Tacoma SAS Part One: Dana 44 Rebuild

Cadmus · Nov 5, 2016

Shoot. I just did everything you told me, i even went to Wisconsin to buy exactly what you purchased. Now my truck is on cinder blocks and I have no clue how to finish this project... Sh!t.

JK If you like me, got this far and are now pissed that tacoma02's story is over but unfinished, he picks it back up here: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/tacoma-sas-part-two-the-swap.426763/
(I think)

1999RegCab · Jan 12, 2017

Funny how i had read part two of this build but missed this one.

Very well written build thread; good tech about how to overhaul these axles.

Almost 2 grand on the axle, and that was for a basic build. Shit gets expensive very quickly

Personally, at least I would have added chromo shafts to the price list. That's one of the most important things to upgrade in those axles.

great work. Is the owner still around these forums? He never made further updates to his other build thread after the SAS was completed.

quetzal · Mar 25, 2019

x

buyobuyo · Mar 25, 2019

quetzal said: ↑

x
Click to expand...

y?

tacoma02 · Oct 22, 2019

This truck is now for sale. Here is the link.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2002-sas-tacoma-rock-crawler.635101/

Tikibutt · Dec 12, 2023

tacoma02[OP] said: ↑

Since this is a "low pinion" axle that I have, I decided to rotate the outer C's to achieve a better pinion angle. This will hopefully reduce driveline vibrations by pointing the pinion yoke more towards the transfer case. Some things to keep in mind before doing this is that you do not want to turn the C's to far since this would point the differential at to much of an angle, causing inadequate gear lubrication. Just to give you a perspective as to how much you should rotate the outer C's, 16 to 20 degrees of rotating yields about 7 degrees caster (from what I've read).

This is one way to determine how far to rotate the outer C's...

First determine the radius of the axle tube. If the axle tube is 3" in diameter, then your radius is 1.5"

Then decide the amount of degrees you want them rotated (I chose 12 degrees).

Theta refers to the angle between two lines. (In this case, 12 degrees)

Arc Length= theta*pi*radius/180

So find Arc Lenght...

12*pi*1.5/180= 0.31415" or 5/16"

My geometry may be a little rusty, so this should be right but don't quote me on it.

Next I found the center point of each "C" in its original position and marked it with a hammer and chisel on both the base of the C and the axle tube. Then I measured about 5/16" from that point and tapped another mark on the axle tube. This way when I remove the outer C's and put them back on I will know how far they should be rotated (by lining up the mark in the middle of the C with the new mark on the tube).

These maybe some helpful links...
http://www.cutandturn.com/basics.html
http://cutandturn.com/SOAtech/chevysoapage.htm

Also notice that the C's are sticking out just about 1/16" from the end of the axle tube.

After you have made your marks, start grinding down the welds.
Start with one C first. This will take a while, especially the first one! Just keep grinding until you see about a hair line crack beginning to form. You may need to pound on it with a hammer to start the crack. By the way don't grind to far into the axle tube like I did.

Then once you have a large enough crack around the entire tube, take a hammer and start pounding the C off the end of the tube. I had to use a large sludge hammer and tap it off. Don't hit the C to hard as this may cause a fracture in the cast steel. Just take your time...

With one C off, your going to have to put it back on....
The best way to do this is to place the C on the grill for a little while. Then after its heated, using welding gloves!, take the C and do your best to line it up with the calculated mark you made on the axle tube. Then take the hammer and tap the C back on. Work fast becasue as the C cools, this task gets more challanging.

Using a cheap angle finder also helps make the process go more smoothly as your replacing the C.

Now that one side is done, you can move on to the other side and repeat.

After both sides are done make sure to check your angles using the cheap angle finder. You can stick a rod within the holes of the inner C and place the angle finder on the rod to check angles as well as place the angle finder on the C itself.

After verifying the correct angles, you can weld up the C's. Have someone who is good at welding do this! I had my buddy who is a pipe fitter weld these on with a stick welder.

It helps to set the axle on jack stands and slowly rotate the axle as someone welds around it.

Just checking the angles after welding..... Kinda late to change anything at this point though.

Now you can see the new pinion angle, which will be pointing more towards the transfer case.

Click to expand...

Why 12 degrees? What was the determining factor that decides how much or how little to rotate the Cs?

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