picked up a 88 blazer what should i do next?

[pulser9]

Ok so i just picked up a 88 blazer. its all stock with a rebuilt 350 in it. its in great body condition. I want to do a lift and tires and whatever else is needed with it. I think i want to run 36s. I already have steel wheels for it. I dont know how much lift is needed to run the 36s without any problems. So my questions are

What would be the best lift to get?
Should i be looking into geting gears also to run 36s?
What other things should i be looking to do to keep the truck reliable with the setup?
ill be using the truck for 75% on road 25% off road.

Iv been into subaru car for many uears so im new to the building of offroading trucks. So any help would be great.

Thanks
Kevin

 

[Metrodps]

Welcome to the family. Your questions are much of the same every new member ask. The biggest investment you can make is to pop for the membership ($25) it allows you to search for information in post and also to post in the buy and sell areas.

Start here http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=238442 and you will find some answers. Beware it is a sickness that gets deep in your blood.

 

[troutbum_mt]

Welcome to the family. Your questions are much of the same every new member ask. The biggest investment you can make is to pop for the membership ($25) it allows you to search for information in post and also to post in the buy and sell areas.

Start here http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=238442 and you will find some answers. Beware it is a sickness that gets deep in your blood.

Hate to say it Kevin, but Metro is right. I am new here too except I came in the hard way. I bought a rusted out 75 a month ago that I was trying to rebuild. Then I bought a 78 and am using the 75 as a donor based on the advice I got here. I have gotten more good info here than from all the books I have bought or web searches I have done. The membership is well worth the $25 and it allows you to search past posts. For example, there was one on here a while ago about how will my truck look with xx tires and xx lift or something along those lines. In there it talked about how much lift is needed for specific tire sizes and what combinations would require fender trimming IIRC. People were posting pics of their rigs and giving specs on tire sizes and lift and/or mods. I've been searching so much stuff it is all running together so that might have been two threads I combined into one...... Forgive me, I am getting Blazer Burnout

Basically newbies like us are like flies. The poop has already been talked about and we are just discovering it thinking it is a fresh pile but it isn't. The same info that I often ask has been gone over many, many, many times here I am sure. A few people are very helpful and will give you the info eventually if they run across your post, but for the most part, the search function will be your friend. It is more time consuming, but the info is out there somewhere. Also, it opens up other forums that just registered users can't get to.

I am sure somebody will eventually stumble across your post that has an answer and will dish out some info. The people here have a TON of knowledge, but I imagine they get burned out answering the same questions over and over and over again from newbies like us. I can't wait until I am an old, salty K5 Vet!!!

Best of luck with your rig and wish I had the answer for you.

 

[lectric80]

Ok so i just picked up a 88 blazer. its all stock with a rebuilt 350 in it. its in great body condition. I want to do a lift and tires and whatever else is needed with it. I think i want to run 36s. I already have steel wheels for it. I dont know how much lift is needed to run the 36s without any problems. So my questions are

What would be the best lift to get?
Should i be looking into geting gears also to run 36s?
What other things should i be looking to do to keep the truck reliable with the setup?
ill be using the truck for 75% on road 25% off road.

Iv been into subaru car for many uears so im new to the building of offroading trucks. So any help would be great.

Thanks
Kevin

To answer your questions, we are going to need some more information. There are a couple of things that come to mind on your specific vehicle though:

1. For running 36" tires, you are probably going to want to consider an axle swap, as the 10 bolts that it has are going to be pressed to their limits with tires that large.
2. We need to know what gears are currently in the truck to determine if you would need to regear. Most likely you will want to regear to run tires that large and keep the trans intact.
3. You have a good starting point, with FI and overdrive trans, just make sure you have a large trans cooler to keep that 700 happy.

As others have said, the $25 membership pays for itself in the ability to search, as well as the classifieds section, which could provide you with more parts than you will know what to do with. Welcome to the addiction, it will only get worse from here.

 

[lak2004]

As far as lift goes to clear 36" tires you are going to need at the minimum 4" and you will probably still have to trim the fenders with that. Most people prefer to run lift springs in the front and do a shackle flip in the rear for better flex. The least amount of lift you can get away with is usually better as well. Keeps your center of gravity lower and you might not have to change your driveshaft.

 

[Bent77]

If you are not going to wheel it hard, the axles will live. Follow the path of the Az crew, they use 1/2 ton crap all the time and get away with it. A 4.10 or 4.56 gear will work well with 36s.

Once your plop the $25, there was a thread here sometime back about trimming on an otherwise nice looking rig and making it look good.


But if you fall in deep and go D60/14ff/lockers/widgets....don't blame us....it's a disease....the site is really K5s Anon.

 

[mudboggink5]

What part of jersey are you from.