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Newbie installing a lift! Almost done!

I actually forgot to update this.. Well anyways, I ended up purchasing a kit from @swettysblazer (Great guy to deal with and would highly recommend to others) Well apparently BDS discontinued the 2.5" kit for whatever reason, so we somewhat frankensteined a kit together. I ended up getting 3" tuff country springs along with the Fox 2.0 shocks from the BDS kit..

This weekend I had finally found the time to start the project and ended up getting the front 95% done. Still haven't mounted the shocks, but everything else is snugged down and finished up.. Also got the old shocks off the rear.. and needless to say, they weren't doing a thing... They collapsed extremely easy.. & The fronts weren't much better!

Also was a little concerned about the brake hoses being too short.. So thanks to Swettys suggestion, I ended up swapping them out with '95 c1500 hoses which are a couple inches longer. Worked perfect!

So currently, half the truck is lifted! But the rear shouldn't take too long to do. And amazingly, every bolt has broken loose no problem! Really does help having a truck that hasn't been exposed to the elements!:laugh: Plan on finishing the entire thing up this weekend.. I'll post some pics tonight!
 
obijuank5 said:
2.5 kits don't need to have steering correction.

Pick which shock location you want to run up front and get that shock. They are dimensioned differently. Pick one.
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Actually ended up going with a 3" tuff country lift, so I am slightly taller.. The ball joints on the drag link just seem to be on a pretty sharp angle..

& I actually already have the shocks.. I'll have to get the dimensions of them when I get home.. Believe they would work in either position..

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Even thou a 2.5" lift doesn't need a dropped pitman arm if you install one you will have better turning radius, ( made a huge difference on my crew cab )
 
Raised steering arms are too high for 2.5 on half tons but 3 does great with a dropped pitman arm.
 
Well, got the rear blocks installed today and decided to take it for a spin around the subdivision. And now it's got a pretty nasty driveline vibration... Under 25 mph... Feels like I'm riding in a giant vibrator.....:whistle::haha:

Seems like such a big company would have the angle on the blocks figured out... But apparently not. Guess its just another bug to figure out....:dunno:
 
4x4blaze said:
Well, got the rear blocks installed today and decided to take it for a spin around the subdivision. And now it's got a pretty nasty driveline vibration... Under 25 mph... Feels like I'm riding in a giant vibrator.....:whistle::haha:

Seems like such a big company would have the angle on the blocks figured out... But apparently not. Guess its just another bug to figure out....:dunno:
Click to expand...
Since those lifts are used for short Blazers to long bed trucks, the angles will all be different. I put a 4" lift on my blazer and had to go with a CV. Couldn't solve it with shims.
 
What rear blocks are they? I know I am running shims right now with my shackle flip. Measure the angle on the axle u joint and the transfer case and post them up and we will figure it out.
 
Green Monster said:
Since those lifts are used for short Blazers to long bed trucks, the angles will all be different. I put a 4" lift on my blazer and had to go with a CV. Couldn't solve it with shims.
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That does make sense when you think about it. And this may sound like a newbie question, but what is CV an abbreviation for?:o

swettysblazer said:
What rear blocks are they? I know I am running shims right now with my shackle flip. Measure the angle on the axle u joint and the transfer case and post them up and we will figure it out.
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They are the blocks that came with the kit you sold me. I believe they are skyjacker blocks. And to be entirely honest with you, I hate blocks.:crazy: Went ahead and did a block lift now because it was cheaper, but there's a good chance I'll be ordering 3in rear springs from you if I don't shackle flip it in the very near future. They just look goofy to me...:surepal:

But back to the vibration issue, I actually have a little bit of prior experience. I have an old Camaro with a t56 in it and that we had to shim quite a bit to get a good angle. Tremec actually has an angle finder app for your phone and it works great! So I'll probably use that same method and post the results here. Might be a couple days though! It was upper 50's and sunny yesterday, and now it's snowing.....:doah:
 
4x4blaze said:
That does make sense when you think about it. And this may sound like a newbie question, but what is CV an abbreviation for?:o



They are the blocks that came with the kit you sold me. I believe they are skyjacker blocks. And to be entirely honest with you, I hate blocks.:crazy: Went ahead and did a block lift now because it was cheaper, but there's a good chance I'll be ordering 3in rear springs from you if I don't shackle flip it in the very near future. They just look goofy to me...:surepal:

But back to the vibration issue, I actually have a little bit of prior experience. I have an old Camaro with a t56 in it and that we had to shim quite a bit to get a good angle. Tremec actually has an angle finder app for your phone and it works great! So I'll probably use that same method and post the results here. Might be a couple days though! It was upper 50's and sunny yesterday, and now it's snowing.....:doah:
Click to expand...
Constant velocity, or more specifically, double Cardan. Essentially two u-joints, joined together offset 90 degrees from each other. Better for steeper driveline angles. Your front shaft is probably already double-Cardan, but you may need to change the rear.
 
