'93 Blazer build thread

[k2mslskier]

Nice build. Makes me wanna go out and yank the longbed off my crewcab and start hacking/building away. So are you gonna go with the plastic box or aluminum? Looks like maybe the gas filler will inhibit placement of the aluminum one but maybe that's just the angle of the pic.

 

[hd44blazer]

thanks, and as of now i have the plastic box in there for just that reason, it would take some modification and fitting in order for it to work well so im sticking with the plastic box for now

 

[hd44blazer]

early Xmas present

so i know i haven't even wheeled it since i finished the majority of the build but i came across a really good deal on a Dana 60 and i had already bought a 14 bolt from the pick n pull for $85 awhile back with the intention of eventually swapping them both in, anyway I picked it up Sat morning so here's some pics from over the weekend.

 

[Avery4jc]

Cool, what did that 60 come out of?
You going to track down some SRW hubs or do you already have some?

 

[hd44blazer]

it's out of a '92 or '93 F350 so it's balljoint and i'll have to change my spring brackets mount width to the wider 36.5" that these have, but it was a good price so i had to take it and SRW hubs are in order the hubs off the more abundant ttb axles are swapable to these so finding some shouldn't be too difficult and theres a few on eBay I'm watching if I get too lazy to look around the pick-n-pulls.

 

[hd44blazer]

scored some srw hubs today off a TTB Dana 50 from the Rancho Cordova pick n pull only $23ea, much better than the $200-$250 on eBay

test fitting the spindles to make sure they fit

 

[Avery4jc]

Nice score! The pick n' Pull around here is full of junk. The only thing I've ever successfully pulled from there is an XJ shaft.

 

[hd44blazer]

cleaned up and painted housing

new rotors and cleaned up hubs, I reused the old studs just wire wheeled them

and the knuckles, I also bought some used spindles from eBay (not these) because you can kinda see in this pic the one on the left is beat up pretty bad and what you can't see is the bad pitting on the bearing surfaces. The one on the right wasn't too bad but I got the other two for a decent price so now I have a spare I guess.

 

[hd44blazer]

machined some of my own tube inserts at school today for doing my tie rod, gonna use 3/4 heims, sorry for the cell phone pic

 

[hd44blazer]

got my spindles today, much better than the ones that came with the axle

and just some better pics of the tube inserts, now you can really see the bad finishhey i'm an apprentice for 3 more years, leave me alone

 

[sweetk30]

ya its a ball joint 60 but at least you can set caster camber angles with yours over the kingpin units.

 

[Avery4jc]

What size tube are you going to use for your tie-rod?
The adapters look good, don't beat yourself up about the finish.
You working on a conventional lathe or cnc? If you have access to a lathe with a taper attachment hop on that. I used to use the compound for stuff like those tube adapters but our big lathe has a taper attachment and it makes life easy and the surface finish is a lot nicer if that's what you're going after.

 

[hd44blazer]

this is true K30

and ill be using 1.5"x.250" for the tie rod and they were done manually with the compound this particular lathe didn't have a taper attachment but they're getting painted anyway so really i'm not too broken up over it

oh and i also picked up some 54" rear springs off a tahoe today from the pick n pull that ill be using for the front. Im using a front hanger from Off Road Direct to change the mount width to the 36.5" width that i have now plus it is reversible in that it can position the spring eye about 2" forward. I'm going to make my own rear shackle mounts with a few different eye locations so to fine tune the shackle angle and try to reuse the ORU shackles that i have. I may also use the zero rates i have to further move the axle forward.

 

[hd44blazer]

got the 14 bolt cleaned up today and did a bit of smoothing on the bottom, didn't get too crazy with the grinder basically just made a smooth transition along the bottom, i may do more though

 

[hd44blazer]

a few updates on the swap, so i sold my axles and tires and began moving the spring hanger positions around in order to bolt up the 60 when its ready, also painted the 14 bolt and got a factory open carrier from the pick n pull so i can install a locker, the axle came with a posi unit.

here's the ORD hanger

installed my zero rates with the 1.5" offset forward

i wanted to place the shackle with the least amount of rework as possible, so all i did was remove a section of the ORU hanger and placed a spacer in there to move the spring over, this is just a quick mockup now but i will add a full surface for the bushing to sit against

this is the shackle angle with just the weight of the springs so i'm not sure if it'll flatten out too much when i set the full weight on them and may need an add-a-leaf

these are the small pieces i removed from the ORU brackets

and still need bushings for the driver's side, but was just seeing if the center pins would line up ok

 

[BulldogK5]

That is one of the shiniest steering box covers I have ever seen. I thought it was a rock light at first.

 

[hd44blazer]

haha yea thats the AGR box and cover, but now that you mention it, the opposite side would be a good spot for one

 

[hd44blazer]

Small update, my Sky's Off Road steering kit is on it's way, same one as the red sas'd '92 rcsb floating around in this forum, they do a 4 stud 1 bolt keyed steering arm so seemed like the best/strongest option for steering.

I think the only other company building a decent setup for the balljoint 60's is ORU but theirs looks as though the arm is welded to the knuckle and it is more expensive and now that I think of it, I believe Solid Axle Ind. and maybe a few other companies have balljoint knuckles and arms but I didn't want to spend that much either and didn't see the need for new knuckles.

But after that, I can get the new balljoints pressed in and get the axle semi-reassembled and move on to gears/locker, also I welded the front because i'll be running selectable hubs so I didn't see the need for a selectable or automatic locker/limited slip at this time. Just want to get it driving again asap!!!

 

[hd44blazer]

i finally mock fitted the 54" springs, i thought i was going to use in the front, and as i mentioned before, they flattened out too much without moving the rear shackle mount, so i've decided to go with rear 52s instead and they fit and sat with vehicle weight much better.

these are with the vehicle weight on the springs and a 1.5" forward offset from zero rates

looks like a good shackle angle to me, probably could go back a little further but, a lot better than it was with the original setup or the 54s

 

[Avery4jc]

Looks good to me, I'd run it.