My 72 blazer

[ekajkrats]

jealous...

I am jealous of you guys and your garages. My lil 1951 sized garage can barely fit my washer and dryer. Sadly my beer is relegated to the ground as I work on the blazer in the driveway.

But like ashman, I try to keep it to weekend jobs. When I took the interior out for a week to work on the cab and floor, I was having driving withdrawals.

Don't know how you can do it Mike, but I am pulling for you to get running again soon! Keep up the good work. And I can't agree more, some beautiful places up in NorCal.

Max - I know what you are saying. I was fortunate enough to find this one. Some of the rigs are pieces of....rust, and that's about it. Good luck on getting one!

 

[Z71paramedic]

Dude, you're chipping away at it for sure! Looking good! I already miss mine and it's only been gone a day Keep her running!!!

 

[ekajkrats]

travels

Was able to take the 72 on our vacation this year to Graeagle, CA. The goal was to go on as many trails as I could, but with all the family trips to the different lakes, there ended up being only time for one. But it was a good one. Drove up the Gold Lakes highway and then over the ridge past Gold Lake, and up the backside to the Sierra Buttes Fire Lookout Tower.

Here is the view from the "parking lot" at about 8k feet up

Panoramic over Young America Lake:

A camping spot on the way up:

Now that we are back, I ended up building a lil something to help me take the top off since I have limited garage space. It's pretty hokey but did the trick:

And now that it is off, I don't know if I will ever be able to put it back on...I am loving it!

I was also able to touch up the rear passenger fender a bit, and get it to a pretty good color match. I will be buffing out the last layer of clear coat though to try and get it as shiny as the rest of the vehicle.

 

[chalet2506]

Topless is the way to go. Beautiful country up there and very nice pictures.

 

[fear_nothing]

Great way to take the top off, is that stand collapsible too?

 

[ekajkrats]

Yeah, bolts are what is holding everything together so I can bring it all down to a pile and move it to the backyard when not in use.

 

[fear_nothing]

Yeah, bolts are what is holding everything together so I can bring it all down to a pile and move it to the backyard when not in use.

Cool, I'll be stealing your idea

Are those 2x6's ? How long are they?

 

[ekajkrats]

They are 12ft 2x6's, and a 10ft 4x4. Used a boating hand winch off of amazon to raise and lower. I used ratcheting straps to hold the top and then just centered the wire rope over the top. The only problem is that part of the fiberglass drip rail on the back chipped from the straps. So you may want to either run 2x4's as your braces under the top, or devise another way. I am not very worried about the damage on mine, as my top needs some other work from the previous owner(s) damage to the top.

When lifting the top up and lowering it down, there wasn't much sway on the whole thing, but I may put some angle 2x4's or 2x6s from the side 2x6s diagonal up to the 4x4 cross beam to keep it from being wobbly. But it did much better than i anticipated and was really easy to crank up and down without using any pulley system.

 

[y5mgisi]

Great update man! Thanks!

 

[Greg72]

Nice work getting that top removed..... It won't take long to fall in love with open air driving,, especially living in NorCal.

You are well on your way along the continuum of what i like to call "1st Gen Hardtop Disenchantment"

I think every new 1st Gen owner goes through the same progression..... you get a truck with a fiberglass top (probably double-wall), then dream about replacing it with a nice single-wall version so that the bolts are easier to deal with on the bedrail, and you can have cool interior dome lights.

Then there's the reality that there's about $500 worth of seals that need replacing to make it seal worth a damn (and usually not even then.....there's a good reason why the front cab corners are always rotten in these trucks!).

Maybe you get that far and get the top working right (and don't have to locate a blown-out hatch replacment (rarer than hen's teeth)....so now you've got a great convertible truck that's......actually completely closed-in. ...... and noisy to drive.....and hot and stuffy in the summer since the back glass doesn't roll down like it does on the later trucks.

