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? 's on improving the driving on my 71 blazer

sevans24

sevans24

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Anderson South Carolina
I have recently purchased a 71 blazer with a sky jacker lift and 39.5 Pitt Bull tires. My first thoughts was bring it back down, but after looking at the blazer I really like how it looks. One major problem the driving is terrible. I know there are tons of upgrades I need to do to make it a better ride. I just need some guidance on some upgrades that have been beneficial to some of ya'll. I will not drive it every day just 2 or 3 times during the week then the weekend wheeling. One more question, are dual shocks front/rear and steering stabilizers beneficial or more for looks?

Thanks
 
Dual shocks aren't really worth much.

How much lift? How is the truck lifted (blocks, all springs, shackle flip)? Stock axles? What kind of steering correction with the lift?
 
Any chance you can post up some pics. Those are awfully big tires if you actually have stock axles. Not only are the axles undersized but the brakes are also being asked to handle a lot of weight.

What driving problems are you running into that make you say it is terrible - knowing that and seeing some pics will help everyone give you some guidance.
 
So what exactly are you actually complaining about? Steering, ride, braking, power, etc etc etc?

Ditch the dual shocks and just run some good single shocks. Skip anything hydraulic with tires that big.

Going to have a lot of arch with those springs so ride will be stiff.
How tall are the blocks in the back? Probably giving you axle wrap if over 4".

Your axles are far to small for tires that big and heavy. Were they regeared for those tires? That would make the truck very slow if it were trying to turn those tall, heavy tires with stock gearing. Also breakage prone.

Steering is definitely important. The stock steering was pretty "meh" on these trucks now mess with it by lifting it and then forcing it to turn large, heavy tires and the truck won't turn right.

Ditto with the brakes. They were made 38 years ago to stop tires no bigger than 31's.
 
I quess the main concern is keeping it between the lines and not letting the road dictate where I go. I have tons of play in the steering wheel and plenty of swaying, not to mention trying to drive off road. The blocks on the back are 2 seperate blocks on top of each other. They are at least 8 inches.
I will post some picks as soon as I get it back from getting a side glass put in it.
 
Sounds like a shackle flip for the rear and loosing those blocks would benefit you alot. Not really supposed to stack blocks either..
Also with bigger tires you really need to keep on your front end maintenance like ball joints and tie rod ends and bearings. Not to bad of a job if you do it yourself just do one side at a time and rent the tools if your doing the ball joints.
You should jack up the front by the axle tube and try to wiggle or move the tire and you should use a large pry bar to lift up on the tire and look for movement in the ball joints.
 
You need to fix your steering properly. You probably have worn out components and possibly not even the right ones, best way to fix it is x over steering. If you are replacing a bunch of components anyway the cost is not too bad and it will help a ton.

I would do steering first, second thing you need to address is the stacked blocks. I have seen tons of trucks with stacked blocks and they seem to be fine. Its still not a good idea. A shackle flip plus a lift spring in back will make a world of difference. In the front unless you want to replace springs you may be stuck with a rough ride, kind of depends on which springs you have.

Double shocks are pointless. Go to a single.

Worn components can screw with your ride, so go through and look at what exactly is worn out then formulate a plan from there
 
Sloppy steering wheel can also be helped by swapping in an XJ steering shaft...:D
 
Yeah...uhm...wow...stacked blocks and LOTS of height...wow...
 
My 71 had the exact same problem with the steering but had no lift and stock 31" tires.

Aside from replacing any worn tie rod ends, ball joints, etc., check the steering box. Just reach under the drivers side fender and rotate the steering shaft by hand and see how far the steering wheel rotates before the pitman arm on the steering gear moves.

Mine had 4 inches of movement on the stock steering wheel and it was tough to keep straight on the road. I've reduced the amount of play to half of what it was and it's pretty easy to drive now. I adjusted the input shaft on the steering box and that helped a tiny bit. The biggest difference was had by fettig rid of the rag joint and using a ujoint style shaft like the xj shaft or a borgeson shaft. That made a huge difference.

