My cobbled together way over timeline sas swapped 4x4 converted 94 mighty max

[nissancam]

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

[nissancam]

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.

[nissancam]

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.




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.

[88mitsu]

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?

[nissancam]

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.

[KyleQ]

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.

[nissancam]

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.

[twistedyota]

Originally Posted by nissancam

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.

[KyleQ]

Originally Posted by nissancam

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 -

[nissancam]

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

[Baldy110]

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

[nissancam]

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

[Baldy110]

I extended them 14".

[nissancam]

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.



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.

[nissancam]

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.



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




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.

[Raole Duke]

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.

[nissancam]

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

[nissancam]

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

[nissancam]

Really 700 views and only like 6 comments?

[rxinhed]

Originally Posted by nissancam

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.

[nissancam]

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.




Just a little bit of trimming is going to be need in the rear. Ha

[MudRaider]

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.

[Raole Duke]

Originally Posted by nissancam

Really 700 views and only like 6 comments?

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



Looks good so far.

[nissancam]

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

[nissancam]

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.