'91 Blazer - Trailer Queen to DD - back to Trailer Queen - *broken trans housing*

[stan1688]

Over that last several years, I've slowly been building my Blazer into a more capable wheeler (isn't that what we all do?). As we all know, the more capable it is off-road, the less friendly it is on the road. This wasn't a problem as I had a truck and trailer to pull it place to place.

Recently, my wife and I decided to cut back on vehicles. This meant either selling my truck or the Blazer. I chose the truck with the intention of making the Blazer more road friendly. So, we sold the truck and I started buying parts.

I thought I'd start a build thread to keep track of my progress and help keep me motivated.

Here's the plans:

-hydro assist
-panhard bar
-HD offset tierod
-getting the frame pulled (it's a little tweaked)
-engine cage for now to help keep the frame straight
-rebuild the transmission
-finish and install 241/205 doubler
-new rear driveshaft
-rock lights (yes, very important for daily driving)
-lower it a little
-stretch the wheel base more
-DIY4X motor mounts
-Lokar cable shift linkage

Other things I'd like to do some day:

-York compressor for on-board air
-mini boatside
-locker up front of some sort
-tires that hold air for more than a week
-rock rings
-full cage
-suspension seats and harnesses
-Autometer gauges
-new rear bumper with tire carrier


Here's what it looks like now:

It's hard to tell, but it's fairly rough from being wheeled hard then parked. It use to stay parked an hour away, out in elements, uncovered, only getting driven once every other month or so.

Here's the parts I've gotten so far:

Yes, a HD diff cover is necessary for daily driving...



Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoy.

 

[drew4x4]

its ALWAYS a good decision to keep the blazer!

 

[stan1688]

its ALWAYS a good decision to keep the blazer!

My thoughts, exactly.





Received more parts today:

Thanks, Avery!




I'm probably not going to run the shifters if anyone is interested in them.

 

[K5 Jess]

 

[dustin.dstroya.montoya]

That is one sweet looking diff cover, Nice blazer. I like your plan, I think I am going to make mine more of a DD cuz mine is parked way to much.

 

[ssyork]

Looks like some great parts. Those great lake diff covers can take a beating, and aren't super expensive either.

 

[stan1688]

Thanks, guys!

I think I am going to make mine more of a DD cuz mine is parked way to much.

A day or so ago I was looking all over the Blazer at how much things have faded, rusted, and deteriorated from how I remember it. It's kinda sad.

The floor is rusting out pretty bad in a few spots behind the front seats. I think I'm going to budget in some replacement floor panels.

 

[stan1688]

The Blazer got a taste of daily driving today. Consensus: death wobble sucks...
I noticed the other day I noticed the passenger u-bolts and studs were a little loose, so I tightened them up. Turns out that the death wobble is worse after I tightened of the bolts. I guess that's more incentive to get the hydro assist and panhard bar on.

I took some pics of the floor.

Anyone have any experience replacing/fixing rust here??? Feel free to chime in.



I've been having some issues with trans fluid leaking pretty bad from between the trans and tcase adapter. I ended up replacing the bolts and fixed the problem.

While I was out on a test drive I saw this:

Yes, that's a CK5.com sticker on that suburban. It looked pretty rough; no drivetrain or front clip, dented up pretty bad. Anyone sell one recently? I've lived in this area for over 2 years now and haven't seen this before. Kinda crazy.

 

[stan1688]

I have a HUGE update that I haven't had a chance to post up about...

Oh yea... New wipers!




But seriously...

The conversion has officially started.

I got pretty frustrated because I kept being plagued by death wobble. I'm pretty convinced it's the tires that are contributing to it. I was also wanting to upgrade my wheels with rock rings and new studs. I did some checking and I can build a new set for the price to upgrade mine. So... I put the wheels and tires on Craigslist. Sold the wheels Saturday.

So this is how it sits now:

And while it was sitting there, I thought it would be the perfect time to start adding/removing parts.

Started by adding the power steering fluid cooler:

I started to pulling the power steering pump last night. It's pretty much out. Probably won't get the chance to work on it again until the weekend.

 

[y5mgisi]

Wat tires are you going wit?

 

[stan1688]

Looking into some BFG Baja military take-offs. Mike (oakknight) and another guy I wheel with have them and like them. They have decent street manors from what I'm told.

 

[stan1688]

Yay!!! Progress!!!

I've been slowly working on the Blazer this week. Haven't really had a chance to update until now (sorry for all the blurry cell pics).

As I mentioned, I left the garage Tuesday night with the stock power steering pump pretty much off.

Wednesday night I didn't have a lot of time so I just mocked up the black bracket on the PSC pump. My kit didn't come with any instruction so I was just guessing at what to do.

The holes on the black bracket lines up, but the bolts weren't going to work:

I dropped it in the mounting location to see if it shed any more light on the situation... It didn't, made me even more confused since there's a gap in the front of the pump.

I pulled the pump and bracket back out and went in for the night.


Thursday, I called PSC about the issue. To make a long story short, you have to swap over the studs that are on the factory pump over to the PSC pump.

