1999 SAS Dana44 ARB 4Runner Build

[Mountain Fun]

I was able to snap a couple pics of the axles getting regeared in the shop. It took about 3 weeks to get them back witch was pretty stressful considering I had $900 in axles and about $3500 in parts (ARBs, gears, install kits) sitting there but I eventually got them back. I welded the front axle Dana44 tubes and casing to give it some extra strength, you can kind of see in the first picture.

 

[Iron duke]

Didn't know this page still got updated, but glad it is! Awesome work as usually keep it up

 

[busmup808]

Nice job on the truck. Your truck is a beast. Next month my truck will also be under the knife. Mahaloz for sharing a lot of your trials and tribulations. It makes it easier for the other guys doing the same.


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[Mountain Fun]

Dana60, Dana44HD rebuilt, knuckle machined, Willwood brakes.

Got the axles home from the shop and began putting them back together. All new bearings, seals, brakes, and custom parking break cables (this was a huge pain in the ass). I wanted to use the Toyota parking brake handle with the custom cables. I also converted the Ford Dana44Hd to Chevy K20 rotors and custom caliper brackets. The Ford breaks suck and I wanted to use the Chevy Willwood dual piston calipers in the front.

Since the spindles on the Dana60 rear were pitted and there was no way a seal would last on it I bought some speedi-sleeves and pounded them on over the pitted spindles.

This is the sleeve installed.

This is the custom caliper bracket and Willwood calipers installed.

I Forgot to mention I had the Passenger side Knuckle machined down and drilled for my high steer setup. You can see it installed in the picture below. I also replaced all the ball joints at the same time.

All painted up and ready to go on the truck.

 

[Mountain Fun]

Installing the Dana60 and 44 under the truck.

See ya Toyota axle.

Dana60 in and perches welded in once I go the diff angle correct.

Front axle is in now too.

I scrapped the stock diff cover for a heavy duty welded cover. Install the 40" tires. It was a tight squeeze getting it out of the garage. I had to deflate the tires all the way down and had about a half inch to spare.

Got it out of the garage on the new axles and I love the look and width of the 4Runner now. I forgot to mention earlier but the axle perches I used allow me to move the axle front or back an inch. I actually moved both axle back 1 inch. I didn't like the look of the front axle forward even though that is better offroad.

 

[Mountain Fun]

Getting the parking brake to work.

***Huge pain in the ass. For the parking brake I went with Lokar custom parking brake cables that I was going to somehow mount up to the factory handle.

I mounted the bracket up in the rear driveshaft tunnel above the driveshaft. This was really the only place to mount it but the problem is there was no way to turn the adjustment nuts on the bracket. The way I adjusted it in was by jacking the rear wheels off the ground then engaging the parking break while turning the rear wheels until I found the friction point for both sides. I then vice gripped the cable to hold them in place. I disengaged the parking brake handle, loosed the allen bolts that secure the cable to the front bracket, pulled the cables tight and tightened the bolts back down. Works perfect.

 

[Mountain Fun]

Back to the differential shop.

I took the truck out for a test drive and noticed a pretty loud gear wind out of the rear axle when I took my foot off of the accelerator. Like preload wasn't quite right. They were awesome and took the truck right back in. Turned out a pinion bearing had shifted slightly. They reset it and had to add another shim.

 

[Mountain Fun]

Fixing the speedometer on an SAS 3rd Gen 4Runner.

There is a lot of incorrect information about how to fix the speedometer when you remove the rear Toyota axle on a 3rd Gen 4Runner. There is a lot of right ups on here about how to fix the problem but none of them are complete so I will try to clarify and make it easier for someone else for fix theirs.

The facts:

The speedometer is signaled from a pulsing signal on the rear axle ABS/speed sensors. The front ABS has nothing to do with it. As soon as you unplug the rear sensors the speedometer stops working and soon after your check engine light will come on.

The right ups say all you have to do is get a Tacoma transfer case speed sensor and plug it into the 4Runner Transfer case where the little cover is. This is incorrect. The 4Runner Transfer case (at least mine) doesn't have the drive gear in the Transfer case tail shaft to drive the speed sensor so you won't get a signal. You need an entire Tacoma transfer case to make it work. I got mine at a UPullandPay for $125.

Don't worry about the pin number of the wire on the back of the speedometer cluster. For the 1999 4Runner there are 7 different speedometer cluster configurations, the pins and wiring harnesses are diffent of all of them. The wire you want to cut is the grey wire with the blue stripe, that is the signal wire to the speedometer.

Okay, all of that out of the way here is how I fixed my speedometer. I found a Tacoma at UPullandPay and pulled the entire Transfer case. It cost $125. I watched the postings of the vehicles getting placed every day and as soon as I saw a nice Tacoma I went down that day and pulled the case.

I swapped out my 4Runner case for the Tacoma case. This is a little bit of a pain in the ass on my truck because of dual case setup. Once the Installed I ran a power and ground wire to the speed sensor. I then ran the signal wire up to the back of the speedometer cluster and spliced it into the grey wire with the blue strip. What do you know, I now have a fully functioning speedometer, cruise control, and no check engine light.

 

[Mountain Fun]

Deck Plate Mod

I decided to go ahead and try the deck plate mod on the truck. I actually bought the deck plate years ago but never installed it. It doesn't really make much of a difference in my opinion but the throttle does seem a little more responsive.

 

[clearock]

only repling because u list ur info as the facts and when someone reads up on SAS down the road they can c there r some variables.

There is a lot of incorrect information about how to fix the speedometer when you remove the rear Toyota axle on a 3rd Gen 4Runner. There is a lot of right ups on here about how to fix the problem but none of them are complete so I will try to clarify and make it easier for someone else for fix theirs.

The facts:

The speedometer is signaled from a pulsing signal on the rear axle ABS/speed sensors. The front ABS has nothing to do with it. As soon as you unplug the rear sensors the speedometer stops working and soon after your check engine light will come on.

I've been running my 2000 with the rear ABS unplugged and only using the front ABS senors to run my speedo for a while, it does go out time to time and one has to cycle the key off/on to reset the ECU.

I saw ur rig up for sale, G/L with said, u have a very nicely build unit and have taken the time for the details work that helps it stand out.

I know u only just put them on but curious if u have found issues with running 40" tires with ur Dana 44, ie hwy driving at 75mph, steering while rock crawling with ur current steering components...?

 

[4Runnin40s]

Hey Mountain Fun, thank you again for selling me this beautiful build. Over the year she's been treated well and treated me to great adventures. We did a trip to King of the Hammer from Colorado to California and it was a comfortable trip and great wheeling. I still can't believe how smooth the ride is at 75mph.

Most of my additions have been towards making it a camping rig, like adding the prinsu rack and sleeping/drawer platform. Broke a few things here and there, but was able to get out of the trail every time. I upgraded to chromoly axle shafts for the Dana 44 and everything has been good since. Currently, I'm going to try to squeeze in the flat pitman arm and see what I can do about moving the axle forward for more departure flex.

She's a beast.

 

[Mountain Fun]

That is so awesome and I'm glad you are enjoying it and making it your own. I miss the 4Runner but it just sat at the house all the time. I'm so happy you are using it for what it was built for. I went to the darkside and started a new project with a 1959 Jeep Willys CJ5.