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Don't they make CV axles that are specifically designed to survive on raised trucks? Seems like I have seen something like that before. Maybe check a good 4x4 shop on the Internet.
Good to hear from you Les! Hope things are going well, I have done extensive research for better cv axles for our blazers and there seems to be no direct option other than full custom axles from rcv which would cost thousands and be a huge pain to get made. Once I had them, they would probably work amazing for a long time though, so that's definitely an option. I'm not only looking at this to save my cv axles and make them last longer, while that is a major plus, right now I have a stack of washers welded together under my uca bump stops on both sides to stop the axles from binding at full droop. If I can get an axle with more articulation I'll be able to remove all those washers and free up a ton of room for more articulation. Now all hope is not lost, I have also done extensive research on swapping a bolt on style cv front axle from the older blazers or astro vans, I believe with some modifications like changing the yoke to match my driveshaft, and adapting to the 33 spline wheel bearing, it is possible. This would allow me to install the extended travel cv axles from Napa (I believe these are what you were just talking about), which allow more angle in the inner and outer cups than stock and extend in the middle for more articulation. The T10 and S10 blazer suspension and frames are largely the same other than the bolt on vs slip in cv's I believe, from what I have seen the T10 wheel bearing should straight swap to the S10 knuckle which would give the 33 splines needed for the new cv axle but leave you with a different 6 lug bolt pattern up front to figure out.
This is where I'm at now, swapping to the bolt on style cv could get me where I want to be, they would also make replacing the axles much easier. Then I think about how much work is needed to make that all work and that I have the dana sitting in my garage waiting for a second life. The choice is between using the axles for the blazer, going all out with fitting a full custom triangulated link suspension front and rear, atlas t case, custom driveshafts, reinforced frame and roll cage, etc... Or fixing the cv issue so I can get a bit more articulation with keeping the stock ifs and 31's, I'd then use the axles in a LS buggy build from scratch. I'd rather see the one tons in the blazer of course, they would be night and day stronger, and the final form I have always imagined. My main concern is still making it road-worthy while doing all of that, one of the things I cherish most about the blazer now is the ability to go from on the trail to the road with the click of a button, and I can go as fast and far as I want without feeling like it's falling apart. Not to mention it still fits in a normal parking spot, lol.
Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all are doing great.
The blazer has continued to go strong everyday ever since the fuel pump replacement a few months ago. I have even got it up in the snow more than I have other years, I went up with a few friends for some Christmas Eve snow wheeling, at one point the blazer was stuck in snow all the way to the frame. I've been airing the tires down to 10psi for the snow whereas in other years I only did 20psi, the difference is pretty incredible.
Now not all is perfect, I'm lucky I have some time off now so hopefully I can sort out a few of the problems with it. Some of you may remember the clunking sound I was trying to find a bit ago, well the sound finally got worse after I had checked just about everything already, eventually making the sound every time I close my door as opposed to just while going over bumps, it also does it constantly while driving now. Anyway, it turns out the weld on the door mount broke on the body side and that's what's been making the sound. I plan to take the door off and put some wet towels down to block the interior then weld the mount back on, picture of the crack below.
In addition to fixing the door, I also have to figure out my steering box. It has so much slop in it already since replacing it over the summer, I have driven a very long way but still, it shouldn't be this sloppy already. I'm deciding now whether it's worth getting another box under warranty then it will most likely need replacing in a year or so again, or get the redhead and hopefully be happy for a while. For now, I'm driving around with the steering wheel crooked everywhere and it's already cooked the driver-side tire to the wear bars on the outside. Wheeling is also no fun with this much play in the steering, I'm kind of leaning toward the redhead for that reason, I will keep you guys updated with what I end up doing though!
Looks like fun in the snow. We in North Idaho haven't gotten much.
As for the steering gear, the Redhead one I installed 11 months ago is still feeling good. I easly could have 5,000 miles on it, but hardly any off-pavement.
Thanks Christine! Glad to hear you are doing good as well. Definitely fun in the snow here, we haven't had much in the city yet but up a little higher we have tons!
I got the skid plates from eBay. I remember I got them from an American seller who didn't usually ship to Canada, so I had to message him and sort it out. The metal skid plates are a bit harder to find, but they are still out there if you search hard enough. I also remember there are 2 different transfer case plates depending on whether you have the 4 or 3 button. There's lots of info on this thread and the part numbers as well here.