Well guys, the truck still isn't finished, but it's getting there! Been working a lot of long hours and OT on the weekends, so I've sort of been handcuffed lately..

BUT it is slowly getting there! Decided to ditch the blocks all together and do an ORD shackle flip in the rear along with plenty of other goodies from ORD. So it's slowly coming together! Even though its currently still being ripped apart... But reassembly should go pretty quick!

And I must say, this truck is a total babe to work on.. I have yet to run into a seized bolt. From the hanger bolts to the steering box, they all break loose easily! And most times the bolts aren't even rusty! The Grandpa before me only used it as a Sunday cruiser, so it never really experienced the elements here in the rust belt. And I am ever so thankful for that!
 
4x4blaze said:
Well guys, the truck still isn't finished, but it's getting there! Been working a lot of long hours and OT on the weekends, so I've sort of been handcuffed lately..

BUT it is slowly getting there! Decided to ditch the blocks all together and do an ORD shackle flip in the rear along with plenty of other goodies from ORD. So it's slowly coming together! Even though its currently still being ripped apart... But reassembly should go pretty quick!

And I must say, this truck is a total babe to work on.. I have yet to run into a seized bolt. From the hanger bolts to the steering box, they all break loose easily! And most times the bolts aren't even rusty! The Grandpa before me only used it as a Sunday cruiser, so it never really experienced the elements here in the rust belt. And I am ever so thankful for that!
Click to expand...
Good work. Smart move going to the shackle flip to get rid of the blocks. I'm going to bet your driveline vibration issues aren't done yet.

The K5's are short enough that with a slip yoke output on the t-case and single u-joint on each end of the rear shaft, you will have too high of a angle to correct for. My 75 that had a fixed yoke 205 actually got better with the flip as it corrected the driveline vibration issue I had. But the rear shaft is longer when running a fixed yoke output. However, my 91 with a slip yoke 241 shook like a paint shaker on deceleration. It actually spit the rear u-joint out as I was coming to a stop. After much measuring later, I ended up going to a CV (double cardan) rear shaft for the slip yoke output of my t-case. It then took a 8 degree shim at the rear end to line it all up again. $600 later for the shaft and shims and no more vibrations.

Moral of the story, once you get it back together drive it to feel for any vibrations. If it's still there, stop and start measuring your driveline angles. Make corrections based on your measurements.
 
Finally got some nice weather heading my way, so my plan is to hopefully get it back on its wheels this weekend! Got the gas tank dropped and the stock rear hangers off.. So the deconstruction of the blazer is finally done and it's all uphill from here! Hopefully... :D

The only thing I'm somewhat concerned about is that I went with a 3" lift. In which I have 3" tuff country front springs.. And for the rear, I've got a 2.5" shackle flip, Super shackles(which add 1/2 an inch), and 1" add a leaf's to relocate the axle.. So if you do the math, that comes out to be 3" front and 4" rear.. And I'm somewhat afraid this thing is going to have a ton of rake to it.... But all I can do is send it and see how it ends up looking all buttoned up I guess!

If worst came to worst, I guess I could sell the add a leaves and buy ORD's little relocating plates intead.. But time will tell just as it always does!
 
To most people, Blazers and Suburbans look "level" with a bit more lift in the back. There is some personal preference there, though.
 
1977k5 said:
To most people, Blazers and Suburbans look "level" with a bit more lift in the back. There is some personal preference there, though.
Click to expand...

I prefer slightly more lift in back.

Adding to what Chris said the tops of the wheel wells are at 2 different heigths. Rear being lower. So slightly more lift in the back and the eye typically perceives it as level.

So I think you will be fine
 
I agree with the above comments about it looking better with a little bit more lift in the rear than the front. However I will say the "sag" in the back is more a visual thing on the Blazers and Suburbans. If you look at the body line at the bottom of the rockers on a stock rig it is usually perfectly level with the ground. The saggy rear look mostly comes from the front versus back wheel wells. The top of the front wheelwells are up a good bit higher than the rear wheelwells. Most pickups sit higher in the rear from the factory so visually they look more level, even though the bottom rocker panel lines go up towards the rear of the vehicle.

Regarding the 1.5" spacers on the rear. While I'm not saying they are the best things in the world I did run 1.5" spacers on the 10-bolt in the rear of mine for several years with both 33" and 35" tires along with some decent wheeling. I actually bought the spacers used from the original CK5 rig (Steve's, or Mr. CK5 himself)....how many people actually remember him? He ran 35's for years and did some wheelin' before I got them.
 
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