that it's working because it's under a lightweight rig, but any time you extend those arms like that on a FSB or F150 they bend. I hope they work, I really do, but be careful with those arms -

Yeah i hope they do too. It will be a pretty light rig. Its basically a ranger with a different motor so it should be ok. I will be heading out of town tomorrow morning for a week so there wont be any updates till after

Been running extended ford radius arms for going on 10 years now under my D50. No problems bending mine, they flex like crazy too.

Thats what I have seen. How much did you extend yours?

I extended them 14".

Ok, I finally have some free time to work on the truck and the write-up. So after I finished the radius arms I need a way to mount them, before I actually started tearing up the truck I bought all the brackets I thought I would need from Ballistic. I bought the 22.5 degree angled inside/ outside frame mounts for joints like the Johnny Joint. But when I went to mount them it made the mounting points way to wide. So I cut off the angled section and frenched them into the frame, these will get gusseted and plated this weekend.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/camcw103/IMG_0543.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/camcw103/photo12.jpg

Also due to the fact of how wide the mounts were regardless of the fact that I frenched the hangers in I had to bend the radius arms out right after the "C" in the arm. I angled it in about 5*. This allowed the arm to run parallel with the frame then angle out to match the angle of the weld on wedges and poly bushings.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/camcw103/IMG_0561.jpg

I set up the steering using a late model Montero box and a early gen. Mighty Max pump. I will go hydro assist in the future. Since I pushed the box as far forward as I could I had to notch the body and completley make a new mount. I was already planning on plating the out side of the frame with 1/4 inch plate so I just extended the plate down, plated the back side and the bottom the final product is this.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/camcw103/IMG_0547.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/camcw103/IMG_0562.jpg

The steering links are 1 1/2 .120 wall HREW sleeved with 1 1/4 wall HREW with 5/8 heims. I know I know it's not DOM and I will bend these eventually but DOM is not easy to come by here and I am cheap here are my angles in relation to the panhard
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/camcw103/IMG_0550.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/camcw103/IMG_0548.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/camcw103/IMG_0549.jpg

The frame mount is a off the shelf Ballistic mount, the axle side is made out of 3/16 plate that is both the pan hard mount and the air shock mount. The panhard is also made out of 1 1/2 .120 wall sleeved with 1 1/4 .120 wall HREW, with a 3/4" heim on the axle end and a bushing from i believe Ruff Stuff on the frame.



The only thing I haven't completely figure out is the pitman arm, I am 99% sure I can use a pitman arm off an older Ford Ranger. I know they have the same spline count and am pretty sure the are roughly the same size, the only thing that I will hopefully have to do is the Ford am has 4 double spline that they use to locate the arm on the splines so those will have to get ground off.


Also the high-steer arm will be double sheared and tapered spacers are on the way from Jegs.

No problems so far with my radius arms in three years, they're 6" longer but I ran my 2"dom all the way to the wedge part, and they are bent to clear the tires.

What motor?
More info on that oil pan, please.

Its the stock 4g64 that came in it. I was gonna get to it but since you asked the axle hit the stock pan and I couldn't find a rear sump pan anywhere so I cut the mounting lip of the stock pan off and made my own, its 16 guage steel that should be a little more capacity then the stock pan I still have to extend the pick up and add some baffeling but it should work. It is miged together so its not the prettiest thing on earth but it should work. I will get some pics of it and the pick-up

I eventually want to swap in the turboed 4g64 narrow block from a car and run an adapter to either a turbo 350 or a toyota tranny, but then I will have to switch to one tons to handle the power and if im puttin in new axles I will want to go 4 link rear 3 link front. But by that time I will have some kids running around and I will need to get a Montero. Plans there a biotch

Really 700 views and only like 6 comments?

Really 700 views and only like 6 comments?

There are always lookiloos, some have nothing to add to your thread.

I look forward to more pictures.

I didn't say it in the original post but like most every other build up the truck is much farther along then it is here. Here are some teaser shots.

