For steering I used an awd astro box, moved the mount over with some 1.5"x4" tubing sleved with 1/2" pipe and plated with 1/4" plate. It clears the tires just fine and allowed for a good steering shaft angle. The steering shaft got sortened and I used some lines and compression fittings I had in the collection to make it work, using something like a scout 2 steering box may have worked better. It's a little ******* but it works, at this point I was still on a college budget and was really trying to use what I had.

For steering linkages I splurged and used sky mfg. 7/8" high steer arms, .250 wall dom, and 1 ton ends. To get lock to lock steering I used a scout 2 pitman arm. My last straight axled s10 had a waggy arm and it wasn't long enough to get lock to lock steering. If I ever upgrade to stronger axle joints I should be able to turn the steering stops in a little bit and get more steering angle. Right now it turns like a dream compared to the other straight axled s10's i've had/ ridden in.

For the rear axle I used a ff 30 spline ford 60, nothing special. Shaved the axle a little bit and added a "toung" to help sliding off of rocks. . The rear axle was also moved back 1.5" to gain some room for tires. The shocks mounts are built out of 1/4" plate. They are above the bottom of the axle tube for clearance, upper shock mounts are just a piece of 1/2" pipe welded to the frame. Rear shocks are mounted now. The wrong sized crooked u-bolts are off and a set of u-bolts right right size are now on it. I also added 2" blocks for now to help level the truck out. I'm not a my truck has x inches of lift person but i'm guessing the s10 is around 6-7" of lift in the back right now with a spring over on sagged springs, a 2" block, and a bigger axle tube. Adventually I'll drop down to a 3/4" or 1" block and some longer shackles.

It has disc brake brackets from ballistic fabrication and 1/2 ton chevy calipers that wern't on in the pics. I tried to build my own caliper brackets and ran in to problems with the calipers rubbing on the wheels, got pissed and my stupidity and cut them off.

 

The gas tank got moved up above the frame rails, you can see the underside picture in the post above. The skid is 11 gauge with a skeleton of 11 gauge. I trimmed the floor to allow the tank to poke through the floor, i extened the floor with some 20 gauge and used the stock floor cutout as a cover. The stock fuel lines were able to reach up above the frame. I also added a crossmember to support the front of the gas tank skid. Now you can acess the pump and lines through the back floor, the "cover" is held down with a dozen slef drillers and sealed with some liquid nails.

I built a rear bumper known as the "back porch". The frame is 2x2x1/4" tubing, i cut the rear corrners to gain some clearance. It has 2 d-ring mounts ad a tire carrier bout out of 1 1/4" sch 40. To help pivoit the tire I used a d44 hub and spindle, it need to be finished with a hold down and the spindle welded on, right now it's in the garage till I get a spare.

These are all the pictures I have of mods. Some other mods I did were a new trans crossmember out of 2x2x1/4" square tube, it allows the drive shaft to actually move i'll try and get pics, auto to manual swap, hacked the heck out of the fenders and added a bling bling ricer air filter, got rid of a bunch of junk under the hood like cruise, abs, and ac.

 

Here's some yard wheeling pics

Some things that still need to get finished are

-Weld on the glo bead lock kit I have sitting around
-Re-build the t-case because it pops out of low and the chain has about 1/2 a turn of slop, probably add a super short sye kit
-Put in an aluminum summit radiator, the stock radiator jumped into the fan, build a custom shroud
-Front shocks need some mounts
-Rear traction bar, 2x2x1/4" squre tube is sitting at the steel shop for me to pick it up, probably build the crossmember so it can support a belly pan
-Mount my winch on the front bumper

Future Mods
-DD machine doubler, 1350 rear drive shaft, super short sye
-Belly pan
-Cage
-Re-build front dif, Alloy front shafts and a slectable locker
-35 spline rear shafts and spool
-Rocker guards out of 4"x1.5" rect. tubing

 

Looks good man!

I'm wanting to build my 4.3 extcab s-10 for a "door slammer" rig, since my 4runner is relegated to permant doorless/topless-ness.

 

very sweet build, I really like your Idea of using the d44 spindle as a pivot for the tire carrier.

 

lmao. i didnt even notice that. pretty cool idea

 

Nice build, keep the updates coming.

 

i second that

 

I would take a rubber mallet and hit the bottom ends of your U-bolts in. That way you can tighten them up better. I can't really tell from the pics but you may need to add some spacer plates between the U-bolts and spring perches to keep everything solid.

Other than that. Nice build.

 

looks good man, one suggestion is maybe tie your front shacke plates together to elimiate side to side movement. Also what did you u use for a front d-shaft?

my brother and I built the same rig with same parts and axles. but when it came down to getting a front d-shaft, we decided to find a high pinon housing.

 

looks good man, one suggestion is maybe tie your front shacke plates together to elimiate side to side movement. Also what did you u use for a front d-shaft?

