Toe in would be affected if the height of the pitman arm is different, relative to the rest of the steering. Other than that, the alignment should not be affected by a steering box swap.

Please make sure everything new is going to stay working well before you take off. A major breakdown away from home could be a disaster. I got the hell scared out of me on a trip to Nebraska a week ago, and that was just an alternator. Fortunately we made it the last 40 miles to the destination before dark and A/C off. I had zero tools with me. My son had the tools, but I had to hump the next morning to get it completely fixed before the local parts store in small town closed at noon on Saturday.
Found out last minute that the only alternator available there (one that i bought) took a bigger serpentine belt.

Good luck on your trip. Have a great time!

 

Thanks Les! I kind of figured thats what was going on since the same thing happened last year when I replaced just the pitman arm, so I guess all will be good again after an alignment.

That's quite the story, I remember when my alt went out of the blue in the winter and I had to start it up twice and drive home 40 mins on sole battery power, 40 miles is crazy! Anyway, I plan to get everything buttoned up today and make sure no leaks, after that alignment I'm planning to go test out all my new goodies in the trails behind my house for a few days, if that's all good I will be packing up and heading out for the 1st or 2nd! I'll be bringing a big storage bin with all the tools I can fit, I feel even if disaster strikes (knock on wood) I should be well-equipped to handle most that gets thrown my way and at least make it to civilization, in the ultimate worst case I have a Zoleo that I can use to send an SOS over satellite.

 

Sick build, dude! That Blazer's looking mean.

 

Thanks man!

So I totally forgot the overflow hose was a different size on the new rad too... I realized a few days before and it totally slipped my mind until I went to fill it up after putting the oil lines back in lol. So I got a new adapter and some new hose, it's a 5/16 to 1/2" NPT adapter.


After I let that sealant dry overnight I went to start her up today, it was running real nice and looking very promising for about 3 minutes until I realized the brand new OEM tranny fitting that came with thread sealant I may add, had a steady flow leaking out the top fitting. The steering box however looks great, no leaks from what I saw and the steering wheel feels so much easier to turn now, never got off the jack stands today so I can't say how it drives yet but I hope it's an improvement!

So I'm realizing now the tranny fitting is an inverted flare, meaning it may just not have been tightened enough? If I'm not mistaken an inverted flare should rely on the flare part to seal and not the thread sealer. Anyway, I took the fittings back out and put some Permatex thread sealer on them, and snugged them back up well. I only saw the top one leaking but I thought if one is I may as well pull both now, I think if it leaks again I will just tighten it a little more until it stops. Any input would be great on this though!

I got the roof rack all sealed and bolted up today, I used rtv under the aluminum pads around the rivnuts and all over the riv nuts then coated all the bolts in rtv as well. Now all that's left is pulling in my garage and dropping the tent on!

 

The factory transmission line fittings are not inverted flare on either side. Are you trying to screw them into your new radiator, which probably is an inverted flare if it is generic? Don't screw up your radiator. Shouldn't require any sealer for an inverted flare.

Have you considered a short piece of inverted flare tubing and a hose to connect the lines. If so, double clamp each connection and make sure hose is rated for transmission. This strategy will not work for the oil cooler.

Are you sure you want to keep that aftermarket radiator? Sounds like a problem waiting to happen.

IIRC Christine put an aftermarket radiator in. Maybe get some guidance there.................

If you want to check out the factory fittings, they are sold on Amazon. Trans=Doorman 800-605 Oil=Dorman 800-607

 

Thanks Les,

So that Permatex thread sealer worked like a charm, again. The new rad wasn’t leaking at all however I didn’t feel good about my lower rad hose as it had 2 small divots in it. So the day I was leaving I replaced the hose right before!! Anyways everything works perfect, I’m very happy with the new rad, constant 90-91 degree temp even over the kicking horse pass (tallest in Canada). I’m now just over halfway through Ontario and finally have a night with wifi so I thought I’d send an update. Everything is working great so far!!

 

Hi Zack,

Looks like a fun trip! Is that a girlfriend in the Wawa photo?

 

Thanks Les!! Yeah that’s my girlfriend, we stayed here in Wawa last night and today back on the road to a place near Elliot Lake. We will also be passing the halfway point of the trans Canada hwy today, it’s so far past the centre point in Winnipeg because we go down in Ontario so far all the way to Toronto. Tomorrow we should be going through Toronto and plan to go all the way to Niagara. It’s been an emotional ride for me seeing the blazer perform so good and effortlessly, it feels really good! People compliment and take pictures of the blazer everywhere we go, they love the fridge/stove slide and second battery system.

