When I first got this Blazer at the end of May, one of the things I noticed was that both front control arm stops were worn down to practically nothing. So I got some replacements and installed them. But now there's hardly any travel before the control arm hits the new stop. See pics. I can feel it bottoming out when driving over only mild bumps. These stops were listed for my vehicle, but they just don't seem right to me. Opinions please.





Slightly higher angle that shows the amount of clearance better.

 

How soft is the bump stop? Perhaps if it compresses it won't limit travel do much?

 

I don't have a good frame of reference to judge the softness of the material. The originals went out in the rubbish before I even put the wheels back on. And they were in really bad shape. One was missing the fill material altogether, and the other had only about 5/8" of it remaining. I remember it looked like black rubber - like is found on the down-travel stop at the bottom of the upper control arm. I've included a dimensioned picture of the right front quarter just to show that the vehicle is sitting at stock height - ie. it's not been lowered, which is why I don't understand the minimal amount of front suspension travel I have with these new stops.

What I really want to know is ... do these stops (and resulting small clearance) look like what the rest of you have? Pictures would be great.

 

I don't see which year you have but I would go to Rockauto and look at pics. Unfortunately they don't have measurements but looks like maybe those are for the rear bump stops or different trim package than you have??

 

No, they're for the front all right, the metal shell, mounting stud, and locating tab are all identical to the original ones. Everywhere I shopped for these showed me the same pictures - only the color was different at some places - ie. white vs yellow. I didn't look on Rockauto because I quit them when they made the decision to become incommunicado.

 

Well, I think I've answered my own question, and the answer is "no this is not right!" Seems the stops I installed are actually for a "Z"-something model with so-called "high rider" (or riser) option. I have no idea what that is, but it sure doesn't describe mine. These tall stops are being sold all over the place, even on Amazon, as the standard Blazer replacement. But the better parts outlets, like Summit Racing are showing an ACDelco/Moog part that's completely different and has a rectangular base, instead of the circular one. The thing that threw me off is that the worn-out ones I removed had the circular base. Below is a picture of the non-Z part I ordered. ACDELCO 45G1004 (Moog is same part with different p/n)

Hope this is helpful to someone who made the same mistake I did.

 

Ah yes. you are referring to the ZR2 option that had larger tires and a raised suspension.

Your experience is a good reminder that just because something is listed as the right psrt, it might not be.

 

That was the part I saw that had me guessing fitment when I looked up what would fit my truck on Rock. The rears and the ZR2's were the cone shapes. No sizing but visually they look like they're all different sizes depending on the application.

Your thread had me looking up some videos on installation, Based on you needing the same part as I would, I'm wondering if you had to disassemble much to access the stops or could you slip them them in there w/o too much hassle? For your sake I hope it wasn't too much of a PITA.

Also what had you changing them, do they come into use in normal driving or just off-road etc?.

 

These things only wear when you do something that results in compressing the suspension hard enough to cause the lower control arm to bottom out. The bump stops prevent suspension damage due to over compression, and the resilient material that's used prevents what might otherwise be a loud bang when it happens.

The rear bump stops are even larger than these ZR2 hi-riders. Much larger. And they're hollow inside. You can see for yourself. You don't even need to jack the truck up. Just crawl under behind the tire with a flashlight.

As mentioned earlier, I changed mine soon after buying the truck in May because, as I was snooping around underneath, I noticed one was worn way down, and the other was missing the filler material altogether. Since those existing stops had the circular base, it appears the former owner made the same mistake I did. Technically, they're not difficult to change, just a stud and a nut, but the nut is in somewhat cramped quarters, so getting your wrench on it takes a little finesse. Recommend using some penetrating oil on the threads and letting it soak for maybe 10 minutes.

 

Indeed! But it wasn't always like that. I had the good fortune of working in the industry at a time when you could actually trust the parts manual, and the illustrations were of a near photographic quality. Of course, all that was before the Asian Invasion.