Notes on James Duff Monster SAS install INSTRUCTIONS

[Littlebeefy]

Chad - Could you tap the frame and engine crossmember and use them as the nut? At least you'd have something in there holding those two in alignment.

Gary,

I think you're right. Without the ability to get a nut on the top, tapping the aligned holes may be the best option. There is plenty of room for threads on the bracket itself, so there really isn't any risk of it falling out, even if the frame and crossmember don't have much cross-section to thread.

[Littlebeefy]

Gary,

I think you're right. Without the ability to get a nut on the top, tapping the aligned holes may be the best option. There is plenty of room for threads on the bracket itself, so there really isn't any risk of it falling out, even if the frame and crossmember don't have much cross-section to thread.

I just got it back from alignment. Here it is on 35” tires (which are fairly well worn FYI):

A note on ride height:

This is a picture of the rear ride height:

This is a picture of the front ride height:

The front is currently sitting a little higher than the rear but it hasn’t been sitting long enough to know how much the front will settle. I’m going to be dropping in a 460 with iron heads so I’m going to see where it rests before making any changes.

The front height is determined by the placement of the coil towers. To get this height, here is a picture of the coil tower where we installed it. I will go into much more detail on this in another reply because there are no instructions provided for that and it’s complicated:

[Littlebeefy]

I just got it back from alignment. Here it is on 35” tires (which are fairly well worn FYI):

A note on ride height:

This is a picture of the rear ride height:

This is a picture of the front ride height:

The front is currently sitting a little higher than the rear but it hasn’t been sitting long enough to know how much the front will settle. I’m going to be dropping in a 460 with iron heads so I’m going to see where it rests before making any changes.

The front height is determined by the placement of the coil towers. To get this height, here is a picture of the coil tower where we installed it. I will go into much more detail on this in another reply because there are no instructions provided for that and it’s complicated:

Notes on tire size and rubbing:

I am currently running 35x12.5s on a 17x9 wheel with a 3.5 inch backspace and they don't rub, or even come close to rubbing. I'm going to drive around on these for a while before I try out some 37X13.5s that I've got sitting around and I'll update here with the results (probably months from now).

The Duff radius arms have a significant inward angle and it really gives you excellent clearance. Likely you'll rub somewhere else before you hit the radius arms.

[grumpin]

Notes on tire size and rubbing:

I am currently running 35x12.5s on a 17x9 wheel with a 3.5 inch backspace and they don't rub, or even come close to rubbing. I'm going to drive around on these for a while before I try out some 37X13.5s that I've got sitting around and I'll update here with the results (probably months from now).

The Duff radius arms have a significant inward angle and it really gives you excellent clearance. Likely you'll rub somewhere else before you hit the radius arms.

Interesting! That Bronco is up there!

I think I would need a lift to get in.

That’s cool that there’s no rubbing. Surprising.

[Littlebeefy]

Interesting! That Bronco is up there!

I think I would need a lift to get in.

That’s cool that there’s no rubbing. Surprising.

Note on driveshafts after SAS: I was surprised to find that after the lift my front driveshaft needed to be the same length but my rear drive shaft was way to short. I had to have my rear shaft lengthened. FWIW I have the SMOD transmission so my front and rear shafts were pretty close to the same length, but they are now exactly the same length.

@Dane - ya, it's up there. The paint job with the black on the bottom makes it visually seem like it's a little higher than it is, but I do literally have to "climb" into the truck now, and I'm 6 feet tall. Without the step I wouldn't be able to get in!

[grumpin]

Note on driveshafts after SAS: I was surprised to find that after the lift my front driveshaft needed to be the same length but my rear drive shaft was way to short. I had to have my rear shaft lengthened. FWIW I have the SMOD transmission so my front and rear shafts were pretty close to the same length, but they are now exactly the same length.

@Dane - ya, it's up there. The paint job with the black on the bottom makes it visually seem like it's a little higher than it is, but I do literally have to "climb" into the truck now, and I'm 6 feet tall. Without the step I wouldn't be able to get in!

I bet! I need a step for my stock ride height Bronco.

Curious about the windows in the back. Are they out? Or is it the pictures?

[Littlebeefy]

I bet! I need a step for my stock ride height Bronco.

Curious about the windows in the back. Are they out? Or is it the pictures?

There are no windows in the rear. I also took out the tailgate upper window seal, cut a huge square hole in the top of it and had it covered in Line-X. Wanted to make the Bronco more "open air" but needed to keep the top for its integrated roll bar.

[grumpin]

There are no windows in the rear. I also took out the tailgate upper window seal, cut a huge square hole in the top of it and had it covered in Line-X. Wanted to make the Bronco more "open air" but needed to keep the top for its integrated roll bar.

Cool! I like the paint and the wheels. My Bronco is silver and black, but needs new paint.

[Littlebeefy]

There are no windows in the rear. I also took out the tailgate upper window seal, cut a huge square hole in the top of it and had it covered in Line-X. Wanted to make the Bronco more "open air" but needed to keep the top for its integrated roll bar.

Notes on coil tower mounts:

BEWARE: this is by far the most "speculative" portion of the install. At the time of this writing, there are no written instructions for this portion provided, so I am going to tell you the way the we did it. I don't know if this is correct, but I am happy with the results.

First off, the installation of the tower is complicated by the fact that the tower is not predrilled and correct installation will not reuse any of your existing holes in the frame. Second, the height of the tower will determine the height of your front lift, but there is no clear specification for how high it should be placed to achieve any particular height lift. So installation involves placing the tower on the frame where you believe it should go and drilling holes through it as well as your frame.

It is not enough to just make sure they are identical installations on both sides. You also have to consider all three axes of installation (front/back, up/down, and tilt forward/tilt back). So your best bet is to find a frame of reference that is mirrored on both sides that you can use to measure all three axes on both sides equivalently. What my buddy did to solve the problem was genius in my opinion.

When you remove the stock coil tower there will be two holes in the side of the frame that had rivets holding the tower on. These two holes are barely too wide to use to mount the coil tower, but they are great for aligning the tower. We put two bolts in these holes and used the hex head to align and mirror the placement on all three axes. Here is a picture to illustrate:

Duff had told me to align the bottom of the frame with the bottom of the coil tower. If I had done that, I think I would have ended up about 1.25 inches lower in the front than I did, so I'm guessing that would've been a 6 inch lift. I'm going to end up putting a lot more weight up front, so I think I'm happy where I landed, but I have to wait and see hoe much the front settles.