rampage
3/4 ton status
Every so often I see someone asking if barn doors can be put on a Blazer. Then I stumbled upon this pic and can honestly say that yes it can be done.
CK5
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Barn doors on a Blazer
- Thread starter rampage
- Start date
There was another on craigslist in Denver a year ago or so. Keep in mind the angle of the back of the Suburban roof is NOT the same as a Blazer. The Blazer top is more vertical at the rear and the Sub slopes forward. That one had to get some serious surgery to the fiberglass top to make those doors fit.
I feel the barn doors are more user friendly for getting stuff into or out of the back. @ZooMad75 besides the drip rail area the top does not look too modified??? Am I missing something? If someone could do this and get rid of the exposed hinges I feel it would be a huge improvement over the stock tailgate setup.
That's how GM should have made them,or at least offered a choice of a tailgate or barn doors just like a Suburban--no power tailgate or crank up mechanism to fail,no tailgate weighing 200 lbs,big window to get broken,and easier access to the cargo area..
I'd much prefer barn doors..
I have seen a K5 that someone modified like the one pictured,and liked it a lot..it was for sale too,for $5K...
I'd much prefer barn doors..
I have seen a K5 that someone modified like the one pictured,and liked it a lot..it was for sale too,for $5K...
When you park a Burb and a Blazer side by side you see the difference. The one pictured above has been leaned forward to match the burb doors. Who ever did it did a good job as it looks "normal" in the photo. I did crib the pics out of that Craigslist ad from a while ago. You can see this one has the Blazer top unmodified, but the doors don't lean forward at the top. The doors are almost flat.
runamok151
1 ton status
I just wish they had put a tailgate on like Furd had on the old country squire station wagons. Put the window down and you could unlatch it to swing to the side, making it easier to put stuff in the back or fold the tailgate down to use as a seat or table. The best tailgate I've seen since then was the 3 piece of the Excursions where the glass flipped up and the two baby barn doors swung out, very handy.
My '72 Chevelle Nomad wagon had a dual action tail gate,that opened like a door,or like a normal tailgate...one thing I disliked about that was it was very possible to forget to lower the window far enough and if you tried closing it in the door mode--SMASH!.
I managed not to do that though..(A few other people almost busted the window though!)..
I managed not to do that though..(A few other people almost busted the window though!)..
I liked the dual action gates the 60's and 70's wagons had. Only problem with swinging them open was you needed a 5-6ft radius to allow them to open fully.
The best idea I think for a gate is what Dodge did on the later full steel roof Ramchagers. Liftgate! Way better setup. Up and out of the way, provides a little shade/cover when open and you can reach right into the back without leaning over the tailgate.
The major problem is the weight of a liftgate like that and mounting hinges into a fiberglass top.
The best idea I think for a gate is what Dodge did on the later full steel roof Ramchagers. Liftgate! Way better setup. Up and out of the way, provides a little shade/cover when open and you can reach right into the back without leaning over the tailgate.
The major problem is the weight of a liftgate like that and mounting hinges into a fiberglass top.
Barn doors will have to be seriously modified in order for them to fit also. They are too tall new windows would have to be made also, the one pictured you can see the windows have been modified.
Give GM a little more credit! They had the dual action tailgates way long ago, and the Astro/Safari vans had the hatch/barn door combo long before there was ever an Excursion.
IMO, Burbs and K5's are trucks and trucks have tailgates. Who wants barn doors on a pickup? But I do have to say, a liftgate with opening glass is very convenient.
The RamCharger hatch is a pretty cool feature , but it's not a removable hardtop
The glass in the tailgate is definitely a pain. But I still like that over the barn doors for loading stuff.... May suck more with a lifted truck... Not sure, as mine was stock height. But in close quarters in a parking lot, throwing some plywood in the back, a tailgate makes me happier. Can't ding the guy next to me with that. And barn doors only having a strap kind of makes it hard to control....
I thought the tailgates from a K5 worked on burbs, and vice versa....... If that is so, then the back upper angles and height must be the same actually.
I thought the tailgates from a K5 worked on burbs, and vice versa....... If that is so, then the back upper angles and height must be the same actually.
The barn doors don't swing out any further then the tailgate let's down , so if anything you have more clearance behind the rig because you have the option to swing the doors out to almost 180 .
Burb gates and Blazer gates actually differ. Burb gate angles forward above the tailights and is actually taller. This is why guys wanting to put a Blazer top on a burb need to graft in the upper corner of the quarter panel to allow the gate to line up and give the top a bed rail to bolt too. It's kind of hard to see in the pic below from the angle, but you can see the burb has a constant slope from the tail light up to the roof leading forward. The Blazer quarter goes almost vertical (same as a pickup bedside) and then the fiberglass top has a slightly less forward lean to it. The quarter shape is what allows one to run a pickup gate on a Blazer without it looking funny. All the bolt holes are there on a Blazer to use a pickup gate too.
I think the regulators swap over, but not sure on the glass. Outside handles are the same too. Oh yeah they are prone to the same BS if the regulators aren't taken care of.
Now that I've thought about it, once I put the FWC camper on mine I'll have a single barn door!
Tailgate swings straight down not to the side where other peoples rides are. The home Depot parking lot in town here is far from flat. And I've fought my barn doors a few times trying to load stuff. They either swung down in my way or tried hitting the truck next to me. Tailgate would never have that issue. Wind can't catch it, nothing sticking out past the side of the truck, and if I have someone riding in the back I could still haul a sheet of plywood or drywall home by letting it ride on the gate left down.... I've had both. And just always preferred the gate
The manual regulators might be the same, but the power regulators are not. The glass is shaped differently too.
They can't hit other vehicles if you have the straps set . Haveing stuff hanging on the gate that's already overly heavy is bad news for the hinge areas .
Not only that barn doors work, no need to roll a window down before opening . If you have a tailgate better hope that the regulator works every time or you can't get the gate down or roll the window backup , not something that's fun to deal with at -40
