KM346's SFA blazer (lots of pics)
#22
11-03-2012, 12:47 AM
hey thats a mighty nice truck there would you mind giving me a break down of what all you had to do to get the sas in there i am looking at doing the same thing but i would like to know what is involved first
#24
11-03-2012, 09:41 AM
My best advise would be to start researching, there are many different options when converting to SFA. Start here, read the stickies and flip through the pages reading builds, a longer winded version of my build is in there.
4wd SFA - S-10 Forum
In short:
1. Pick a suspension type (I chose leaf springs)
2. Figure out how to attach it to the frame (I chose ORD kit.. that's no longer made)
3. Pick an axle (I chose HP Dana 30)
4. Remove all IFS components, Including cutting off all the lower control arm brackets
5. Mount leaf hangers and the front axle to the truck.
6. Figure out what to run for steering (I chose JB4x4 high steer with YJ tie rods)
7. Make/buy shock hoops and measure for shocks (included with ORD kit, I used bilstein shocks)
8. convert output shaft / yoke on stock TC (I used 1st gen TC with Jeep 231 yoke)
9. Make a transmission crossmemeber that will clear front driveshaft (Mine has an ORD... again, out of business)
10. Measure for / have a front drive shaft made. (I still need to cut down my cherokee drive shaft)
#25
11-03-2012, 10:55 AM
Ill try my best at a long version...
1a. You need to decide on a suspension type. Leafs, coils or coil overs. This choice will determine height of your truck, ride quality, and how much suspension flex you will have. In the end it really comes down to what you'll be using the truck for and how good your fab skills are. I chose leafs because they are simple, and ORD had a kit for them.
1b. Break down your suspension choice even further. Leafs come in many different shapes and sizes. Most guys run Wagoneer springs on our trucks, but chevy fronts, dakota rears and even s10 rears are an option for front springs. Leafs can also be run Spring over axle or spring under axle. Again, this will change your ride height dramatically, and also your steering steup (we'll talk about that later). Coils / coil overs can be setup with radius arms, 3 link or 4 link. Much like with leafs, this all depends on your goal for the truck. There are plenty of options for coil springs too... Ive seen people use modified Ford radius arm kits and Jeep long arm kits to make coils work, other wise you'll be fabbing most of the stuff yourself. Im running Wagoneer lift springs SUA.
3. Figure out how your going to attach all this to the frame. I used an ORD SFA conversion kit that is no longer made. SKY makes a similar kit for leafs that is a little more work. As i said Ford radius arms can be modified to work as well as Jeep long arm kits. You can buy universal coil buckets / link mounts from 4x4 places. The hardest part of all of this will be getting your geometry correct so the truck goes strait when your going down the road.
4. pick an axle. Here is were it gets tricky as there are so many choices. I chose not to run full width axles, so that narrowed it down for me. My advise would be to buy axles in pairs, so your bolt pattern / gear ratio will match. (Im running a HP dana 30 front, 8.8 rear. Both have 4.10's and 5x4.5 bolt pattern) If you dont care about bolt pattern you can always re-gear whichever axle to match.
I wont give a list of axles because that would be silly. I assume if you're still reading this your going to research! IMO you want to try to find a driver side drop axle to keep it simple. That means Jeep or Ford. Also their are certain axles that came with leaf springs and certian axles that came with coils... keep that in mind depending on your spring setup, you may be able to reuse factory mounts. If you want to run Chevy stuff / any other passanger side drop axle, you can make it work with a passanger side drop TC from a fullsize Chevy.
5. Remove all IFS components. Really get it all out of there, Cut off all lower control arm mounts, and upper mounts too if your planning on running weld on shock hoops. There is some controversy over keeping the IFS cross member, most chop it off... but I chose to keep mine because my steering angles are pretty good with my setup. Depending on how much farther forward your axle is from stock you may need to cut it off to make room for your steering / Astro van steering box. (more on that next)
6. Steering setup. Lots of options here too... Im running stock YJ tie rods with a high steer arm. I would suggest trying to run stock steering off whichever axle you choose, this is inherently easier with any of the jeep axles. Full width stuff may get tricky depending on what the axle came out of. Like always this will depend on your spring setup. You may have to run high steer, or an Astro box... or both. Why an Astro box you ask? Well... you may find that your steering angles are really crappy when you start putting everything together. An Astro box will bolt up to the stock location, however the pitman arm swings the other way
, no seriously.. the pitman arm is inverted and points toward the front of the truck instead of the rear... This is good because it may give you a much more desirable steering angle. It may also save you from having to run high steer as the drag link will be at a lower angle.