So, then the decision is to store the top in the summer to really maximize the enjoyment of the open-top truck. Maybe build a "Greg72 Pulleys From Hell" setup in your garage and store that 350Lb monster as high as you can and hope it doesn't fall and kill somebody in the meantime.

Eventually, the thought of driving with that stupid hardtop installed becomes so offensive that you decide to buy a soft top instead so that you can easily swap between weather protection and sunshine..... the hardtop sits in the rafters (or out behind the garage) collecting spiders and other critters, because you're convinced that keeping the truck "original" will add value someday. Eventually, after about 5 years on CK5 and other internet sites you realize that it's pretty darned easy to find a hardtop if you want one because everyone else is getting sick of storing theirs also.....

You try to sell your top (hopefully it's a single-wall) and find that nobody is interested even if it's almost free... one day, in a fit of frustration you finally take out the Sawzall with a demolition blade and cut the top into small chunks that will fit in the garbage pail and throw it away a little bit each week until you are finally free of the albatross once and for all.....


Disclaimer: This is all speculation, and not based on any direct personal experience.

 

[sponsoredbydad]

Love the pictures. Greg, Funny Funny stuff right there but O so true. My hard top is still hung in my rafters (I do believe I have passed the obligatory 5 years a couple of years ago) and yes every time I go in the garage I wince while walking or working under that monstrosity.

 

[ashman]

greg speaks truth. I've had my hard top stored under my deck for at least 10 years. I keep telling myself I'll build up a system where I can put it on during the winter, but it's never going to happen.

I'm going to try cutting it down to something I can use, but if that doesn't work, it's a gonner.

 

[ekajkrats]

...the truth

I must admit Greg, the first time I read your progression of hard top to soft top in another thread I was like, that can't be me. And now the truth is starting to set in.

I do love driving it without the top. The weather has been perfect for it. So much so I volunteer for the routine drive to the store just to get in and have the experience.

Glad y'all can enjoy the pics. Honestly without this site, I am not sure I would have had the courage to jump in and buy the Blazer in the first place. Love to share where it goes and what little I have done since I get so much from the site and will forever be indebted.

 

[ashman]

woot!

 

[ekajkrats]

rear fender holes.

Are there to be any holes in the rear passenger fender as shown below. Taking a body class at the local college to do a bit of work on the rig.

Thanks

 

[Greg72]

Looks like the holes to mount a swing out tire carrier.


-G

 

[ekajkrats]

Thanks Greg!

Just a couple weeks ago I was able to go on a lil road trip with my dad and his dog. Picked my dad up in Sacramento, spent the night and headed east. Didn't get a lot of pica along the way but here are a couple of the sights (if I can get some good shots my dad took I'll add 'em later):

On the way down we passed Mono lake:

We stayed at the Convict Lake cabins. A brief story of how it got its name can be found here.

Here are a few shots of it that I took.

From above:

Moon setting in the morning:

One of the days we headed over to Bishop and then took a trail called Silver Creek Rd outside of Laws, CA up White Mountian.

The beginning of the trail started at about 4k feet to 10k by the end:

This view is one of the creek crossings with my dad's dog enjoying a drink:

And here is another looking back from 3/4 of the way up with a gratuitous truck shot:

Which shows what I forgot to mention earlier in the thread...I got a softopper.

At about 10k feet up my engine stalled and flooded. It then took me about 20 min or so before I could get it running again but she once again breathed and the engine ran great as I played around between 10k and 11.5k feet the rest of the day.

 

[ekajkrats]

The following pics are of the moon like surface up there and also of the Ancient Bristle Cone Pine forest located up there.

Looking down on the world:

Roving the lunar landscape:

Here are some of the Bristle Cones:

I am loving this rig. The things it can do and places it takes me are so much fun!

 

[ashman]

LOVE those panarama shots! nicely done. looks like a great trip.

 

[NorCal69]

Awesome Pics. Glad that you're really enjoying the first gen in some pretty cool areas.