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time to buy some upgrades

wraenking

wraenking

1/2 ton status
Joined
Apr 30, 2003
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Location
Toms River, NJ
ok, right now i am stock on a 1986 blazer siverado.

i would like to go 4"'s of lift with 35's. is it possible. can i tell what gears i have now?

what do you guys recommend for the lift?

tires? rims?

all responses will be appreciated. im hoping i have the 3.73 gears, but im not sure.

thanks
 
WOW! Start us off by telling us what you plan on doing with the truck. Is it going to be a DD or trail only rig? For 4" of lift I would recommend doing an offroad design shackle flip in the rear to keep things nice and soft/flexy, and go with some 4" BDS or Tuff Country springs up front to keep the ride soft/flexy up there as well. There are too many wheels to even mention, but do you want steel wheels, chrome, beadlocks? I just run some $70 per wheel steel monster wheels because they are so durable. As for tires, do you want a highly aggressive mud terrain or an all terrain? I am running goodyear mt/r's and I love them. I highly recommend them. Also, with 35's if you plan on doing any hardcore wheeling, you might want to consider swapping a 14 bolt rear axle. They are cheap (can be had anywhere from $50-$350 depending on condition), and the installation is as simple as removing driveshaft, u-bolts, shocks, and brake lines from old axle, and re-connecting them to the 14 bolt; granted you move the spring perches and shock mounts first. Give us some more info on what you plan on doing with the truck, and we might be able to help you find just exactly what you are looking for.
-Harrison
 
i appreciate the help. mostly i would be riding on the beach to go fishing. its not my dd right now because i have a work truck, but you never know. i would like to hit paragon this summer, but would stick to the light stuff, because hobbies are expensive, and my boat costs more!! lol

seriously, i would like to just do some light trail riding, and still be able to tow my 18' center console boat without a problem

if you can , can you give some links of kits for lifts and tires and sucjh you recommend?

thanks

tom
 
[ QUOTE ]
ok, right now i am stock on a 1986 blazer siverado.

i would like to go 4"'s of lift with 35's. is it possible. can i tell what gears i have now?

what do you guys recommend for the lift?

tires? rims?

all responses will be appreciated. im hoping i have the 3.73 gears, but im not sure.

thanks

[/ QUOTE ] 4" lift ??? HHhmmmmm, think ORD !!! Tuff Country front springs with ORD's 4" shackle flip for the rear. I'm sure ORD can set you up with everything you'll need.
 
[ QUOTE ]
i appreciate the help. mostly i would be riding on the beach to go fishing. its not my dd right now because i have a work truck, but you never know. i would like to hit paragon this summer, but would stick to the light stuff, because hobbies are expensive, and my boat costs more!! lol

seriously, i would like to just do some light trail riding, and still be able to tow my 18' center console boat without a problem

if you can , can you give some links of kits for lifts and tires and sucjh you recommend?

thanks

tom

[/ QUOTE ]
Well, if your only planning on doing light wheeling, just slap on the 4" lift, 35's, and go. A shackle flip in the rear will make the rear pretty soft. If you plan on towing an 18 foot center console, I would recommend 4" lift springs for the front and rear. They will ride stiffer than the shackle flip in the rear, but thats pretty much what you need for towing. As for the springs, Tuff Country makes good springs from what I hear, but my suggestion is to go with BDS springs. They ride nice, flex nice, and have a lifetime guarantee. The only concern I have would be with your gears/axles. Keeping the stock 10 bolts with 35's is a strain in itself. Add in the weight of towing an 18 foot center console, and you may be in the market of breaking something (probably the rear, especially if it has a govbomb in it.) Plus, the stock gears are a concern as well. Chances are you either have 3.42's, or 3.73's. I know my 87 K5 came with the heavy duty towing package, which consisted of 3.42 gears. You might have gotten lucky and gotten some 4.10's in there. Even with 4.10's though, with those big 35's on there and the weight of the boat, the truck is going to move like a grandma's caddy. Plus, you can go pretty low with the gears since you have OD. It all depends really if you want the truck to actually have power with the boat behind it. It also depends on if your willing to take the risks of putting the strain of high gears and high weight on the engine and transmission. I know I may sound a little radical, but my best advice is to do it right the first time to save yourself time and money in the long run. I researched for almost 2 years on what lift, gears, axles, tires, wheels, shocks, everything to run. As far as websites for lifts, go to bds-suspension.com, or do a search on yahoo.com to find bds's home page. From there, you can find links to bds dealers in your area. Hope this helps. /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif /forums/images/graemlins/k5.gif
-Harrison
 
4" and 35's with a drop in locker or two, a few upgrades like a frame brace and shackles, you;re good to go, then you can tsrat saving for a winch,a dn then you're done!
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
i appreciate the help. mostly i would be riding on the beach to go fishing. its not my dd right now because i have a work truck, but you never know. i would like to hit paragon this summer, but would stick to the light stuff, because hobbies are expensive, and my boat costs more!! lol

seriously, i would like to just do some light trail riding, and still be able to tow my 18' center console boat without a problem

if you can , can you give some links of kits for lifts and tires and sucjh you recommend?

