I enjoyed seeing your photos & would be interested in seeing more , like after installation , just curious what's the reason for swapping out to ZR2 axles , advantages ?

 

Old thread, but interesting.

I was under the assumption that you couldn't put zr2 parts on. But maybe because he swapped ALL parts, it might have worked, he hasn't updated on that so not sure lol... there was one guy, in order to have the zr2 fuctionable, he cut and welded the front end of the frame.

Nice looking truck tho, I like the roof rack and rims...

 

Damn this is was a while ago lol. Don't have the truck any more but the zr2 parts were plug an play. It was a straight swap had no issues with connections although the frontend was a bitch to get out. Only real advantage is the cool factor 😎 also it gives you 3.73 gearing I believe.

 

Holy crap, I wasnt expecting this! Glad your still around and good to hear about the parts!

 

Which parts from the ZR2 did yoy actually install besides the front Diff?

 

Just the diff in the front. And rear axle in the back.

 

I would like to hear the differences and advantages of the ZR2 parts over the stock 2 door 4WD LS version. I have a bone stock 2001 2 door LS with 4WD. The second part of the question is the problems of installing the ZR2 parts in a stock 2 door. IOW is it a bolt in with no mod's or some mod's required.
How does it drive after the new mod's?

 

I know that it has bigger gears, and the rear axle sits flush with the front, so it eliminates the need of spacers.

 

This is the back axle

ZR2 has a wider stance, so installing rear axle will widen your wheel base width in rear. The Zr2 also has what we call a gov bomb Limited Slip but it’s actually a ****ty locker that’s very street friendly till it locks halfway thru a turn in the rain! It’s very unpredictable which is it’s biggest weakness causing a loud boom and suddenly a full locked rear axle . It’s kinda like engaging 4 low when it clunks in but much worse at times. Hence the gov bomb term cause it has a tendency to explode in the larger framed vehicles. It is a true locker when engaged though if it’s not wore out. I’ve had enough enough articulation in my 4 door that my front right wheel was 2’ off the ground and rear left about 3” and used 2 wheel drive to go thru the ditch like that. When I was about 22 it was routine Friday and Saturday night to get in my own driveway. As long as you are very easy on the gas it clunks in like 4 low in that situation and it locks solid. It’s also a 3.73 gear ratio and a Gm 8” axle instead of the 7.5”

Front axle is only the 3.73 gear ratio unless you’ve found the cast iron front differential. The only way to get the wider front ZR2 front end is to swap the whole front frame. If you did this you’d get front width and the lift. This has been done FYI on a 4 door. I believe it was one of our members .

Also the ZR2 has stiffer front torsion bars, from what I have read if memory serves me correctly there is 2 different torsion bars on a ZR2 . One size is 31mm and one is 33mm if I remember the specs correctly. 31 is preferred from what I’ve read for wide quality. I believe the non zr2 is like a 28mm.