Photos. You can see where he gets his name.

 

Axles.

Oops.

Ton 56s turned into 1/4ton 56s.

All the springs, ready to run.

Crossmember welded in. Working on front spring hangers tomorrow, that and AC.

 

Made a little progress the last few days. Finished the front hangers and disassembled the axles. Put the springs on up front, tossed some roller tires on the D44 and wheeled it under; oh my. I think the Blazer is going to be a little larger than expected, but no worries. The front axle will come back another 1 1/2" once I put the spring perches on and set the center pin in them (the axle is just jamed under the springs, which are tight against the bottom of the frame), but just for yesterday I wanted to see how close it was going to be to my original thoughts. Onto pictures.

Long story about how this axle came into my posession. In short, I'll be locking out the disco' and putting selectible lockouts in the hubs. It sure is a strange axle.

Short shaft assembly.

Front axle with a C-clip? [/sarcasm]

Yeah baby.

 

More pictures with the axle slid under. The rollers are 31s.

 

Well I lied. The Blazer will be a good bit larger than expected. Maybe three (3) inches taller. I had originally wanted to chop the frame up and recess the shackle hangers in there. But either I can't read a tape measure and the springs are WAY out of square or the frames are nowhere near symetrical on their outside. I know the left frame is different from the right frame, but hopefully it's all different in relation to the rocker panel-to-outside of the frame distance. The shackle hangers are now going to be below the frame, kind of like the Sky kit.

 

You are building this for your female? Is this a new term to refer to your SO, daughter, wife, life partner or what?

 

I am referring to my girlfriend.


Finished the shackle hangers. Dude's gonna be large.

 

Got the front sitting on some tires. Still only 31s, however, the frame is sitting exactly where I had it on jackstands. I thought it was going to be HUGE, but forgot to account for the fact that the springs are brand new.

Next is to drop the fuel tank and weld on the rear hangers once the wheelbase is adjusted to keep the tires out of the back doors.

Photos:

Wheelbase is a little farther forward than I had liked, but that leaves room for bigger meats down the road.

Shackle angle.

Overall.

37s clearance.

Pinion angle.

 

dude with that kind of lift it might be big, but its gonna shake her jumblies' till she hates it. what's with those shackles? not exactly built for flex is it?

 

They're factory GM shackles, what's wrong with them? They are the same as in my silver truck and it flexes just fine. I dont see why this Blazer will be much of any different.

 

this rig is gonna be alot lighter than your fullsize. and i'm thinking that since those springs appear to have quite a bit of arc, and without much weight to push them out flat they're gonna ride really stiff.

 

Shackle angle looks fine to me.

 

those shackles are going to be horizontal wayyy before those springs get flat.

 

If I come to the problem I'll make the angle steeper or build some longer shackles, maybe both. Thanks for your concern.

 

so i guess your not expecting the 4.3 to last very long, what you thinkin about puttin in there once it has had enough??

 

the 4.3 will probably do just fine, its a light truck once you lose the 500 lbs of garbage inside that decorates it.

 

The "decorations", as stated above, will be coming out and the 4.3L will be in there as long as it will run. Not too sure about what will go in if/when it bites the dust, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. But I'm not worried, the motor runs like a champ.

 

They are Wagoneer springs, not fullsize springs. I dont believe it is going to be very stiff. Just pushing down on the front bumper brackets the Blazer bounces quite easily.

 

cool build
im building one for my wife to it is a 91 4 door s10 blazer full size dana 44 hp , dana 60, stock h1 wheels and tires np 231 to ford 205 with the 231 in it's stock location check it out.

http://www.s10forum.com/forum/f221/wifes-pink-and-white-91-4-door-s10-blazer-sas-461488/

 

Thanks, yeah I've been following that build. Pretty cool with the pink and all.

will it be ready for monteagle in september?

Possibly. With hydro assist, probably not.

 

will it be ready for monteagle in september?

 

updates?

 

Not really. I have the rear springs under the truck, waiting on shackles to show up so I can weld the new rear hangers on. I have a lead on some front gears and a rear 3.08+ carrier, also possibly a non-disco' front. Kind of waiting on a call back about those items before I really mess with the front too much. Once I weld the rear carrier and put the gears in it should start to look right. Then it's onto steering and brakelines, after that I'm going to make a new transmission crossmember, a square driveshaft and see if the factory rear shaft will work (it should).

 

Made a little progress tonight. Suspension is done, minus shocks and changing some bolts in the front end. Feels real good, and the springs are quite soft. Put it on the 39.5 since my 37s are still on my roommate's bog truck. I really like it on these tires.

In the background, that is a standard seven (7) foot door.

No jackstands.

I may move the rear shackle to the forward hole, it is more than likely.

I kind of dig the stretch up front.

And the rear is centered on 56s, the hole in the spring pad is a 1/2" offset to bring the axle back. It will get a 1 1/2" block to level the truck.

Track width isn't terrible on x14s.

Better scale photo, the Z71 is on 35s with the factory keys and bars cranked all the way.

 

this thing is :smokin: , makes me want to do this to my s10 blazer . you should leave those 39.5's on it , makes it look really good . IMO those 37's will look to small with this much lift but the tires you got on it now look perfect

 

Yeah. I may try to work something out with them. If two of them weren't wore out, I'd probably just trade my tires straight up for them. But two aren't really worth much, and my 37s are just about brand new.

 

Little update. The other day I bought a set of new D44 4.56s, a 3.08+ carrier for the AMC 20 and a non-disco Waggy D44. Not a bad $200 spent in my opinion. The Blazer is sitting on my 37s now because the roommate wanted to see how his truck bogged on the 39.5s after we cut two of them. If they go back on the Blazer, we dont know as of yet. I dont think the Blazer looks too bad on the 37s, yeah it is a little tall but it wouldn't be able to get terribly twisty with the 39.5s without more lift.

Photos:

Hopefully the front will come down a little once the springs are driven on.

 

Another minimal update. I've been doing some horse trading with one of my teachers and I have acquired a SRW 14FF, some DRW 14FF hubs and an 8lug D44 that is 4.56'd and welded. I'm going to leave the Blazer 6lug for now, since that's all the wheels I have, gear the AMC20 to 4.56 and let it ride. I got the 14FF with both sets of hubs so I can swap it into either the Blazer or my truck and the width will be adjustable (67" for the silver truck and 63" for the Blazer), the front 8lug hubs will go onto whatever gets the 14FF.

This week I'd like to get this new Waggy D44 geared with the full width's welded carrier and possibly its gears, if they look good. Then I need to order steering and pitman arms so I can make the draglink and tierod,the front should be done shortly after brakes and some seals in the hub/spindle.

So, now that this cat is going to be welded f&r I think it's going to be a bad dude. As long as we're conservative with the throttle application the axles should hold up pretty long.