Questions

[Muddytazz]

Well, since the sale of my baby.....the suburban......I have since picked up a pretty much stock 89 S10 4x4 extended cab pickup. Stock 4.3L, 4 spd auto (don't know which tranny or tcase it has). Crap IFS and stock 10b rear with 3.42's. It came with a 2" body lift on it also. My plans are to eventually run somewhere in the 34"-35" tires for a max size. What I'm wondering is, for doing an SAS, what axles can I use as far as width wise so that I can keep this thing legal for street driving as its my daily driver.

 

[Confedneck79K30]

f streetability, go one tons!! lol
just postin a reply to getcha some action!
looks like a great start!

 

[shane74]

Tazz,

We did a SAS on a S10 Blazer a few months ago. The easiest thing to do is ditch the suspension all together and leaf spring it. It can be made to work with coils, but that gets into whole 'nuther can o' worms that really isn't wallet friendly.

The front spring hanger is easy. It's very similar to any other IFS conversion (think toyota). You will have to fab some rear spring hanger mounts for the front springs, but they are pretty easy too.

IIRC, the stock S10's have a drivers side drop t-case. So, ditch the stock axles and go Ford D44/9" combo.

For leaf springs, you have a lot of options. For the size of rig it is, I'd consider running some aftermarket Toy springs. They are cheap, are the same width, and ride nice compared to trying to build a custom pack with a fullsize rig base.

To narrow your track width up some (if you want) run some 4.5" offset wheels. That will get you close to where it sits now. If you don't care about that, run some flares and mud flaps and call it good.

You have the fab skills to do most of this on your own. It's a fairly easy swap to do.

 

[Muddytazz]

Thanks shane, yeah I can fab everything myself, just didn't know what my best axle option is. Yes it is a drivers side drop.

 

[shane74]

Ford D44's are everywhere for pretty cheap. You'll have to torch the radius arm mounts off and put on spring perches, but that itsn't very hard either. If you need a hand with that, let me know.

 

[Muddytazz]

You may be getting alot of pm's or phone calls if your number is still the same. Need to sell off some of the full size stuff so I can justify to the wife money wise this build lmao

 

[1979jimmy350]

one option for narrowing the track width while using full size axles is use un modifyed hummer rims they do the trick really well, thats the approach that im going with on the s-10 im working on

 

[01maroonz71]

if you keep that rear, be careful...it's a 7.5in ring gear.

i had an s10 on 35's and wheeled the snot out of it, it worked pretty good...but i did break something like 5CV's in one year, and went through pitman/idler/tie rods like freakin oil changes. if you only go 33's you may be alright...but just do it right and go SFA. good luck with the build man.

 

[b454rat]

The best close to stock width axles to use, EB D44/9", (58") Waggy D44s late 80s, (60") Jeep D30 YJ I think. All are driver drop, so don't have to change the t-case. The EB is coil spring, and the mounting locations are very close to the EB, so from what I've read, isn't too much more fab'n that leaves. If I do the SAS in mine, going with leaves, and already have the EB axles, just need to rebuild them, get some 4.10s, and make some mounts...