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70K5 Blazer Lift

D

dvldog 70k5

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I just purchased my 1970 K5 and did a search looking for a suspension lift and all I really saw was lifts way out of my leauge like coilovers, 4 links, and ect.

All I'm lookin for is a lift on a daily driver but something I can play in a little. The only company I found for a lift was Superlift. I know I want to try and gain my lift from just new leaf packs for the front and rear. Superlift had a 6/6 all leafs, and a 8/8 all leafs. Right now I dont want to go to crazy with new axles and serious fab stuff. I just want bolt and go, haha. So are stock axles to narrow for the 6" or 8" lift? Any other companies you can recomend for a lift? Thanks for the help.

http://www.m22rocks.com/images/truck/truck%20002.jpg

Nick
 
I have been trying to figure out the exact same thing. Look in the 1st gen forum, and you should see my posting, it is only a day old or so. It might get you some ideas. The popular lift to go with is tuff country because they have the softest advertised spring rates. I think the biggest they go is 6". Unless you are going to use 44" tires, an 8" lift isn't neccessary especially on a daily driver. It will be a really harsh ride if you get a spring pack to lift you 8" plus you will have a high center of gravity. I highly suggest you check out my post . Make sure you think this through and ask plenty of questions.
 
The lift should be a function of the tire size that you're trying to accomodate.

That in turn will determine whether your current axles are too "puny" to handle the new stresses and traction. Conventional wisdom says that you are OK up until about a 36" tire with the current 1/2-Ton running gear, anything over that and you are going to be spending a lot of time repairing u-joints and broken axleshafts!!!

As already mentioned, 6 - 8" lifts get stiffer (out of necessity) so the ride quality suffers, also you end up with more driveshaft angularity issues (and potentially vibrations) the higher you lift. It truly is a game of "one modification affects everything else"...

BTW -> This post doesn't belong in the "CoG" forum, so it will probably be moved to the Garage or 1st Gen Forum where it is more appropriate. /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
One thing to remember when lifting a Blazer. Our butts are heavier than a Pickups. Most of the 'pre-made' spring packs are built to pickup weight specs not Blazers. So if you put 4" up front and 4" rear, chances are your rear will sag a bit. I used 4" Rancho up front & 5.5" Superlift packs out back and with a hard top my rig sits level. Now that my hard top is gone my rig has a slight 'stinkbug' to it but I like it that way better than a saggy butt /forums/images/graemlins/peace.gif
 
Here is my .02 from my experience with my daily driven 72...

I used and will only recommend Tuff Country (http://www.tuffcountry.com/) lifts for our trucks because they make it ride so well. I have heard that BDS makes a nice spring too but have never ridden in a Blazer with one so I cant say for sure.

I only have 2" of lift on my first gen, it looks fairly stock, and rides very nice. I do take my truck off-road and am able to manage trails that I never thought I would be able to. I run a "small" tire in a 32 x 11.5 x 15 but am putting on a 33 x 12.5 x 15 in the next couple of days.

I would recommend 4" or less of lift and a 33" tire. I (unlike most of the guys here) would prefer to see our first gens fenders stay stock rather than being cut to hell or bent to hell from oversized tires and last time I remember checking a 35" tire was questionable as to whether it would rub or not.

If you want more than 2" but not quite 4" I would recommend a 6" rear spring (4" total lift) and a 2" front spring (2" of lift) and use an ORD "zero-rate" on the front for a 4" rear 3" front lift. That will solve the "saggy butt" look that the blazers get.

Ultimately lift will be decided by how much off road (I.e. how hard you wheel - with my 2" lift I can run every "moderate" trail I come across and a couple of the "most difficult" so I dont think more lift is needed) and how much you drive on the street. you will get better street reliability and "performance" with a smaller lift (In my opinion) but only moderate off-road gains with a bigger lift. Most of the off-road gains will come from a bigger tire (which requires more lift) but that starts to seriously detract from the on-road manners of the truck.

so, since I made this WAY more complicated than needed... I recommend 2 to 4 inches of lift (Tuff Country) and a good 33" tire (Truxus MT's ).
 
Oh my god thank you so much for the info, keep it comming. I am so impatient and I almost ordered the 8" from 4 Wheel Parts today but they were out of stock till middle of next month. So I guess that was a good thing. Tomorrow I am going to look in to the Tuff Country Lift. Any ideas where I can get the lift from and at the best price? If I go with the 6" what size tire can I run without trimming?

BTW- Sorry Greg about the post here. I thought this was the appropriate section for suspension questions. Next time I know.