Here is the rear, it's gonna be wide.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/camcw103/photo4.jpg



Just a little bit of trimming is going to be need in the rear. Ha
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/camcw103/get-attachment.jpg

I probably have about 10 of those looks, I guess I'm waiting for more pics. Love the stance, more wondering how it's done. More pics, questions will follow.

Really 700 views and only like 6 comments?

Here's a comment. You need to clean your garage.:D



Looks good so far.

Yeah there is actually a car under there, it the next project its a 66 mustang coupe

Well for the front thats actually about caught up. But I haven't talked about the rear. The rear was actually where I started, the rear was pretty easy the rear axle is a Ford 9 inch it has a lock-right with the stock axle shaft. The brakes are stock but all new. I went with leaves because of the ease, they are 56" long Ford springs. The front hangers are stock which pushed the axle about 3" back, the rear we cut off the frame until a aftermarket rear hanger would cap the end and also have a good shackle angle.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/camcw103/IMG_0534.jpg

So now that it was standing on all 4's I could start to mount everything. Since the factory motor mounts were built into the front crossmember and that is long gone we had to make our own. The block side of the mount is stock we then cut out a new plate to mount to the factory mount then a piece of 1/4 wall 2x2 square connected the factory mount to the frame

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/camcw103/IMG_0553.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/camcw103/IMG_0554.jpg

The garage comment was pretty funny.

At least i can actually work in my garage

Well back to "tech". So the motor is mounted on to the tranny and t case, I wasn't sure what needed to be done with the tranny mount due to the t case being so far away and having such a long drive shaft so I started with the case mount. I started with a ott t case mount.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/camcw103/e8bd2732.jpg

I then took a piece of 1 1/2 tube and welded on some bushings
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/camcw103/IMG_0537.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/camcw103/IMG_0538.jpg

So now that the back was taken care of it was on to the front since the case is divorce mounted, what I came up with is a 3/16 plate that mounted to the OTT divorce adapter then bent up some more tubing, added another bushing and it turned out like this
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/camcw103/IMG_0541.jpg

The brackets are 1/4 inch tabs from ballistic, I did add a gusset to the rear mount. Then painted everything, I will get some finished pics tommorow.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/camcw103/IMG_0539.jpg

I like the black paint!

Are you reffering to the factory pewter gray of the truck or the semi-gloss black that everyone else has on their frames?

I like the steering angles, bumpsteer sucks! I also like the low stance.

Are you planning to trailer it or drive it to the trail?

Does my bump steer angles suck or bump steer in general? If mine suck what would you change. It will be semi street legal but hopefully i can get a trailer soon so i can just tow it. So when i do break it it wont be as bad.

No the angles look good. Add a sway bar and it should ride great on the street.

Good luck covering up those tires to be legal though. :laughing:

Yea i really need to get new rims and will help a lot

Update???

Update???

Well??? Let's see some progress on this.

I figured all lost intrest i will get some more pics and updates soon

I figured all lost intrest i will get some more pics and updates soon

Nope, we're still watchin'.

Yep, just waiting for more work.

Sooooooo...






wassup? Where are those update pics?

I am getting married in May and have been planning that, trust me i would much rather be working on the truck. I have been doing some stuff and hopefully i can get a bunch more done since i have back to back 3 day weekends coming up, got to love government jobs! I will snap some picks

Cool build. Just read your whole thread and had a couple questions/comments. Why not Toyota axels? If you gear that case that d44 will never hold up, no matter how much you spend on it. You can buy a fully built set of yota axels used, for a g and they will never break given your tire size. Do your self a favor and build some good lower links now. Breaking on the trail sucks. Especially if you have to drive it home. All you need is the dom,2 more joints or just some hard mount bushings for the axel end. Then when you decide to link the front you will only need to build some .120 wall uppers. If you want to shorten up your drive train, get rid of your drive shaft between the tranny and t-case. Just run 1 u-joint between the tranny slip and the flange on the ott adapter. Worked great for me. I'n case you didn't know, you can swap a 4g63t head with turbo, exuaste and intake onto your 4g64 block. Your stock mighty max computer will handle it and you will have around 230hp. Just some food for thought. P.s. Go dials before gearing that case. Roughly the same price, but lower gearing with duals and better gear selection. If you do go duals, make sure you install a chromo output!