thanks

tom

[/ QUOTE ]
Well, if your only planning on doing light wheeling, just slap on the 4" lift, 35's, and go. A shackle flip in the rear will make the rear pretty soft. If you plan on towing an 18 foot center console, I would recommend 4" lift springs for the front and rear. They will ride stiffer than the shackle flip in the rear, but thats pretty much what you need for towing. As for the springs, Tuff Country makes good springs from what I hear, but my suggestion is to go with BDS springs. They ride nice, flex nice, and have a lifetime guarantee. The only concern I have would be with your gears/axles. Keeping the stock 10 bolts with 35's is a strain in itself. Add in the weight of towing an 18 foot center console, and you may be in the market of breaking something (probably the rear, especially if it has a govbomb in it.) Plus, the stock gears are a concern as well. Chances are you either have 3.42's, or 3.73's. I know my 87 K5 came with the heavy duty towing package, which consisted of 3.42 gears. You might have gotten lucky and gotten some 4.10's in there. Even with 4.10's though, with those big 35's on there and the weight of the boat, the truck is going to move like a grandma's caddy. Plus, you can go pretty low with the gears since you have OD. It all depends really if you want the truck to actually have power with the boat behind it. It also depends on if your willing to take the risks of putting the strain of high gears and high weight on the engine and transmission. I know I may sound a little radical, but my best advice is to do it right the first time to save yourself time and money in the long run. I researched for almost 2 years on what lift, gears, axles, tires, wheels, shocks, everything to run. As far as websites for lifts, go to bds-suspension.com, or do a search on yahoo.com to find bds's home page. From there, you can find links to bds dealers in your area. Hope this helps. /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif /forums/images/graemlins/k5.gif
-Harrison

[/ QUOTE ] Good point about the 10 bolts. I don't think a D60 is really nessarry with 35's, but I deffently would do atleast a 3/4 ton axle swap, and get the FF 14 bolt rear instead of the SF. Yeah, it'll mean 8 lug wheels, but it'll be alot stronger !!! /forums/images/graemlins/deal.gif
 
ttt


i would like to get a 4" kit with the rear springs. anyone know of a good place for that?
 
"you might want to consider swapping a 14 bolt rear axle"

lol
first reply talking about an axle swap

i swear if my grandma came here and asked for a good tire to for dirt roads someone would mention switching to d60 14bff!
 
With 4" of lift you'll probably want to do a cross over steering conversion. It's also a good excuse to upgrade to the stainless steel brake lines and justify it by saying that they are 4" longer than stock and conducive to the lift. Both are available at ORD.
 
it does come with a stearing stabilizer, and i did go with the stainless brake lines.

will that be good enough for now?
 
The stock steering correction, once adjusted, works great for wheeling, untill you start stuffing and flexing like mad, so I think fo rnow that will work for you.

The kit comes with a raised steering arm right?
 
[ QUOTE ]
The kit comes with a raised steering arm right?

[/ QUOTE ]

i sure hope so. i asked him like ten times if i had everything i would need and he said yes. im assuming it does.

do they usually?
 
[ QUOTE ]
the rear springs there are 350.00 by themselves. that seems a little steep to me.

[/ QUOTE ]You can get cheaper, but I've always went with quality. Cheaper springs = rough ride = sore back after a while, well for me anyways. I have 7" lift in the rear of my K5. I have the ORD 4" shackle flip + 3" Tuff Country springs. I like that set up alot. /forums/images/graemlins/deal.gif Still need to swap out my 6" Superlift front springs for some 6" Tuff Country front springs.
 
If I were you I would first off find out what gear ratio you have. Check your codes that are in the glove box or on the fenderwell. Report back with any code that starts with a "G" G80 is a gov lock and is a piece of junk. Chances are though that you do have it, most blazers did.

If you do have 3.73's, which is the lowest factory ratio you could get, I would get a 4" BDS suspension lift. Don't worry about crossover steering, dual steering stabilizers, etc.. all that stuff is for better offroad performance with tougher obstacles, not as much on better onroad performance. The stock steering is fine with the raised arm...4" steering arm, 4" lift...still stock steering angles. I would go with 33's instead of 35's because of your gearing and having a 305. you could get away with 3.73's and 33's OK but it will still be a dog pulling your boat. As far as the towing you aren't going to be able to pull your boat like it's not even back there, 305's are not good towing motors, IMHO they were an option to help save fuel and emmissions at the sacrafice of power. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif If you go with 35's it will be too hi geared and you will have to regear to something like 4.56's not to mention opening a can of worms if you need to convert to 3/4 gear. Your rear 10B should handle the boat and 33's just fine, they're not as weak as some people think. Even if you go to 3/4 gear you would still have a front 10B just with 8 lug hubs.

Don't do a shackle flip, you can't tow with a shackle flip. I would just put a 2.5" add a leaf in the stock spring pack and a 2" block between the axle and springs. THis would be cheaper than new springs and/or a shackle flip. Despite what people say, a short block will be just fine and when done correctly you will never have to worry about it.

Your K5 with the mods I listed above would be a lot cheaper and work just as well as the more expensive mods buzzing around on the beach, or light wheeling.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Don't do a shackle flip, you can't tow with a shackle flip.

[/ QUOTE ] I dissagree. Yes, I've seen the dissclaimers, but thats more for leagalitys.( Joe Blow wants to sue because he got into a wreck, and wants to blaim it on the shackle flip instead of take responcibilty for going to fast or whatnot.) There are meny members here that tow with shackle flips. I wouldn't be affraid to tow with my shackle flip. /forums/images/graemlins/deal.gif
 
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