Hope that helps some. Oh and those blocks in the back do look kinda scary.
 
1 check and see if stuff is worn out.
2 fix the worn stuff
3 ditch the bocks
4 if the drag link is worn, go crossover, new steering shaft and reman box
5 get some high pressure gas shocks.
6 borrow some smaller balanced radials and see how good it drives:D
7 start looking for at least 3/4 ton axles. youre truck has 11.2"x2-3/4" rear brakes. most 14 bolts have 13"x3" brakes. huge. or cheap disc conversion,that would be 3/4 ton FRONT brakes on the rear axle. not to mention probably having a better gear ratio.
8 drive it and be happier
 
Get us some clearer shots of the front end, specifically the steering box area and draglink that connects to the driver's side knuckle.

Those rear parking brake cables are stretched to the MAX! I wouldn't be surprised if you tear those out when the suspension flexes....you should try to find a longer set if you plan on keeping the truck that high. Pretty sure it's been discussed on here before, and you might even find part numbers. The longer ones probably come off a Suburban or some other longer wheelbase truck, but I can't recall the specifics.

Bias ply tires are going to hammer you mercilessly on the street (BTDT)... but it sounds like you have at least a few other issues going on as well that should be addressed and will improve the ride substantially.


:usaflag:
 
I would lower it to 4" lift with 35's. Looks great on the 1st gen, plus the ride will improve considerably. Get some tuff country e-z ride springs for the front and a shackle flip in the back and you'll be set. Plus you can get by on the stock axles with that setup if you are easy on it.

Definately remove those blocks before something bad happens. One pot hole can bust the blocks loose, then its all over.

Safety is mission 1
 
OK, got my shackle flip kit on the way from ORD. Getting my 2WD steering box from NAPA on Tuesday. Gonna do the X Over Steering. Rolled in some Dupli-Color Bed Armor and took my tires and rims off and put them up for sale, no luck so far!! Got to go with 35's just too much height for me.

Thousand question time!

When I put the shackle kit on is that enough to clear 35's or do I need blocks still?

Also working on putting a new steering wheel on- why not right? I thought the little round bearing was bad not so sure thats the only problem anymore. The shaft comes out and in when you pull on it. Is there someting that is missing that holds the shaft in place and that bearing? The previous owner had changed the steering wheel and welded the nut on the shaft. Not sure what that was all about cause the steering wheel still moved out when you used it to get into the truck. Hadn't looked at it in detail yet not a 100% sure where I need to be looking.

The XJ shaft is that out of a Grand C or a regular Cherokee?

I will try and get some pics up soon me and the camera are at war.

Thanks Ya'll
 
4" lift with 35's will get you close....there will be some "fine tuning" needed.

Visually, you will notice a problem where the rear tire is not centered in the wheelwell. It's too far forward. Installing an ORD Zero-Rate on the springpack before you do the shackleflip will move the axle back 1.5" which will be perfect.

I'd do a zero-rate up front as well to move the axle 1.5" closer to the front bumper. That will help clear up issues with rubbing when the springs flex and let the axle move backwards.

You'll end up with and extra 1" of lift...so 5" overall. That should give you good clearance for all but the most aggressive 4-wheeling. The "fine tuning" will come at this point when you step back and look at the truck's stance.... a lot of these 1st Gens will appear to sit just a tad low in the back due to the different shapes of the wheelwells F/R. I like the bedrail to be perfectly level or maybe even 1-degree raked forward. This can be accomplished by using a slightly longer rear shackle once you've got the shackleflip installed. I built my own from a stock set of shackles....2" longer than stock gives you 1" of extra lift and shackle-length tuning is a great way to balance to balance the visual appearance of the truck.

The last step(optional) if you still needed a bit more tire clearance, would be to install a set of 1" body lift pucks. It's a very minor change visually, but if you start wheeling hard it can keep your fenders from getting chewed up by the tires.....especially up front.


:usaflag:
 
XJ = regular Cherokee.

Not a bolt in for yours I believe though.
 
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