Nick
 
I put a 6" tuff country on mine. Very nice springs. Like them better then the superlift that was on my other k5
 
If you go to tuff country's website they have some mail order places where shipping would run around $60, but they also have dealers listed by state: http://www.tuffcountry.com/find_dealer.html

Tuff Country and Superlift both say that with a 6 inch lift you can run 35's without trimming. CK5 offers this tire fitment table.

If you plan on getting bigger than 35" tires you should upgrade your axles, as previously mentioned.

Where in So Cal do you live?
 
First that trim chart is for the newer blazers so that might make a diffrence. And how can you tell me for a 6" suspension lift that you will have minimal fender trimming for 35's and then again minimal trimming with 38's also? Thats a pretty big diffrence in tire size. If I upgrade axles how much am I lookin to spend? Do I upgrade the axles with a stock rear end? Also how wide of a rim would I go with and what tire size and width? I dont want to trim anything. Oh and I am from Simi Valley, Ventura County.
 
again... if you go with a tire bigger than a 33 your going to most likely rub on full compression. 35's will probably fit ok, but when I looked, they appeared that they would rub.

As for axles. if your not running a tire over 33" or a non-agressive (all terrain) 35" tire your 1/2 ton axles will be just fine. if you wheel rocks and use an agressive lug pattern on a bigger tire your going to want to go to a corporate 14 bolt Full-Floater (14FF) in the rear but your front D44 should handle it just fine once you swap the 6-lug to 8-lug. If you want a bulletproof front to go with the bulletproof rear you will want to look for a D60 front... though you can expect to pay 1000.00 for one that needs a rebuild. The 14FF will run between 200 for a rebuilder to 500 for one thats ready to roll.

Probably the biggest issue with the 1st gen and going 3/4 ton axles is that you will have to move spring plates on the axles. Not that big of a deal on the 14FF but more of an issue on the D60.

You will need to say away from the dually D60, because they are 7" (or is it 9") wider than the non-dually D60 and that will cause fitment issues.

like I said though, if you use a tire 33" or smaller or a mild 35" you will be perfectly fine with your 12-bolt rear and D44 front. I know guys that wheel the hell out of thier rigs on 38" swampers on 1/2 ton axles and have never had a problem... but I am guessing they are the exception not the rule.

Rim width... that will be determined by your tires. I run a 15x10 wheel and a 33x12.5 tire. 12.5 is as wide as you can safely run on an 8" wide rim and 11.5 is as narrow as you can safely run on a 10" wide rim.

If I were in your shoes, which I have been as it turns out, I would look for a 15" x 10" wheel with I think its 4.5" backspacing or less (more will cause issues with hitting your steering arm) and run a 33" x 12.5" tire. with that I would run 4" of Tuff Country lift (all spring cause its cooler and less expensive than a 2" spring and a shackle flip and safer than using a 4" block). I would leave your 1/2 ton 6-lug axles in the truck, re-gear them to a 4.10 (or equivalent) and you will definitely be happy with on and off road performance... If you are really worried about the strength of a 12-bolt rearend with the 33's or even a 35 I would recommend spending the $40.00 and have them Cryo'd, that will make them significantly stronger and cost a helluva lot less than a 14FF.

Your definitely doing this right though. Dont spend any money until you know for sure what your buying is going to be what you want. you drop some cash on an 8" lift only to find that your truck looks dumb and doesnt perform worth a crap unless you cut the fenders and run a 38" tire your going to be pissed...
 
I think you are referring to the CK5 link, and it states a 36, not 35, with minor fender trimming and a 6" lift, as well as for a 38.5, but you still have a very valid point. The other links are very useful as well. On the other links it gives the same info for 69-91, so what works for a 73 will probably work for you too. You have to remember that these are guides to give you an idea. Each car is going to turn out a little different, but these numbers should get you close.

I am not too credible with the axle stuff cause I run 35's with stock axles, but I have been thinking about it (it won't happen for at least 5 years though). You can either upgrade your stock stuff, but according to Offroad Design the biggest they can handle is about 35. Looks like the rear would set you back a little over $200 for just the axles and the front would be closer to $600. Oh, but then you have to upgrade your u-joints as well which are $185 each. It all adds up really quickly.

The better alternative is to find a 14 bolt full floater, and a dana 60 front. These can be found on 1 ton trucks, and are of course much stronger and much heavier. I am not sure exactly how big you could go with those, it depends on if you keep them stock or upgrade the axles. If you are going to use the 1 ton gear suitable for 36" and larger, and if you are bent on not trimming the fenders you will need an 8" lift for the 36's, 10" for 38's, and 12" for 40's. Add to that the price difference in a 35" tire vs a 38 or 40" tire. It gets very pricey very quickly.

