Its finally hit me that investing the money to get my IFS rig up on 35's just isnt worth it. Even if it means keeping my truck on 33's I want to go solid axle. I'm doing this on a budget. That means no tricked out Install kit, no custom leafs, or any of that.

So far I have researched prices and it seems like the allpro kit is quite worth the money. I didnt even include shocks in my figure. Plus shocks and I'd only be $50 under an allpro kit. Looks like allpro it is unless theres somewhere else I can save money.




I need some advice on where I can save some money.
So I just called allpro he told me that the kit would be $850 w/o leaf springs. The other downfall I didnt think of is that the high steer requires at least 4" of lift to clear. This really makes me think that the whole kit is completly worth it... To save $100 on leaf springs would really be taking away from the point of the SAS, to flex.

 

Don't let it mean no 35's, you'll thank me later.

 

You can get the hysteer cheaper from Trail Gear wth free shipping. I tried to do my SAS on the cheap, but it is the little things that add up quick that brings up the cost.

Some other ways to save....use Ford shock towers, buy a SAS kit instead of trying to piece it together.

http://www.trail-gear.com/sas.html

 

Trail Gears IFS eliminator kit is only a little bit more and you get everything you need.. what's the point of even building it if your gonna do everything so cheap?? You'll just tear it up like your IFS and spend tons more fixing it with better parts that it should have had in the first place. I'd leave your truck alone till you can afford to do it properly.. my .02

 

Definatly seems like its more worth it to buy a kit... Guess my next purchase will be a front rear.

From what I can tell everything between Allpro and trailgear is the same. Anyone wanna vouch for one company or the other? Btw does either kit come with the stuff to rebuild the knuckles on my axle?

Dont worry the truck will be on 35's or 36's

 

You'll get a million different opinions on Allpro vs Marlin vs Trailgear vs Inchworm.. the list goes on. I bought alot of stuff from Trailgear because they were cheaper than Marlin. All the SAS kits out there are basically the same. I don't think they come with anything for rebuilding the axles. You'll definitely want to do a full tear down and rebuild before you put it under your truck.

 

TG's kit comes with knuckle kit...look at the parts list

 

In my experience, it is hardly worth doing a swap for less than 3k. That is doing all the work yourself and running the minimum without having to redo.

You could spend 1k on a kit, 200 on an axle, 750 for Longfields and 500 for a rear kit. You have no driveshafts or lockers plus stock gears at this point.

You are not gaining strength until you use aftermarket birfields, preferably inners and a geared front third. Sure you can just get the axle under for that money, but you are going to be pulling stuff apart to redo it again.

At least the rear of a pickup is straighforward.

 

I dont see how I'm going to need aftermarket axles with 35's or 36's. Toyota axles are rated up to 37's or 38's from everything I'm told by friends. As far as the third goes I plan on doing yukons and a richmond locker. At no point will I even think about an ARB because it just adds too much expense. As far as the driveshaft goes trailgear sells one for $180 and I plan on using a junkyard solid front with a square tube to extend it. I dont see what else I am missing.

What should I replace in the axle as far as outer bearing ect.

 

you should get the knuckle rebuild kit and replace all the seals and bearings.

If you think that you won't break birfs with 35's or 36's, ask 4runnerkid(or lots of others) how he broke one when he was running 33's.

If you have a front locker, you will break them. The longfields should be considered a necessity when building your axle. You should also opt for the chromolly hub gears (it's a cheap $140 insurance policy for your longfields).

I've never heard of a richmond locker (maybe it's just me??). After my swap, I had a detroit EZ in the front and it was a bitch to steer in 4wd. I finally broke it and replaced it with an ARB. I think that unless you have hydro-assist, a selectable locker in the front should be considered another necessity (or leave it open).

 

The problem with a SAS is that once you start... where do you draw the line? There are so many upgrades that can come in to play.

I run 35's, Aussie front locker with 5.29 gears. I have the stock inners. I have not had a problem until I wrote this, and for that I am now surely doomed. How does one knock on virtual wood?

Will I upgrade on day? For sure. Do I feel like I am currently driving a time bomb that could fail at any moment on the trail... no.

I'd suggest the TG kit. It is the most complete. I'd also suggest keeping your costs down and wheel with the stock inners until they fail. I managed to pick up an extra set of stock inners at the local salvage yard for $50 which I can take with me on the trails.