Ok havent actually worked on it much but have been collecting some new parts i got a killer deal on a dual case setup and twin sticks so things are getting moved around.

As I said all this was originally going under a Nissan Frontier so Toyota axles would be to narrow with out spacers which I hate, also i am not a fan of closed knuckle axles or birfs.

I have read tons of info on the head swap and if I was going to do that I would switch to the narrow block so I could use the Toyota tranny, and I want to keep it semi street legal so I am going to run a rear mount turbo.

Right on. You will be happy with your twin stick cases. I agree with the 4g63/toyota tranny option. But just so you know. You should be able to swap that Mitsu tranny tail housing with a jeep aw4 tail housing, without changing the tail shaft. Might be cheaper for a jeep to Toyota t-case adapter than a Mitsu to Toyota bell housing adapter. Plus you would have the option to run a Dana300/atlas t-case without any adapters in the future. Which Will be needed if you tune your engine to anything above 200hp.

Cool build. Just read your whole thread and had a couple questions/comments. Why not Toyota axels? If you gear that case that d44 will never hold up, no matter how much you spend on it. You can buy a fully built set of yota axels used, for a g and they will never break given your tire size. Do your self a favor and build some good lower links now. Breaking on the trail sucks. Especially if you have to drive it home. All you need is the dom,2 more joints or just some hard mount bushings for the axel end. Then when you decide to link the front you will only need to build some .120 wall uppers. If you want to shorten up your drive train, get rid of your drive shaft between the tranny and t-case. Just run 1 u-joint between the tranny slip and the flange on the ott adapter. Worked great for me. I'n case you didn't know, you can swap a 4g63t head with turbo, exuaste and intake onto your 4g64 block. Your stock mighty max computer will handle it and you will have around 230hp. Just some food for thought. P.s. Go dials before gearing that case. Roughly the same price, but lower gearing with duals and better gear selection. If you do go duals, make sure you install a chromo output!

Right on. You will be happy with your twin stick cases. I agree with the 4g63/toyota tranny option. But just so you know. You should be able to swap that Mitsu tranny tail housing with a jeep aw4 tail housing, without changing the tail shaft. Might be cheaper for a jeep to Toyota t-case adapter than a Mitsu to Toyota bell housing adapter. Plus you would have the option to run a Dana300/atlas t-case without any adapters in the future. Which Will be needed if you tune your engine to anything above 200hp.

Wow buddy you must read some weird stuff, for starters there is no reason a 44 cant be built to hold up to 35s, especially if he spends the grand you suggest to replace them with toyota axles. Secondly what do you mean build real links now and just add uppers when he wants to link it... If he looses the radius arms then he has to three or four link it(or go to leaves), end of story... And if you want him to just use the lower part of the arm and DOM the rest why would he do that if he is eventually going to link it? the links would be to short to reuse and he would have to re buy the tubing and bungs anyway... In regards to cromo output guess you better pm the tens of thousands of people that run duals and have never had an issue. And lastly you think that a 2wd tranny from the mighty max with an atlas behind it is a good idea? and needed for 200 hp? the toyota trans and tcases will hold 200 hp no problem no to mention that an atlas behind that tranny would be retardedly overkill, and expensive.

