I am new to the forum, so I hope I'm doing this correctly. I have a 96 s10 blazer with 4x4, and I'm wanting to put dual front calipers on it. I pull a trailer all the time, and I have already swapped the rear drums for disc. I have a friend that has a 99 s10 blazer 4x4 with the dual front calipers. The A arms look identical but, I noticed that my lower ball joint nut is pointing down whereas the 99 is pointed up. Can I just flip the ball joint over on mine, or do I need new ball joints?
Also, do I need to pull the master cylinder too?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Jason

 

Swapping to dual piston calipers is probably straight forward if the caliper bracket for the dual piston caliper fits in the spindle. I have not done this swap. Would just be a matter of trying it. Probably requires a different hydraulic line as well.....IDK.

However, the lower ball joint....something is wrong here....the ball joint nut is above the spindle.....has to be....OR someone really changed things. Could you take a picture and post it?

EDIT: the ball joint nut is above the spindle for a 2WD....left that out above.

 

Here is the picture, both upper and lower ball joints thread on from the bottom.

 

I'm not sure why your friends ball joint is the wrong way, but I have a 99 and it's the same way top and bottom. Does your friend have a 2wd or 4wd?

edit: I noticed it says 4x4... but that's the first I heard of the lower ball joint being upside down. Theres not enough room between the control are and cv axle for that...

 

I'll get him to take a picture. He is parting it out. As I was taking a list of parts off of it, I noticed that it has dual piston calipers and a bigger rotor. Looking at it further, I realized that I'd have to swap the whole spindle. Comparing it to mine, I noticed it went between both upper and lower A-arms. But, maybe I didn't see it correctly, I'll send the picture as soon as I get it. Thanks for the help!

 

I just re-read what I wrote above about the lower ball joint orientation.....I left some words out!

Yes the lower ball joint nut should be on the bottom of the lower control arm for a 4WD....on a 2WD or RWD, the ball joint nut is above the spindle.

Wow....did I write that wrong above.....

 

Ok, that's what I was thinking. I haven't got a picture of it yet. I'll send that as soon as I get it. I remember seeing it different than mine, but maybe I saw it wrong...

Now to the next question...
If I plan to keep my my set up now this is what I'm going to do, correct me if I'm wrong.
I have a proportioning valve on mine, and as of now the rear wheels are getting way to much brake. I have another proportioning valve that I've gut, drilled and tapped the ends of both caps to make it just a distribution block. I'm going to buy a Willwood proportioning valve for the rears and install it after the abs system. The 99 has a different type of master cylinder then my 96. Do I need to pull that and swap mine, or does it matter. I don't know if it will even fit as of right now. Then I'm going to tune it to get the rears to lock just before the front.

 

I'm not sure about everything, but I'll follow to learn. But I always thought you wanted the front to have a little more then the rear? Like 60/40 kind of thing...

 

I have never done what you are doing....just no experience.
I would try the valve from the friend's Blazer, it is setup for disc brakes front and rear. I have no idea if it fits or not. Taking the master cylinder might also be a good thing to do as the pistons are probably different....but again...no idea if it fits or not.

 

Yes, you are correct about the 60/40 actually it's more like 70/30. That's how much it takes to lock the tire. They should be set to lock at the same time with ABS disengaged. l pull a trailer a lot so I can use the extra braking pressure in the back. It's like driving a bike, press the back brake, it takes almost nothing to lock it up. Now, have a friend get on the back pegs and hit the brakes... Big difference

The 98+ S10 don't have a external proportioning valve, it's all run by the computer and internal valve. ( To my knowledge) That's the reason for hollowing mine. Also, the pistons on the 4 wheel disc master cylinder has to be different due to different required volumes at the calipers, but I don't know if it makes a difference in performance. It might just change the required foot pressure to stop, which isn't really worth the trouble.

Does anyone know if they will swap over, and if it matters?