The success of all these mods depends a lot on the terrain you wheel and your driving habits. If you are heavy on the skinny pedal or torque you rig hard when it is bound up or at a full turn, you will surely have issues.

I think overall a "stock" SAS is going to be stronger than your IFS with both setups being asked to push 35's. I'd look at the SAS as a step in the right direction on the long expensive path to building a truly bulletproof rig.

But you may not need to go that far. Only time will tell.

 

I use the trail gear kit and it does come with about everything you need. We will be rebuilding the front tonight with long's, he was working on the knuckles when I left today. It should be on 4's by tommorrow hopefully, if not Friday. We have a few items left on it to finish it up, but its almost done. Anyway more pics to come on my build thread. I agree with the others and spend the bucks lock it up and you can always add later too. We had it on rears to set the pinion angle and it looked good.
Oh I fit the 35's on the back and there was room to spare.

 

Lockrite is made by Richmond. I happen to refer to it as a richmond my bad

As I am trying to keep immediate costs down I will run the front diff open for the time being until i decide that it needs to be strengthened. One thing you guys have to keep in mind is that I am a 17y/o kid in High school making about 6-8grand a year. That plans for now are to buy the axle rebuild it then the third. After that I will put my money away til I can buy the entire kit. While that sits in my workshop I'm gonna save another couple hundo for those oops parts that I always seem to need in the middle of a project.

As far as the kit I plan to buy 5 or 6in springs (opinions?) since I've heard stories of these SAS kit springs sagging down an inch. I'll pull my body lift off (so 33's dont look rediculous) and run my 33's. Everything seems like a very straight forward install so i hope to have my truck back on the road in 2-4 days.

As for the longs I dont think I'll be going with them at least from the start. I'll probably go for those hub gears though to play it safe. Does anyone have a link to a rear build up/break down. I'm not very knowlegable with solid axle steering, componant names and how everything works. Dont get me wrong I have an idea but I planned on having my friend guide me through building my rear.

 

I don't know enough about this stuff to give specific advice, but one thing that seems to be the strong opinion is to build it slowly, and build it right.

Save and build as you go might be a good way. But, its up to you. I think TG comes with the reubild kit, so i'd look into that a bit more, haven't heard of anyone having issues with their kits.

 

Btw does anyone have the link with the specs on why the 84-85 front axle is better than the previous years? I know I should be aiming for an 84-85 but I forget why

I know its something with the longtube of it...

 

The 84-85 Front Axles have a fully welded truss on the underside, which adds quite a bit more strength.

 

Ahh that was why. Is there any reason I cant weld a truss in if I get an earlier axle?

 

You can weld your own truss in, that shouldn't be a huge problem as long as you take your time and don't warp the housing.

As for how to do it, there is always the "buy a kit, do it the expensive way people" , and there are always the "make it yourself, do it cheap people". I am somewhere in the middle. I used parts from the kits, for example, I used TG high-steer, front hanger, u-bolt flip, and axle rebuild kit, Sky boomerang shackles and axle truss, Ford shock towers, and rancho shocks. I built my own springs from rear packs and made a square tube front d-shaft. I did Chevy springs in the rear with a Sky chevy kit and made my own shock mounts and crossmember. Overall, I saved enough money to buy myself some used tires and rims (34's) and 4.7:1 t-case gears. I like my rears up front better than other people's kit springs and yes, I have installed and driven trucks with them. A kit is the easiest because you order it and it all shows up at once, piecing it together takes more time, but saves some money.
As for axle shafts, a friend of mine is running 35's with gears, dual cases, and a locker on marfield outers and stock inners, he wheels it hard and in the couple of years he has had it, he broke one inner. So although longfields are the coolest and strongest thing around, they aren't 100% necessary. You could get marfields and inners cheaper or just run stock inners for now.
In the end it all depends on how much money and time you have. People wheeled and built their rigs back in the day before there were SAS kits and longs, it is still possible, although people don't like to believe it.

 

Definetly take your time. Do it slowly, you warp it, and its done. Just wanted to emphasize that point

In fact, many places sell a truss custom fit for that exact purpose.

 

I always thought the kits were great if you have no fab skills, but if you do, you can make better hangers and things yourself, its not hard. Ford shock towers are a must. Mine where very reinforced but were a good place to start.