BillyBob's SAS Thread | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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BillyBob's SAS Thread

What's up everyone? I got the itch for more lift about a month and a half ago so I started looking into cheap options to add another couple of inches to Bill Bob's ride height-at least enough to clear 35s. Unfortunately, while checking out the methods the previous owner had used to acheive the current lift, I realized I had already been running a fairly cheap lift setup in the first place which consisted of bigger springs/spacers in the front and SOA+AAL in the rear. As you can see from the before pic, this setup allowed clearance for the 33x12.5" tires that had come with the truck. I had a friend (who is ASE certified) check the truck out so we could formulate a plan of attack. The factory D35 was in pretty bad shape anyway with tons of rot :eek: When that new information came to my attention, it was pretty clear that I was going to have to go with a D44/9 inch swap to get the results I was after. The 9 inch rear is from a 78 Bronco I pulled out of the woods near a guy's house in New Hampshire and the front is a D44 out of a 78 F150 from the boneyard. There wasn't much of the donor F150 left at the yard, except a set of fairly beefy aftermarket springs and buckets that we paid $20 for. I got a great deal on a set of 35x14.5" boggers with 95% tread left on 15x10s 5.5 inch pattern. Netted out at $400 for the set including the rims :thumbsup: It's still very much a work in progress, but it has come along enough to where I thought I could start the thread. I'll post more pics as the project moves along. Enjoy!
 

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Pics of the rear end so far
 

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I think I'm gonna need bigger flares :p:
 

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Pics of the D44/ F150 springs
 

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wow.. looks good... keep taking pics and updating! Those tires look awesome on there!

Whereabouts are you in Mass?
I'm north Shore/north east mass.
 






I actually have more pics to post, but I guess I'm at my attachment limit. I can get more space if I go Elite, right?

I live in Cambridge. I'm always down for some wheeling tho. The truck should be finished pretty soon. Just hope I can get out once or twice before the snow
 






You will have a ton of space if you become elite. You will be able to upload them to the site instead of just attaching them. Its worth it just for that
 






You will have a ton of space if you become elite. You will be able to upload them to the site instead of just attaching them. Its worth it just for that

:thumbsup: i'll see about making the move tonight at some point
 






snow makes it more fun!! I joined a club called south shore wheelers based near the cape... but they make runs all over.. you should check it out!
www.southshorewheelers.org and then go to the forum section and post up!

we should wheel sometime!

keep up the good work and lemme know if you wanna help me sas mine!!;)
 






seems like a good group, might have to make my introductions

i'm always willing to lend a hand if you're thinking about doing something similar
 












I think those f150 springs are going to ride like a ton of bricks, but for $20 I would run them! Looks good. Like the boggers!
 






There we go he did it.


Get this baby done and make yourself a elite explorer registry and you can be nominated for the Truck of the Month on the forum.
 






Always nice to see another SAS. Good deal on the boggers, they look like new!
 






thanks for all the replies! my computer sh*t the bed on my last night while I was trying to post up some more pics

Kirby-I'm a little nervous about the 150 springs too, not sure how much flex I'll get out of them, but like you said, the price was right

BMX-They are pretty close to new. They guy I bought them from had them on a 79 F150, but he said the motor went shortly after he bought them, so he put almost no miles on them.
 

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There we go he did it.


Get this baby done and make yourself a elite explorer registry and you can be nominated for the Truck of the Month on the forum.

Can I be nominated with half a truck? :D
 






Billy Bob is slowly coming together. Got the front tires on last night after we finished the custom spring perches. There's a picture of the radius arm brackets, moved back about a foot, give or take. Still on the to do list is to finish the steering, scavenged out of a different late 70s F150. Also the brakes need to be finished up, and we will be fabbing up some custom shackles in the rear. I'll get a couple of pics of the ole stockers. They are litterally rotted through the center :D. I'd love some feedback/suggestions if anyone has any. Oh and excuse the sh*tty cellphone pics. I'll do a full set when she's all buttoned up
 

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nice progress it looks real sweet with the bogger's.If you end up needing new replacment radius arm mount's( since it looks like there welded to the frame), I believe uhaul sells them for 20 a pair.Iy looks like it sit's about even, maybe a little but of a sag in the rear.You do know once you go solid it manditory that you paint your X a new color...j//p

Are you gonna keep it full width?What gear ratio are you going with.Thought about a Locker yet?
 






I usually don't like the look of full width on an Explorer but yours looks just right. Nice work.
 



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fischerry- I wasn't sure what to do with the radius arm mounts. I figured I'd run them as is until I break something. It definatly sags a bit in the rear, not much, but enough that I'll need to level it off somehow. We even had to cut some coils on those F150 springs and it still sits a little high in the front.

That brings up a question I was hoping you all could help me with. What makes the most sense to level off the rear, another AAL (I already have one in there now), shackles (the factory ones are rotted, so I'll be replacing them anyway) or blocks? I can't decide.

lol, yeah we'll see about the paint. I'll probably end up rhino lining the whole thing at some point ;) It's staying full width (for now) and as of this moment it has the factory 3:55s which will be swapped for some 4:88s (hopefully) early next year. As of right now the lockers fall into the same category as the gears, on the to do list. I just found out my company is doing layoffs soon, so I want to make sure I'll still be getting a paycheck before I keep dumping money into the truck.

damarble- :salute: thank you sir
 






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