7. Measuring for shocks. Im running Bilstein 12" 5100's with ORD hoops mounted on the stock axle mounts. Trail gear makes nice weld on hoops meant for a Toyota that will work. People also use factory f250 rear mounts welded on. Where they mount on the axle depends on your setup.
8. T case mods... You need to get rid of the slip yoke on the T-case. Easiest way is to take apart a Jeep 231 case and steal the output shaft and yoke. Keep in mind Chevy cases can have 1" or 1.25" chains. Jeeps only have 1". I chose to use a 1st Gen blazer 233 because it has a 1.25" chain and more planet gears (stronger). It also keeps me from having to change the output shaft as 1st gen s10's didnt have slip yokes. I still had to swap in the Jeep yoke and a new seal. Obviously if you choose to run a passenger side axle you'll have to do a lot more work. Ive read it can be done with a 241 case.
9. Your transmission cross member has to be modified to clear the front driveshaft. Ive seen people use the stock one and make a hoop, or you can start from nothing and build a new one. I have an ORD, but theyre out of business.
10. Front driveshaft will be fairly easy. Find one from a Jeep Cherokee or 1st Gen explorer and it may bolt in depending on your setup. I still have to shorten mine about 1.5". If its a trail rig lots of people choose to make square front d-shafts. I run my truck on the street in the winter so this wasn't an option. You can also have one custom made after taking a few easy measurements.
WOW i cant believe i just wrote all that.
1a. You need to decide on a suspension type. Leafs, coils or coil overs. This choice will determine height of your truck, ride quality, and how much suspension flex you will have. In the end it really comes down to what you'll be using the truck for and how good your fab skills are. I chose leafs because they are simple, and ORD had a kit for them.
1b. Break down your suspension choice even further. Leafs come in many different shapes and sizes. Most guys run Wagoneer springs on our trucks, but chevy fronts, dakota rears and even s10 rears are an option for front springs. Leafs can also be run Spring over axle or spring under axle. Again, this will change your ride height dramatically, and also your steering steup (we'll talk about that later). Coils / coil overs can be setup with radius arms, 3 link or 4 link. Much like with leafs, this all depends on your goal for the truck. There are plenty of options for coil springs too... Ive seen people use modified Ford radius arm kits and Jeep long arm kits to make coils work, other wise you'll be fabbing most of the stuff yourself. Im running Wagoneer lift springs SUA.
3. Figure out how your going to attach all this to the frame. I used an ORD SFA conversion kit that is no longer made. SKY makes a similar kit for leafs that is a little more work. As i said Ford radius arms can be modified to work as well as Jeep long arm kits. You can buy universal coil buckets / link mounts from 4x4 places. The hardest part of all of this will be getting your geometry correct so the truck goes strait when your going down the road.
4. pick an axle. Here is were it gets tricky as there are so many choices. I chose not to run full width axles, so that narrowed it down for me. My advise would be to buy axles in pairs, so your bolt pattern / gear ratio will match. (Im running a HP dana 30 front, 8.8 rear. Both have 4.10's and 5x4.5 bolt pattern) If you dont care about bolt pattern you can always re-gear whichever axle to match.
I wont give a list of axles because that would be silly. I assume if you're still reading this your going to research! IMO you want to try to find a driver side drop axle to keep it simple. That means Jeep or Ford. Also their are certain axles that came with leaf springs and certian axles that came with coils... keep that in mind depending on your spring setup, you may be able to reuse factory mounts. If you want to run Chevy stuff / any other passanger side drop axle, you can make it work with a passanger side drop TC from a fullsize Chevy.
