No problem at all! The place I took it to the weld it for me was sorta surprised on what I wanted welded. He said not many people can do that repair. He mentioned a special tool to compress the pins together. I mainly used a small sledge hammer to drive it together. I really recommend a set of punches, you never know when you may need one.

 

So this weekend I decided it was time to replace some of the worn suspension and steering parts.

I ordered the upper and lower ball joints, CV Axle for both sides and both tie rods from RockAuto. Once the sun let up I went to work and although it was hard work I managed to finish the drivers side. It took me about 5 hours to get it done. Partly because I had never done it before and I had to run to the parts store to buy some tools I needed.

You need a lot of patience and different wrenches of different sizes to take off the bolts I used 18,19 and 22mm wrenches and sockets. I believe the CV Axle nut was a 36mm and fit snugly. The lower ball joint had been once changed in its life because it had bolts with nuts holding it in place. The upper ones were original. Well looks like it was time to break out the grinder and work those rivets out. You need a grinder with a metal material disc, a punch and a small sledgehammer to pound the rivet down once the rivet head is ground down to the plate. It takes a lot of energy and strength to get those rivets out but it can be done.

With the rivets gone I knocked the old ball joint. All the ball joints, tie rods and axle rubber seals were gone or ripped and the grease long gone. Once all the new joints are put into place I loosely tightened them so they wouldn't fall and proceeded to put the whole assembly back together. I recommend an extra jack for this part. Position the jack under the control arm and slowly lift you can get the bottom of the upper ball joint into its opening. Then push the upper control arm down with your strength and then put the castle nut on and lightly twist it so the ball joint stays in place. After that it's all a matter of tightening the bolts/castle nuts and adding the cotter pins where needed.

Oh yeah and I added a bit of grease with a small paintbrush to certain areas for future access. I will be needing to replace the rotors very soon.

On monday evening I attempted the Passenger side go as far as removing the rivets on the upper ball joint. Let me tell you the upper ball joint rivets on the passenger side are much larger than the driver side and you are gonna need a swear jar when the punch tools don't work. I ended up using a drill and drilled out the center of the rivet just enough for the punch tool to catch and not slip when I was repeatedly hitting it with the hammer.

The passenger side ended up being about three hours total since I knew what I was dealing with now.

Whew!


Rivets!

 

One update for now. I haven't worked on it much since it runs really good and handles a lot better since I replaced the ball joints, axles and tie rods. But I will need to replace the rotors, break pads, and ABS sensor.

I really dislike drum brakes so I am thinking of removing the drum brake and adding a disc brake setup for the rear. Easier on the maintenance.

 

Hey I just got a 2001 ZR2 a few months ago. It's nice but it needs a little fixing up and customizing which I have already begun. Would like for us to trade contact info so we can conveniently stay in contact to share ideas and advice. I can give you my number or an email.

 

I'm planning on swapping out the wifes drums and installing the axle/disc brake setup from the blazer when I'm done swapping in the zr2 axle.

Im surprised that ur zr2 came with drums, I thought they were all disc setup already.

 

Sure thing, shoot me a private message on here and I'll send you an email or text. I haven't worked on my Blazer much lately. It rides good and starts up every time.

So an 2021 update: I had my favorite Transmission shop that I use service the Transfer Case, Transmission and Rear Differential. The transfer case was low on oil and was/is leaking via the seals but not enough to concern myself yet. The transmission was good and the oil was changed. The Rear Differential was very dirty, it was most likely never changed. But all those were drained and given fresh oil, so it's good!

I have to replace the front brakes and discs, whomever changed them last waited until the brakes were eating into the disc before putting fresh pads on. Sigh. So besides my desire for rear disc brakes, I need new front disc brakes and ABS sensors.

I took it off-roading to some dirt trails a few weeks ago. Crossing soft river sand and bumpy dirt roads. It was really fun to get the Blazer dirty.

I'll come back and update this when I order and get the parts I need.

 

He does have disc brakes on the rear, providing it is the original axle. I think he is confusing the drum for the the parking brake as drum brakes and hasn't notice the disc brakes back there.

 

You are right. I saw the drum brake and assumed as such. It clicked in my head seeing as when I priced a replacement brake system it offered all four disc brakes. Thanks for the heads up

 

Well, finally got around to doing the brake system for this ZR2. I bought new bearings for the front wheels, calipers and rotors for all four wheels and new parking brake pads for the rear. Spent all saturday tearing out the old brakes, calipers and rotors on the front wheels.

On sunday we had some wicked nasty wind so I didn't finish the job. Yesterday (monday), I did the rear brakes, rotors, calipers and replaced the parking brake pads. Just need to replace the fluid and it's finished.

Gotta love deferred maintenance. A previous owner let the brakes go a little too long and it ate into the rotor. Instead of machining the rotor to be smooth, they slapped on a new pad and called it a day. So I got the luck of having to replace the rotor. On the rear passenger side brake, it was absolutely caked in dirt, oil and paint. I had a lot of "fun" having to clean out the back of the axle and brake system to clean out as much dirt as I could.


Bearing removed, all cleaned up with some Brake Clean.

This bearing would not let go of the rotor.

More grooves that a vinyl record.

Got to love deferred maintenance.

All new and ready to go.

Rear brake with dirt covered parking brake.

Build up of dirt, oil and crud

The dirt I scraped off the rear axle, rotor

 

The next part to take care of, is maybe replacing the rear shackles with newer ones. They are in good condition but when you look at the Blazer from the side you can see the rear sits a bit lower than the front. That may be a job I decide to do if I feel like I'm up to it.

I still have to do a bit of work on the engine, mostly maintenance/check. The interior still needs a new dashboard, plus I would replace the heater core while the dashboard was being replaced. After that it would need some minor door dings taken care of and then a repaint just to make it look nice and new.

I'm debating whether to add a roof rack, some flood lights and maybe a whinch.