And it is appreciated

 

Is it possible that somehow your caliper may have been replaced with one that physically bolts up, but is incorrect for the application?

 

I had thought of that.I guess earlierI passed over that idea becauseit does bolt up and the padsdo fit to it.At this point I'll believe anything is possible. I'm glad you mentioned it; I should take the caliper off and take that to AutoZone / NAPA when I go to compare pads. I really am curious what the answer ends up being, hopefully I'll know after I have the chance to run these errands tonight. It is curious because I've always felt like the brakes were inadequate in my blazer... relative to most vehicles you have to push the brake pedal pretty hard to get it to brake normally. The response is linear and all that (unlike fade, or the pedal 'going long') you just have to push pretty hard. I always chalked it up to inadequate design, but maybe its had the wrong (but aggravatingly close enough to fit)caliper for years. The difference is enough that once in high school after driving the family car on vacation for a week, the first time I got back in my blazer I almost ended up in someones yard the first time I went to turn because I didn't slow down enough because I was used to the brake pedalpressure of the car. Thanks again... keep the ideas coming !

 

So I took the new pads and the caliper off of the truck and took them into a different AutoZone to check if the wrong pads had gotten put in the new box or if somehow I'd always had the wrong caliper. That wasn't the case, the pads and the caliper matched the parts at the different AutoZone. I then proceeded to Adavance Auto, with the same effect. I finally went to a Pep Boys, and found out that sure enough the pads at AutoZone and Advance Auto were the wrong size. I bought a pair of Pro Stop ceramic pads for $45 from Pep Boys (cheaper than the $55 ceramics I had from AutoZone) and took them home and intalled them. They fit great and so far no noise. So apparently the brake pads AutoZone and Advance Auto sell (at least in this area for the past year) for '96 blazers just don't fit??? I don't understand it, but I don't care anymore either. This wasted sooo much of my time, and all I know is that I'm never buying pads from Advance or AutoZone again. Thanks for the input from everyone...

 

You may want to consider telling them...

 

My information is for a 2000 Blazer 4X4, four door, and I think it applies to a 96 as well. That or some PO replaced jonesjt's brakes with a newer version.
Anyway, there are two brake systems. RPO JC1 has 4 wheel discs with 10.8" front rotors and 11.6" rear rotors.
RPO JM3 has drum rear brakes with 10.5" front rotors and 9.5" X 2" drums.
This explains why the counterman asked me whether I had rear drums or discs when I was buying front pads.
Hope it helps explain jonesjt's situation too.

 

Yah there are quite a few different calipers used, my haynes manual has like 2 or 3 different one for the front pictured none of which were mine. All of my calipers are some australian made calipers, I can't remember the name on them, but they were stocks.

 

JONESJT. Thanks for reporting back. It's always good to get the end results.

that is frustrating

 

i have duralast rotors on my 97 and duralast brake pads on my truck. MKD154. i don't have any complaints. my truck stops fine with no noise at all. but if im not mistaken my rotors are different. mine has the disc and the hub made together. have to pack the bearings and all kinds of fun stuff.

 

Since people brought up the issue of different brake systems on the '96 blazer, I thought I would specify that my blazer is is 4WD and has front Disc and rear drum brakes. I do want to be clear that, for that brake system, the pads available from my local AutoZones (2 stores, 3 separate occasions spanning 10 months) and one of my local Advance Auto stores (one occasion, last week) ARE THE WRONG SIZE! This isn't an illusion or me not knowing what I'm doing, I held the pads from PepBoys (which install correctly) literally against the pads from Advance and AZ and the backing plate tabs that position the pads have locations that differ by about 3/16". It was this incorrect dimension that causes the pad to overhang the rotor. I can't explain the manufacturing or packaging fault behind it, but those are the facts.