Front shackles could use a cross brace and some thicker material.

My front drive shaft fits good without the need for a high pinion, angle will be even better when the doubler goes in. I'm pretty sure TSL you have a lot more lift than i do causing drive shaft angle issues.

Ordred today a bunch of parts, including:
Super Short SYE
T-case re-build kit and chain
Dana 60 1350 yoke
Traction bar bushings and johnny joint
Aluminum Radiator

Hopefully the by end of december/ early January I'll have a doubler and 1350 rear d-shaft ordered.

I'm in IL for the week visiting my parents, i'll be back in CO saturday and hope to start cooking on it when I get back.

 

Yeah the doubler will help the angle alot. My front driveshaft angle is still fine with the airbags maxed out which is about 22" of lift (no I don't and won't drive it that high, it is for down travel when the suspension articulates).

 

My front drive shaft fits good without the need for a high pinion, angle will be even better when the doubler goes in. I'm pretty sure TSL you have a lot more lift than i do causing drive shaft angle issues.
QUOTE]

Yah we have more lift due to the way we put our shackes for the front spring towards the back and rigid mounted the front. We have about 27" of belly clearance between ground and transfer case skid, and the 38.5s will rub when stuffed into the wheel wells, so were pretty happy with it.

 

updates?

 

Whats the hole to hole length on that ScoutII pitman arm?? Im using a Ford 4" drop arm now, but I still cant get lock to lock.

 

It's up for sale http://www.colorado4x4.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=143837

 

So no one wants to buy it, I guess I'll finish it. I picked up a second t-case and hope to have the doubler assembled and in this weekend so I can order drive shafts monday.

I ordered up a radiator and have an oil cooler off of a tbi 350 suburban I'm going to try and graft into the blazer. I also have a 16" electric fan I'm going to rig up with a toggle for backup cooling. I plan on bulding a new fan shroud. Can you tell I despise over heating.

I have a set of internal lockout 8 lug gm outers I'm going to swap on to get rid of the stupid external lockouts, big Ford rotors, and cobbled caliper brackets.


It's going to be a busy weekend, the plan is to have the doubler assembled and in, radiator/ fan shroud/ oil cooler/ electric fan in and mounted.

With any luck it will be wheeling some time next month.

 

nice build but personally i am not a fan of those turn signals nice truck though, i've been thinking more and more about doing an SAS on my 91 but that's alot of money i dont have right now

 

Those turn signals are along for the ride, not sure I'm 100% of a fan of them either.

I hate s10's after building a couple. If you are going to build one to the level my s10 is or even more "extreme" (4 link/ coils/ new drive train) ditch the stock frame. All it's really good for is scrap metal and head aches. Nothing is parallel, the rails are different sizes, the frame is really thin.

I'm stuck at work till 5 and then it's on

 

Well so far the back t-case is ready to go in with a super short sye and new chain. Front case has the front output cut off and the "cover plate" glued on, it looks like a ****ing 4 year old welded the damn thing on, aluminum ****ing sucks.

There's a new radiator in the bed of my pickup. I'm waiting for the t-case to cool so I can bring it home. Time to go home swap the outers on the 44, pull the oil cooler off the suburban and put it on the blazer, bead lock 2 of the 36's so they will hold air, put the 36'. So far things are going well. It was nice to work on the pile. With any luck I'll be ordering drive shafts from Jess monday morning.

 

So I've made some progess, being sick as can be didn't help.

The doubler is assembled and in.

Drive shafts were ordered this morning, .250 wall tubing, all 1350 joints, long slip front, along with 1350 yokes

Swapped the stupid external lock out hubs for chevy internal lockout hubs, still have to put the lock outs in and pull back off the driver's side to fix 2 stripped out knuckle studs

New radiator mounts are started, should be done by tonight

16" Electric fan for back up cooling is mounted to the rad, switch is mounted right above the gauage cluster so I know when it's on (S10 dashes are designed to be worked on my minature monkies), I ran the wire in the factory loom which was a nighmear, I just need to mount relay and fuse. I'm hoping to not have the typical electric fan problems using a switch with a relay and then 10 gauge wires from the bat to the fan (less than 2 feet) and a 30 amp fuse.

I started bead locking 2 of the 36's, now I'm playing the find a leak, dismout tire with 32 bolts, grind/ weld to fix a leak, remount tire and repeat game.

My drive shafts won't be here till next week, I was hoping they would be here Friday so I could go wheeling this weekend. The goal is to do some local wheeling Friday the 27th and then head down the Buena Vista to run Chinaman's gluch the 28th.

 

Hey man, read through the thread. Nice job. Was wondering what your wheelbase is and if you increased it when you SAS'd it.

 

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awesome build on a budget! im going to sell my willys to start a s10 blazer, i have access to a bender so i might make a new front frame for it with that. these things are so cheap to get now and i need mor seating. good luck with this thing!