5. Remove all IFS components. Really get it all out of there, Cut off all lower control arm mounts, and upper mounts too if your planning on running weld on shock hoops. There is some controversy over keeping the IFS cross member, most chop it off... but I chose to keep mine because my steering angles are pretty good with my setup. Depending on how much farther forward your axle is from stock you may need to cut it off to make room for your steering / Astro van steering box. (more on that next)
6. Steering setup. Lots of options here too... Im running stock YJ tie rods with a high steer arm. I would suggest trying to run stock steering off whichever axle you choose, this is inherently easier with any of the jeep axles. Full width stuff may get tricky depending on what the axle came out of. Like always this will depend on your spring setup. You may have to run high steer, or an Astro box... or both. Why an Astro box you ask? Well... you may find that your steering angles are really crappy when you start putting everything together. An Astro box will bolt up to the stock location, however the pitman arm swings the other way
, no seriously.. the pitman arm is inverted and points toward the front of the truck instead of the rear... This is good because it may give you a much more desirable steering angle. It may also save you from having to run high steer as the drag link will be at a lower angle.7. Measuring for shocks. Im running Bilstein 12" 5100's with ORD hoops mounted on the stock axle mounts. Trail gear makes nice weld on hoops meant for a Toyota that will work. People also use factory f250 rear mounts welded on. Where they mount on the axle depends on your setup.
8. T case mods... You need to get rid of the slip yoke on the T-case. Easiest way is to take apart a Jeep 231 case and steal the output shaft and yoke. Keep in mind Chevy cases can have 1" or 1.25" chains. Jeeps only have 1". I chose to use a 1st Gen blazer 233 because it has a 1.25" chain and more planet gears (stronger). It also keeps me from having to change the output shaft as 1st gen s10's didnt have slip yokes. I still had to swap in the Jeep yoke and a new seal. Obviously if you choose to run a passenger side axle you'll have to do a lot more work. Ive read it can be done with a 241 case.
9. Your transmission cross member has to be modified to clear the front driveshaft. Ive seen people use the stock one and make a hoop, or you can start from nothing and build a new one. I have an ORD, but theyre out of business.
10. Front driveshaft will be fairly easy. Find one from a Jeep Cherokee or 1st Gen explorer and it may bolt in depending on your setup. I still have to shorten mine about 1.5". If its a trail rig lots of people choose to make square front d-shafts. I run my truck on the street in the winter so this wasn't an option. You can also have one custom made after taking a few easy measurements.
WOW i cant believe i just wrote all that.
Last edited by KM346; 11-04-2012 at 08:38 AM.
#26
11-03-2012, 05:46 PM
ok well mine at the moment has a rough country 2 inch sus lift in it but now heres the thing is it is tearing through front end parts cv axles like tooth picks it gets used for 4x4 and mud no rock crawling just basic canadian offroading love my truck but its becoming a pain in the *** sick of having to fix it once a month or so need stronger what would you suggest i go with here keep in mind it is harder for me to find parts alot are 2nd hand here most places dont **** kits up here and when they do costoms is nuts
#27
11-03-2012, 05:54 PM
ok well mine at the moment has a rough country 2 inch sus lift in it but now heres the thing is it is tearing through front end parts cv axles like tooth picks it gets used for 4x4 and mud no rock crawling just basic canadian offroading love my truck but its becoming a pain in the *** sick of having to fix it once a month or so need stronger what would you suggest i go with here keep in mind it is harder for me to find parts alot are 2nd hand here most places dont **** kits up here and when they do costoms is nuts
your issue is that the tbars are cranked to much... The manual basically states that if they are cranked to much it would be a harm to your cvs and ball joints.
#28
11-03-2012, 10:19 PM
Agreed... If your CV angle is really steep you'll chew through axles and front end stuff like crazy.
My setup definitely isnt the strongest there is... but im only planning on running 33's and I didnt build it to be a trail beater. IMO any solid axle is stronger then the weak IFS in these trucks. If you wanted to go any bigger and drive it hard offroad id recommend a Wagoneer D44 or even a full width D44 or D60 front.
No matter what you swap under it, If you beat on it hard enough it will break. LOL
My setup definitely isnt the strongest there is... but im only planning on running 33's and I didnt build it to be a trail beater. IMO any solid axle is stronger then the weak IFS in these trucks. If you wanted to go any bigger and drive it hard offroad id recommend a Wagoneer D44 or even a full width D44 or D60 front.
No matter what you swap under it, If you beat on it hard enough it will break. LOL
Last edited by KM346; 11-04-2012 at 01:25 PM.
