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CK5
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- Thread starter jdot2004
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Jester1
1/2 ton status
Going to 35s you will want to look at gears. Most here will say 4.10 ish. Ord makes good stuff and diy4x4 are both sponsers and are vendors here. Stay away from blocks on your lift go shackle flip.
Other than that put together a budget then double it and read, read, read, all you can in the builds. Lots of awesome info. You have to come up with the plan for your use. Always finish a project you start or you will end up with all the parts laying in the garage and nothing completed.
Some will say you need 14bff and 60 front, bigger tires, bigger motor, but be realistic about your needs then make the decision. We are here to help for technical and moral support.
Congrates on you rig enjoy it and get some pics up. If you havent already pony up the 25 to be a member, best start you can make on any project.
Other than that put together a budget then double it and read, read, read, all you can in the builds. Lots of awesome info. You have to come up with the plan for your use. Always finish a project you start or you will end up with all the parts laying in the garage and nothing completed.
Some will say you need 14bff and 60 front, bigger tires, bigger motor, but be realistic about your needs then make the decision. We are here to help for technical and moral support.
Congrates on you rig enjoy it and get some pics up. If you havent already pony up the 25 to be a member, best start you can make on any project.
Jester1
1/2 ton status
I see you spent the 25. Good start. Carry on.
For the gears, and excuse my ignorance, can I get 4.10 gears for my stock 10 bolt rears? If I get new rear springs from ord doesn't that avoid the blocks and shackle flip? As for now I just want to be able to play a little harder then as the motor, rears ect. go I will replace them. To save a little for the time being I have bought a winch anyone know where I may be able to get some prints for a winch bumper or just wing it in the shop?
Welcome to CK5! You can definitely find new or used replacement gears for your stock 10-bolt axles (front and back ratios have to match or things get pretty interesting 
).
There's no reason that you have to do the gears now. Drive around on your 35" tires for a bit to decide how much you want to gear down. If you're a laid-back driver you may not care at all about the loss of available power. If you're a speed demon you may care quite a bit. But your preference will greatly influence which set of gears will be the right one for this truck.
Your axles should last you a long time if you don't beat on them. It's worth noting that the factory 10-bolt gov-loc axle carrier (option code "G80") is unreliable even under moderate use. If you have one of those your axle is more prone to breakage than most of what's on the street. If you wind up swapping in another 10-bolt, it's worth avoiding G80 axles.
Strength-wise, rear axles are easy & cheap to upgrade, fronts are significantly less so.
Yes, lift springs will eliminate the need for blocks. The shackle flip is just another way to get extra height. So all you have to do is find a set of springs with an appropriate amount of lift.
For the bumper template, I would take a read through muddysub's build thread, starting with this post. There are plenty of others running around, but he's the one who offered up cad templates/prints, IIRC.
).There's no reason that you have to do the gears now. Drive around on your 35" tires for a bit to decide how much you want to gear down. If you're a laid-back driver you may not care at all about the loss of available power. If you're a speed demon you may care quite a bit. But your preference will greatly influence which set of gears will be the right one for this truck.
Your axles should last you a long time if you don't beat on them. It's worth noting that the factory 10-bolt gov-loc axle carrier (option code "G80") is unreliable even under moderate use. If you have one of those your axle is more prone to breakage than most of what's on the street. If you wind up swapping in another 10-bolt, it's worth avoiding G80 axles.
Strength-wise, rear axles are easy & cheap to upgrade, fronts are significantly less so.
Yes, lift springs will eliminate the need for blocks. The shackle flip is just another way to get extra height. So all you have to do is find a set of springs with an appropriate amount of lift.
For the bumper template, I would take a read through muddysub's build thread, starting with this post. There are plenty of others running around, but he's the one who offered up cad templates/prints, IIRC.
Hmmmm. Where to start where to start.
Oh I know steering. Add crossover steering to your list. It will improve the drive ability. It's not just crossover but adding bracing to the steering box eliminating the rag joint. And making sure your components are all in good working order.
I cannot stress how much steering improves the drive ability more so when towing.
It really depends on what you want to achieve and for how much. Lift can be way cheap or a couple grand. And that's still with just leaf springs.
I am a big fan of just making sure all the stuff works well. I.E. with a shock in its stock a softer spring will be limited by the shock.
Oh and that 10 bolt rear. I'm not a fan. Some have had success with em but I have seen too many break at inopportune times.
There is oh so much more
Oh I know steering. Add crossover steering to your list. It will improve the drive ability. It's not just crossover but adding bracing to the steering box eliminating the rag joint. And making sure your components are all in good working order.
I cannot stress how much steering improves the drive ability more so when towing.
It really depends on what you want to achieve and for how much. Lift can be way cheap or a couple grand. And that's still with just leaf springs.
I am a big fan of just making sure all the stuff works well. I.E. with a shock in its stock a softer spring will be limited by the shock.
Oh and that 10 bolt rear. I'm not a fan. Some have had success with em but I have seen too many break at inopportune times.
There is oh so much more
Yeah...I figured I'd be the only one endorsing the use of a rear 10-bolt around here. There are certainly reasons to upgrade, I just wanted to point out that a light-duty rig is not going to need as heavy an axle as you do. That is...until the bigger-and-better bug sets in...
I appreciate all of your info. To go back through old posts I probably still would not have been able to pull all that out. Couple more questions though. What is the best budget rear to replace the 10 bolt and would I be better off getting it from a junk yard and rebuilding it? I am not much of a rock climber, not many in NJ anyway. so will I need to cut fenders with the 4" lift and 35" tires? with the kit I plan to get the steering repair kit and the extended brake lines also. but the cross over steering is on the list, thank you. It'll probably end up being one big upgrade per year so: suspension and tires, Motor, steering and rears and other stuff as it breaks along the way. I'll know my limits in the mean time. Ill get some pictures up once I get a better grip on navigating the site also.