So I have a few big updates here! First the door, I took the door off and almost immediately noticed what was going on, one of the bushings was in 2 pieces! So upon further inspection, the door mount is fine, however the holes for the bushings were worn out badly to the point I could just drop the bushing in the bottom hole. So I went off to get the oversized bushings blazen red made a thread on a bit ago, I used 0.01 oversized on both the top bushings but got the 0.02 as well just in case. Those bushings seem much stronger than the stock ones which is an added bonus. I guess that takes me here, it turns out that clunk I have been wondering about for the last 2 years was the door bushing all along, LOL. Let me tell you the satisfaction of going over bumps and it doesn't sound and feel like the body is falling apart, it's much better now. However, not all is fixed, after a few days the clunk started to come back and I still have some sag in the door which I'm guessing is causing the noise. It seems like the hole on the door side of the upper mount has also worn out so it has play on the pin and that's whats causing the sag, the new bushings and pins are all tight. I'm not sure what else to do other than replace that door side upper mount, it will be pretty nice with a door that doesn't clunk or sag at last though. While I had the door off and the blazer in the garage for a bit I jacked it up to see whats going on with the steering, and my pitman arm already has tons of play! That one wore out crazy fast, but that explains why it's feeling so loose. I guess I have some work to do here...
Today I got myself a late Christmas gift, a Warn 10k winch. I just have to hook it all up but it should bolt right into the spot on my bumper, I'm so excited to get out there again and try it out!
Hey Les, good to hear from you again! Thanks for asking, things have been going pretty well lately. I've settled into my job for now and have been spending lots of time with my girlfriend trying new things so that has been fun. She finishes school in a few months now and we have talked about getting a place together after, I just hope we can get a garage too lol.
So the blazer isn't driving very well right now and I'm not all that happy with it, first is the pitman arm having play as I mentioned before. Now I just checked around the blazer again and one of the upper control arm bushings is completely eaten through and there's nothing left on one side of it, the upper ball joints are going on 4 years old and they both have a pinhole in their boots from something or other. The passenger axle has been riding without grease since a quarter way through the Canada trip, and the end links are destroyed. Needless to say it wanders all over the road and is no fun driving off-road and in the snow with such loose steering.
About the upper arm bushings, I'm looking at some new ones and see they make offset eccentric bushings that give 1.5 degrees more caster, even some made by ACDelco. This would be huge as getting enough caster while keeping the lift has always been a challenge, it would probably even allow me to lift it up another half-inch. I'm just questioning the strength of these, especially on my blazer that I take off-roading often. It's between those eccentric ones or the energy-suspension poly bushings. I'm also thinking for the axles, I'm looking to rebuild a pair of OEM axles in my free time and flatten the spots that cause binding on the inside of the tulip. Along with the boot slide mod so the boots stop tearing so fast, it will let me take out the spacers I have under the bump stops and give me a considerable amount more droop.
Once I get the new bushings, ball joints, and pitman arm I'll be ready to do an overhaul on the suspension so it drives a bit better, I also still have to get that winch installed and door mount replaced. I'm off to get all these parts I need now!
I finally got around to ordering the parts and figured it was time for an update, I ended up getting the eccentric control arm bushings, upper ball joints, and a pitman arm. That will all be the first thing to do and should get it driving properly down the road again.
No new door hinge in the order because I'm leaning toward doing something like in the video below (45 second mark shows whats going on), I have that same problem where the hole on the door side of the hinge has worn out and it's causing the sagging. Now that's not all the problem here though, the bottom hole on the door side is also damaged where the splines on the pin are supposed to make a tight fit in the hole, my pin rotates in the hole when I open and close the door and doesn't actually rotate on the bushings. I'm still thinking about how I can go about fixing the bottom hole and am open to suggestions here, Les or Christine if you have any ideas they are always appreciated! I don't want to go straight for replacing the hinge because the new ones are bolted on and I have heard it's a pain to get fitting right again. I'm thinking if I weld up the top hole then sand it out so it fits tight again, it may not even need another plate welded on top.
The new rad that I put in before the cross-country trip last summer has also recently failed and now has a small leak from the core it looks like, I'm already looking at a new one maybe with some warranty this time! On top of this, the blazer has started dumping oil from what used to be a very slow leak, I took the skid plates off yesterday and cleaned the area so I could see where it was coming from and I saw it coming right from the front of the oil pan. I think it has been leaking there since I did it a few years ago just never enough to leave drips anywhere or even make a difference between oil changes. I haven't re-torqued the pan bolts since putting the pan on so I may try that this weekend, it would be a real bummer if I had to drag the engine out soon to fix this leak though. This picture is after I cleaned the area and ran it for about 5-10 minutes.
I got the winch installed the other day as well, it fit just barely without trimming the grille or anything. I turned the torsion bars about a turn on each side to get it back up where it was before.