As for rim width... figure out which tires you are interested in, and go the the manufacturers homepage (they are not hard to find, type in the company name in google). Most will have a recommended wheel size. Here is the link to BFGoodrich's website, as you can see with my 35x12.5x15 they say I can run 8.5-11" wide wheels.

So much of this information is not hard to get. It all looks good and makes sense on the internet and in my head, but I don't have a lot of first hand experience as I am pretty new to all this. Can anyone back me up or correct me? Good Luck
 
As you can probably see by these responses....there are MANY ways to proceed, and many possible combinations that can improve your vehicle; also many different levels of $$$$ that will be required! /forums/images/graemlins/yikes.gif

I know this is tough advice, but if you can somehow determine NOW where you ultimately want your truck to end up (tire size & lift wise) you will be WAY ahead financially. CK5 is full of stories of guys who started out with 1/2-Ton running gear and 35's.....spent a ton of money upgrading the 1/2-Ton axles with HD axleshafts and CTM joints (significant $$$), then ended up having to upgrade to 1-Ton axles anyway (even more $$$)....and then went to even larger tires (38's, 40's or 42's).

Effectively, these guys have now paid to build THREE trucks instead of just one! /forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif I know it's hard to know at the beginning what you want (especially when all of this is new to you) but if you can make a plan for the "end result" now, you will spend your money more wisely and it will help to keep you focused on the upgrades that are most critical and important.

Personally, I always knew that I wanted to end up with 38's. That's as far as I ever want to go....so I've been executing a plan to get myself there. I didn't spend a dime on the 1/2-Ton axles, instead I did a 3/4-Ton conversion with some cheap 8-lug wheels/tires to get me to 8-Lug, and then as money allowed I bought the 38's and eventually got the D60 front axle as well.

My best advice for you at this point is not to get excited and RUSH into a lot of purchases.....you are on a site with a wealth of good information, and you can learn A LOT by looking at the posts here (and by looking at the gallery photos). You will start to formulate a plan about what you like and don't like....and from there you can put your own plan into motion.

/forums/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif /forums/images/graemlins/deal.gif /forums/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif
 
Greg is right on the money! Throttle back and try to peer into the future. Good advice /forums/images/graemlins/deal.gif
Then start spending and wrenching away. I have been doing that now for 11yrs....I'm still not done /forums/images/graemlins/yikes.gif
 
Ok here is what I have done. I dropped it off at the mechanics to get everything running and reliable. I also upgraded to an elctric ignition. Like I said before this is going to be a daily driver not a rock crawler. I also ordered my lift today from Tough Country. I ordered the 6" front spring pack with the steering arm and the 8" rear spring pack with the transfer case spacer. The tech rep at TC said to fit the 35" BFG KM's with no trimming a 4" front spring pack wouldn't be enough so he recomended the 6". He also asusred me I wouldn't need to extend my drive shaft or make any modifications to the driveline because I went with the 8" rear spring pack vs the 6".

Today I also talked to a really reputable rear end shop here where I live and he said $1,200 for new gears, seals, and bearings for the front and rear. As for the gear ratio, he recomended 4:56's. Do you think that will work fine considering I don't have overdrive with 35's? If not what gear ratio would you go with? Thanks guys I appreciate all the help.


Nick
 
I'll bet your rear driveshaft ends up too short... /forums/images/graemlins/whistling.gif

Take a Sharpie and mark the rear driveshaft where the slipjoint is, and after your lift install check where that same mark is. You might be able to still use the factory driveshaft, but if it's extended much more than stock you run the risk of it pulling apart over bumps....not good.

4.56s and 35s is probably a good combo to get back the power you'll lose with the larger tires.

I hope you plan to take pictures of everything BEFORE you start making changes, measure your stock height at each fenderwell, and your "NEW" height after the lift, mark the front and rear driveshafts, etc.... /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
hahaha How do you know they will seporate..Oh wait...cuz that happened to you hahahaha I saw it. Granted it was the front and the driveline guy was to blame.
I'm with greg, your drivelines will be extend out all the way and with a 4x4 that is not good. Spend the extra and after you get your lift in measure Yoke to Yoke and get the right leght drivelines.
Oh and 35s with an Auto tranny = 4.56
with a manul you can get away with 4.10
Good Luck
Burt
 
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