Easiest non-1/2-ton thing for you to do is probably grabbing a 6-lug 14-bolt semi-floating axle from a "heavy half" pickup or 3/4-ton cargo van. Same axle as most of the 3/4-ton pickups running around, but the hubs have 6-lugs on them instead of 8, so your current wheels will still work. This would require moving spring perches and shock mounts, but that's about it. I'd check out Dueling's thread for this option, but it takes an impressive amount of searching to find anything in that behemoth of a thread.
(10 minutes of searching later...I would start you at this post if you're interested in this route).
You could also switch to 8-lug wheels. This would require swapping out the hubs in front, but then you could run either the normal 8-lug 14bsf 3/4-ton axle or either flavor of the 14-bolt full float 1-ton axle in the rear. I opted to go this route, even though I never plan to beat on the truck, because the full float axle has several aspects that make it easy to build and maintain (and I enjoy projects like that). But I had to spend a few hours & a couple hundred bucks swapping out the front hubs, in addition to buying a new set of rims and the axle. I have some pictures in my Suburban thread, starting with this post.
Either way you go, I would recommend getting a cheap junkyard axle and building it to your own specifications. Unless you come across a freshly-rebuilt axle that's already set up with the right gears.
The second sticky thread in the Garage is full of pictures of folks comparing lift/tire combinations. It will give you some visual ideas of what your combination would look like.
What are your intentions with the truck?
What gears does it currently have?
What transmission does it have?
I would recommend a shackle flip over rear lift springs.
Martin
What gears does it currently have?
What transmission does it have?
I would recommend a shackle flip over rear lift springs.
Martin
Glad to see another Jerseyan on here.... Take the advice given so far. Figure out your plan for the truck, and just go from there. We will guide you along the way.
So, after all the advice I got my lift and put it on. I went with the tuff country 4 inch hd lift, all new springs. the 6000 series shocks and 35 inch tires. I also got new wheels since my hub cap bolts were stripped and made noise when driving.... so far so good. The only issue I have is the front is noticeably higher than the rear. Is there a reason for this? will it "settle in" as my friend put it due to the weight of the motor?
Looks good!!!
Burbdood 74
Giver of not a single damn...
That looks good. The rear typically sits low on Blazers and Suburbans because of the extra weight sitting over the rear axle. The rear of a truck isn't as heavy so they don't suffer from the dreaded "saggy ass" too. Most of the time, the 4" lifts for a Blazer/Suburban come with 6" rear springs to combat the sag.
Your front springs may settle in time or you may have to get what's called a "zero rate" block from ORD. It's simply a 1" block that's bolted to your spring pack to help level it out a bit.
Your front springs may settle in time or you may have to get what's called a "zero rate" block from ORD. It's simply a 1" block that's bolted to your spring pack to help level it out a bit.
yeah, I don't see that settling enough in front. I'd just throw a "zero rate" in the rear now. You will probably want a new driveshaft if the slip has pulled out a lot, just a good idea, otherwise it can cause vibrations and extra wear.
I'd drive it as is for a while and see if the gearing is ok. I can see you going to a taller gear. Kinda wish you hadn't gotten those new rims. If new rims were part of the plan, I would have waited till I found some 3/4 ton 8 lug axles. You get a 14b rear axle and steeper gears, never have to worry about breaking it while towing.
I'd drive it as is for a while and see if the gearing is ok. I can see you going to a taller gear. Kinda wish you hadn't gotten those new rims. If new rims were part of the plan, I would have waited till I found some 3/4 ton 8 lug axles. You get a 14b rear axle and steeper gears, never have to worry about breaking it while towing.
I feel a lot better about you modifying it now that I have seen this side of the rig.
Martin
Martin
All in time. I don't mind buying the rims. the old ones were annoying and I got the new ones cheap with the tires. Eventually I do plan to put in 3/4 8 lugs and I will get new rims then. As i stated before my experience is limited so I appreciate all the information. Once I get some cash I will get the zero rates and new driveshaft. Not sure how to go about getting the appropriate driveshaft but when the time comes I'm sure I will find some information on here. I did search locally for the 8 lug 3/4 ton rears and had no luck so I just figured for the time being I would enjoy what i had. From there I'll upgrade stuff as I break it.
Upgrading as you go is best. Far too many people dump money into cosmetics and find out later they need some drive train related piece. Beat on it like it owes you money and go from there. 
Nice truck man! Here is my 2 cents, don't swap to 8 lug unless you intend on going dana 60 at some point.. its not worth the mess of worrying about rims and what not and that can limit your choices.. personally... If I was you id find a 14 sf from a newish 88-98 2500 they are 6 lug also.. should bolt in with sprin perches, have the larger brakes and ring gear, you can usually find them with 3:73 or 4:10 depending on the truck. this way you keep your stock front, which isn't as weak as some make it out to be.. I would know my k5 had both axles at one point and the rear was the issue.. the trick is never put a locking device in the front and don't get stupid with the power while full lock.. knowing those two things saved me from ever breaking my 10b or the d44 fronts..
The rest is up to your goals.. how much are you towin? what gears should be decided by that and your trans engine combo.. personally I thought 35s and 4:10s were not enough.. at least with a stock 350. I would have rather gone 4:56.. if Overdrive 4:88.. gear is the easiest way to wake the rig up..
The rest is up to your goals.. how much are you towin? what gears should be decided by that and your trans engine combo.. personally I thought 35s and 4:10s were not enough.. at least with a stock 350. I would have rather gone 4:56.. if Overdrive 4:88.. gear is the easiest way to wake the rig up..
