My re- SAS 05 DCAB build

that is the goal. we are looking at turn key kits with in a year. I have already spoken with some of the axel vendors (Currie and Dynatrack) to get the wheels turning so that we have the ability to call an axel in for you. the other option is to find and build a 78-79 ford hi pinion king pin Dana 60. Other than an axel our kit will take care of all of the other stuff for you.
The other option is you can bring us you truck or ship it to us freight or rail and we will knock it out for you

 

testing complete!!!

 

yeah man, any time just shoot David or I a PM

 

That sounds like a good option. I'm actually only a few hours drive from you guys. Shoot my next job might send me to NC. I like this.

 

Cool to hear. Best of luck to you guys!

 

That would be perfect. Just a little something more refined for the 2nd gens. There's nothing really out there yet.

That would be awesome as well. Just a question for ya: what's with the reluctance of using a Dana 44 in the front. I know 60s front and rear would be very strong, but I know the toyota 8 inches can handle a lot as well as the 44s. Especially if you used chromoly axle shafts wouldn't you think that you'd be pretty set for at least 35s?

 

Pretty sure Josh is just going total beef from the get go. He shouldn't have a problem with horse power upgrades down the road.

 

The D44 is too small for this rig. A d-cab weighs a bit under 6000 from the factory, when you add in lockers, the new crawl box and all the other toys on the rig it spells disaster. The 8" is a great axel in a much lighter rig, but in a truck this large it doesn't have a prayer. These axel shafts are fine, a large diameter and 35 splines is a good combination. Same thing that is in a D60. The ring gear is the very very expensive weak point. If you do a search on TW you'll find a thread dedicated to 8" rear failures.
In my opinion a d44 is only good up to a 5000 lb rig with a tire size of 36 or less. You could cheat and run 37 on a 1st gen taco, but only if you stay off the skinny pedal and build it well.
Also, if you price a fully built D44 to a built D60 the price difference is arround $700. Ironically that's about what it will cost the first time you blow up an 8" TRD rear
Another thing to take in account, when I build an axel I choose where I want it to fail. EVERYTHING has a fail point but I choose that point from the start. Sure you can throw some chromoly shafts in and some 300m u joints in but that is going to make either your hubs or your ring gear or carrier the fail point, and the latter two are expensive, so you're running an ARB. There's a good chance it's not going to fail. You cryo treat your ring and pinion, so now it's your hubs. They are easy to change, but still kinda pricy. The Dana 44 has a pathetically weak hub, even if you're running the best one out there. This is where I was at with my 44. When I built the 60 I chose the u joint as the fail point. They are cheap and I can change it on the trail in about 30 minutes. The OEM u joint in the D60 is also plenty strong to take the punishment that my engine and drivetrain upgrades will throw at it as well as the driver.

 

Wow, thank you I appreciate the detailed response. Ok... you do have a lot of good reasoning here... I know for sure SAS will be in my future, I just wanted to see if I could get away with a 44 and stock TRD. However, I do like to do things right and I like peace of mind, so I guess 60s it will be.
Nice planning on your part for the u-joint to be the weak point. Thanks again for you info and this thread. It has helped a lot!

 

I like your logic, but 90%+ of the time when a u-joint goes, it takes out one of the shafts with it. So how do plan on repairing the axleshafts yokes on the trail when the u-joints break?

I am also a fan of the Spicer lifetime joints (non-greasable) as they are strong as shit and often brake chromo shafts with no joint damage. I am running them now, and bought Longs to replace them with, but didn't get a chance. After a weekend of hard wheeling in Harlan on the 40's I am probably gonna wait until I destroy a shaft and spicer joint before its worth tearing apart for the Longs installation. Of course the warranty on the Yukon shafts helps with the decision.

 

FWIW... My 2nd gen DCSB weighs #4600 with a topper, basically all stock expect painted bumpers haha. But anyway... to agree on your post; D44 is absolutely stupid on a 2nd gen.

I run a D44 on my 1st gen which is still stupid (IMO), with 37s and there is no "light" on the skinny pedal. After 4 years I've broken each axle once and it was due to piss poor lockers. I beat the fuck out of that thing and I even have bent axles haha. D44 is good for a wheeler who doesn't wheel.

 

On a different note WTF is up with how this thread is displaying?!

 

Good question. It's a tad bit annoying to have everything underlined.

 

subscribed. awesome build!

 

I thought it was just the government computer...

 

everything is shifted to the right 2 inches about halfway down this page

 

In response to some previous post, my truck was weighed on scales prior to this build. my data come from my truck which was fairly heavily built from the get go. Given most of that if not all of it is changing so it will be re-scaled. I am sure my weight will vary from a stock rig. We have all ready lined up two stock rigs (one pre runner x-cab and one 4wd sport d-cab) to do the shock tuning and finial development of our kit. they will be re-scaled to get accurate sprung and un-sprung weights.
As far as my choice of the stock U-joits. no matter who you are or how your differential is built it is the most expensive part of your axel. Axel shafts are cheap and if they are destroyed from collateral damage so be it. It is still cheaper than a diff or a high end hub. I have had 3 toyota rigs with D44s in them. the only thing that failed was the hubs, (Warn premium hubs with unlimited warranty BS) I broke so many that 4WP refused to warranty my last set so I bought another set for daily use and went to drive flanges on the trail. After that little "fix" I had three U-joint failures on that truck. One of those took out the ears on a stock shaft. I am not saying it isn't common for the axel shaft to be taken out in collateral damage. However the extent of damage done when a failure happens has a lot to do with how the rig is driven. Any time you have a failure and the drive train is in shock or you are at or near wide open throttle it is going to be catastrophic. So you build you axel to be bullet proof and the fail point just moves up the drive train. If your drive shafts can survive the shock it will move to your T- case or you trans. Nothing is "Bulletproof"
Different strokes for Different folks. But I chose cheap stuff as my yield point

 

It makes total sense for you to put in a intentional weak spot like the u Joints. They are cheap and can easily be fixed on a trail and dont take up alot of room. For some they think its stupid to put in a weak spot, I continuously had this argument with some of the CUMMINS guys when I had mine but they didnt think that way, or they just liked doing ring and pinions all the time.

 

I am assuming at least this portion of the response is aimed at me since my 05 SAS build is called "bulletproof", and you use it in quotations, so I will entertain with a response.

I completely agree with your statement, the failure/weak link will move up the drivetrain from the axle. I have chosen for my weak link to be the driveshaft u-joint, since in my opinion they are easier to change, require much less disassembly of surrounding components, and a new driveshaft can be had for less than the cost of an axleshaft. I fact, I already had one let go on me, basically the only drivetrain failure I have had, but in its defense...it was probably a little brittle at -14°F, lol.

That being said, it also happened on stock spicer life series (non-greasable) axle u-joints, so I don't question just running those, they are hands down the highest strength-to-cost ratio u-joint out there, and continue to surprise me with there strength. I haven't even bothered swapping in the Longs yet..

Like you said different strokes for different folks

Now let's see some more pictures!