Yes I read a lot. But I've wheeled a lot and all my friends have built capable rigs a few times now. Just trying to shed light on a couple things that he should do instead of wishing he would have done. Whats the differance between a radious arm and a lower link, besides strength. For your information, he could build real, strong lower links/radius arms long enough to doulbe as lower links on the four link he's going to build in the future. Geometry numbers only matter in the rear anyway because the rear pushes and the front pulls. Anti squat feffers to forces trying to push the truck.
Second you can build a Toyota axle stronger than a d44. The week link is the housing. The third can't handle a 40" tire though. A used, fully built set of Toyota axels can be had for a g.
Third you can only gear a axel so much so you need to gear the case's right? And so when you have a good set of axels with limitted gearing the next week link is going to be the case/cases. Because all the stress is on the rear case not the front one, you are going to break a output. It happens all the time even on 35's, and especially with a geared single case or duals. My cousin had the best toyota cases money could buy only to start breaking housings. That was with 4:10's and 42's, 60's exct. Toyota cases seriously holding up to 200hp reliably, I doubt it. Buy the time you build those cases you could buy a atlas. Because a mighty max tranny is capable of bolting to a atlas/dana300 why not just get one and run it forever. The tranny would hold up fine, the axels and case see all the stresses of wheeling.

Going to have to disagree with you. The difference between a radius arm and a lower links is that radius arms handle all the rotational forces. If he builds a full tube arm and slices on the stock C's when he cuts them off to add bungs for flex joints they will be to short. And if your thinking about jeep style arms then he would still have to build upper link mounts and has the same amount of work as three linking it? In regards to housing strength, you are the first person I have heard of that thinks the toyota housing is stronger than a dana housing, I have run toyota axles on my junk and I love them but they are narrow and have supper thin sheet metal housings, his 44 has 3/8 wall tubes and much beffier center section. Please don't use a rig on 60s and 42's to determine if a Toyota case will hold up on 35s, just not a fair comparison. At that level then an atlas would be something to consider. And just fyi the tranny still sees stress when wheeling, not as much as whats behind the gear reduction but enough that there is potential for breakage and that potential goes up alot if the rig had bullet proof axles and tranfercase. and no a toy case will not reliably hold up to 200 hp on a rig with 60's, huge tires and hard wheeling but again not an apples to apples comparison.

You completely misunderstood everything I was trying to say. But that's alright. To the person who started this thread. Your stock engine is enough to do everything that you want to do. It's already comperable to a 2rz/3rz. Your 4g64 is over 150hp stock. With minor up grades, using stock 4g63t parts (head swap with turbo) you will be around 50hp more than if you do a 4g63 swap which is 200hp. The 4g63 is still a good swap in my opinion. Just more expensive due to the bellhousing adapter to Toyota tranny. Because you can already bolt other cases to the stock mitsu tranny by switching the tailhousing. But whatever. As long as you keep your tires bellow 40" your cases should hold up fine. People break stock outputs all the time on 35's and 37's but on bullet proof yota axels. You will break shafts, u-joints and 3rds before a case just because its d44. Switch the out put before installing your cases though. Or at least take a couple stock spares. When you break one on the trail it is a 8hr job to get your rig moving.
It would be wise to atleast 3link the front right now. If I were you I would go straight to the 4link with full hydro steering. Better ride stronger steering on the trail. Hydro assist is better than a unassisted box but still is rough on the trail.
A Toyota axel is stronger in every way except the housing, as I previously stated.
I know you are planning on only running 35's. I have a feeling that that will go out the window after you actually start wheeling this thing. I'd be surprised if you arnt trying to run 40's I'n years time, or wishing you could.
As far as me comparing 60's, 42's to this build. I think it's relevant because all that carnage that happened every trip for 6 trips was with stock worn out 22re power (120 hp max)
Trannys see most abuse when the t-case is in high range. Due to the fact that the case is not releaving any stress through gearing. Just passing it on to the tranny, to do all the work. Same reason why when you gear axels, cases it's almost impossible to stall the engine. The engine doesn't see very much load. Prob won't matter with 35's until you are trying to haul ass through the desert ect.
Just my opion based on my rig building and wheeling experiences. Still a cool build either way.