 

First time I went to Niagra was 9/11/2001. Already had reservations in Niagra Canada and listened to the attack in NY while driving across Michigan. Was a really strange vibe there with the airport shut down and everyone wondering what was ging to happen next.

Second time was some years later.

Be sure to go up to the restaurant in the Milolta tower and have coffee or something - or just look. We stayed a couple floors up from there. Rooms are very odd shaped, small. and have floor to ceiling windows. Really scenic (and scary).

If you have time check out the water management and big Canadian power plant down the river. During the night a lot of the flow is diverted from over the falls to fill up a reservoir 15 miles down river through a 30 ft diameter tunnel under the city - the power plant runs off of that water during the day. In the morning you can watch the flow over the falls greatly increase over 15 minutes or so. The deal is so that the flow during the daytime is maximized for beauty. Big-time Civil Engineering. Also the history with Tesla

 

Thanks for that information Les! I probably wouldn't have checked out the power plant if you hadn't had said that. We saw the powerplant and walked through the part on the Canadian side, it was very nice! We went up through Quebec after and into the maritimes, in PEI we camped right on the outer tip of the island right on the ocean, that was one of my favorite spots of the trip. When we had reached Nova Scotia it was time for the first oil change (7000kms on full syn), only to find out acdelco parts were very scarce on the east coast with there being no Lordco and no auto parts store like Lodco that carries ACdelco, and the dealerships didn't readily have parts for a 20-year-old truck. I could have went with a K&N filter but I have used the same ACdelco filter for a long time and I didn't want to switch things up, so I used the acdelco website and found the closest shop (one of the only in the maritimes) was a few hours out of the way in Halifax. We made the drive out and made it just before they closed for the day, I got 2 filters so I was good for the whole trip LOL. After we made it on the ferry out to Newfoundland, I wanted to do some off-roading and already had a nice place found so we headed out there straight from the ferry, it was fine at first just a narrow dirt trail but I was fine in 2wd. That all changed quickly around a corner was a big drop into a mud pit, so of course, I tried and dropped down hearing a nice tap on the rear bumper on the way down. I went a couple feet then started going down rather than forwards LOL, before long I was pretty buried and it was pouring with no service way out on the rock, needless to say I was a bit stressed. So I aired down all the tires to 15 psi and that was all I needed along with some gracious throttle to get on out of the mud hole, then I was exercising the 4lo gears while turning around on that very narrow and rocky trail, having not used 4lo many times and surely not anytime I really needed it, it felt really nice to have all that extra torque when I needed it!! We made it to St. Johns after that and finished off half of the trip, we spent a few days around St. Johns before turning around and heading back.



On the way back we checked out the Hopewell rocks and Old Quebec, also took hwy 17 in full rather than going down through Toronto in Ontario. We then ripped back through through the prairies and I made it back ALMOST worry free... So I had made it all the way across the country and back to my hometown, I was driving home and about 3km from my house, coming up the hill to my house all of a sudden the blazer cuts out, then I jab the gas pedal and it cuts back in for a few seconds, then it cuts out and back in again, I pull off and the blazer dies while going up a side hill so I pull off to the side. The blazer would restart and idle however it was running real rough and would almost die with throttle applied, it did not have any power to move up the hill I was on so I was stuck in place. I saw it misfiring on all cylinders on my tablet, then I waited about 15 minutes and started it up again and it was running normal, I limped it back home the 5 minutes so I could say I made it but now I'm already back to working on it! I find it absolutely insane how I could make it all the way across the country and back without any issues, then be on the side of the road only 3km from my house. I guess it goes with the tradition of my blazer, of always getting me where I need to go and then letting me know there's a problem! An update will follow on what could have happened. Now the blazer has made 2 parking lot oil changes, 19000kms across the country and back, coast to coast on something I have built. I couldn't be more proud of myself for how well the trip turned out, everything worked perfectly the whole way and I couldn't have been happier. A special thanks to Les and everyone on this forum who has made this build possible from the start with all of the shared knowledge and tips that have taken me this far. I'm sure this is nowhere near the end of the story however, I have now conquered the fourth-longest highway in the world, I will have to go for gold sometime.