So Friday night, I did just that:

The fit perfect and made the bracket fit perfect. After the fact, the solution seemed so easy. I guess I was over complicating things.

Go the pump and bracket down where it was supposed to be and tried putting in the front mounting bolts. They didn't want to line up; I could only get two of the three in no matter what I tried.

I ended up drilling out the holes to have some wiggle-room. They still didn't want to line up, so I just started cinching down the two I had. Turns out that doing that lined up the third bolt hole, allowing the bolt to fit.

Praise God I finally got that done. I hope I don't have to mess with that again for a loooooong time.



Next, I moved on to figuring out where to mount the resi. Decided on the core-support. Gave decent access to the pump and the cooler. I trimmed down the lip pointing up and hammered it down. It didn't provide much of a mounting surface so I decided to add a some strap to give a flat mounting surface.

Here's the spot prepped for welding:

And welded in:

Took the flap-disc to it to smooth it out a bit and show some paint on it.



I then decided to remove the stock steering stabilizer tab from the 60:

As you can see, it left some gouges.


Didn't get the chance to spend any garage time yesterday, so that brings us to today.

Started by welding up the gouges on the axle and smoothing them out (didn't get any pics).

Then I measured for the new HD tie-rod and cut down the tubing and welded on the threaded ends:

Shot it with some paint shortly after.



Next I mounted up the resi, and ran all the lines. I decided to go ahead and hook up the ram while I was at it.

Here's the resi mounted:

I'm not terribly happy with it, but I plan to move it once I get the engine cage built.




That pretty much get's us up to speed with where I stopped this afternoon. I started the bleeding process, but need more fluid.

This week I hope to get the tie-rod mounted up, the HD diff cover mounted and the ram mounted. Also, either during the week or next weekend, I will probably go pick up my tires and rims. I'm pretty pumped.

Thanks for looking!

 

[ssyork]

Good progress! PSC has all the directions on their website. Easy to print off and a handful of good tips for mounting the resi, a cooler, bleeding instructions and how much fluid should be in the resi.

http://www.pscmotorsports.com/Tech-Info

 

[stan1688]

Yea, I had checked their sight before I called them. I guess I didn't look hard enough, though.

 

[ssyork]

I was searching pirate for some help on my steering and someone else had posted the link, is how I found them.

 

[stan1688]

I've been spending a little time on the Blazer each night, but haven't gotten much progress to show for it.

Got the new tie rod on. Started to mock up the assist ram but haven't gotten it finished.

I was hoping to get a lot of progress his holiday weekend but don't know if that's gonna happen.

More updates to come.

 

[stan1688]

Well, finally getting around to another update.

I've slow been working on installing my rock lights (very crucial to daily driving). I have one side almost done with one side. I've been testing them as I go...

Except for the small light coming through the windows in the background, all the light is from the rock lights.

I found them here:
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1058739&highlight=rock+lights



Got the hydro assist finished up and mounted:

Still need to secure the hoses going to the ram.

I also pulled the front bumper off to get to the rivets holding the front spring hangers. I picked up some metal to fab up my own springs hangers to move the axle forward without the use to zero-rates.



Made a little progress with the doubler. Notched the adapter plate and the 241. Then I test fit it all.

I took a bit too much out of the 241, but it should be fixable when the notch is welded up.

I started working on the shift linkage. I fabbed this bracket for shifter arms to pivot from (I guess that's how to describe it).

I then fabbed up this bracket:

I'm pretty please with how it's coming along.



I rebuilt the 205 a year or so ago and did the twin-stick mod while I had it apart. I was messing with the shifters yesterday and I'm not sure it's shifting right.

All of you with more experience, correct me if I'm wrong. The shorter shifter controls front and rear output? And the longer shifter controls 2wd and 4wd?

It seems like no matter what shift combo I do, it looks like the input and the rear output are the same with the front output being twice as slow as the other two (in terms of rotation). I'm guessing something's not right? I'm really hoping I don't have to pull everything apart again...



Over Labor Day I went and picked up some new 12 bolt H1s and some 37" BFG Bajas from Kyle (swirvin21 on pirate). Order up some new centers and rock rings for them from GLO. Still waiting on those.

Here's the tread on the tires:

He has several other sets and sets of 24 bolt H1s he's looking to get rid of. I looked for his original thread, but couldn't find it...



Well that brings us up to date. Any input on the 205 would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for looking.

 

[stan1688]

The thought of the shifters not working was bugging me so went out to the garage to figure it out. Began adjusting the shifters and noticed the shifter arm I made was coming in contact with the adapter plate not allowing it to shift completely. I removed the adapter plate and proceeded to shift the rails just the way they were suppose to be shifted. I'm really glad I didn't have to invest more time and money into that.

 

[82355]

All of you with more experience, correct me if I'm wrong. The shorter shifter controls front and rear output? And the longer shifter controls 2wd and 4wd?

Nope. One shift rail controls the front output, and one controls the rear output. You can use either shifter to put the output it controls in High, Neutral, or Low. You are thinking more along the lines of an NP203 shifter.

Martin

 

[82355]

The guy who has those BFG's, is he in Southeast Kansas as well?