My small 96 Blazer build
 

So I have alot of add ons coming up so I figured I would start a build thread to show them all off. Up until today I had tinted my windows, put on 31x10.5 BFG's on 15x8 4.5bs rockcrawlers, a decent amount of fender trimming and removed the front valance for clearance.

My 4x4 had stopped working so I decided it was time to make a posi lock system for it. I won't make an entire how to thread but I did take pics along the way and will answer any questions I can. After reading a few threads on here and other forums this is what I was able to come up with. All together I have about $45 in this project. I'm very happy with the install and even happier that I won't have to worry about my 4x4 not working cause of some stupid little hose.

These are the parts I used
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0103.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0104.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0105.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0106.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0107.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0109.jpg

I ordered this locking cable Heavy-Duty T-Handle Locking Cables - 10 Feet*-*Buyers*RO9D3.5X10 because its heavy duty and blends in well rather than the silver cables I have seen. It was $24 shipped to my door and I ordered it on Thursday and it arrived on Saturday.

Here are a few photos of the process I used I'm not going to comment on all of them but if you have questions feel free to ask.

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0118.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0121.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0124.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0128.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0130.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0133.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0135.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0136.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0147.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0150.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0155.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0156.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0159.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0160.jpg

The install took about 2 hours start to finish and it works perfectly.

Next to come is Surco roof rack, and bedliner the rockers and bumpers.

Todays progress
 

Today I replaced my door hinge bushings on the drivers door and replaced the front passenger wheel hub. I'm suprised I made it as long as I did on that bearing it had almost a 1/4in of play in it. I also finally installed some aftermarket black lug nuts instead of the factory ones it looks way better. I then took it on a short trail that is directly behind my shop. Its pretty nice to look out my shop door and see a trail head. Nothing to extreme but a small stream crossing with some pretty steep approach angles, some mud, and a few downed trees to cross. Its probably a mile long. Here are a few photos just wanted to test out the posi-lock I installed which works flawlessly.
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0168.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0172.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0171.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0169.jpg

Nice looking blazer!

Looks good. My only concern with the posi lock setup you have would be any dirt/water getting in the compression fitting and locking the cable up. Otherwise it looks to be pretty ingenious, and of course if it works then the rest doesn't matter, lol

Thanks guys! TheRandom1 I was a bit concerned about that as well but the compression fitting is really honeslty not very tight around the cable (hence the extra clamp) its more there as a way to hold everything inline and make sure there are no sharp edges to damage the cable. And with it being under the battery tray and all I think I should be ok. One thing that I forgot to mention and is not listed on the website for the cable is that it has a thick plastic coating inside the outer cable to ensure that won't rust and prevent it from sliding properly. I will keep you informed if I have any issues with it though. Also I should mention my roof rack was delivered yesterday. I can't have it till xmas tho:( Its a gift from my father in law.

Sounds like it should work then, good job.

I'm pretty much clueless as to what you did to make it posi, I probably just read thru it to fast. I know you said you wouldn't give details, but I'd love to read about it if you change your mind. Nice looking blaze btw!

Lol no worries FsTFwRd! It's not actually posi for the rear axle is posi as in short for positive. Basically it's a way to take the fault prone vacuum systems out of your 4x4 system and make it a manual lock. The cable I installed pulls the same as the vacuum system would to engage the fork to engage the gears in the transfer case to ensure that when I need 4x4 it's there;) if you google it other people have done it as well this was just what I came up fire my setup and I would be happy to answer questions or give some more detail on how I did it just let me know.
Rex

I gotcha now! You had me scratchin my head for a few though. Thanks

Ive been pondering something like this, but I would like to use an electric cyl like a power lock thing to engage it, so that my 4x4 button can still work instead of a cable.

ohsofly I get what you mean but that would kinda of defeat the purpose of doing it with the cable. The 4x4 buttons are still pushed to engage the transfer case but the cable engages the gears. The vaccum system is the most failure prone portion of the system and thats why I removed it. But also if you were to add the electric cyl it would add another component that could fail. Don't get me wrong I like your idea and I'm not saying the cable can't or won't fail either I just feel like its the most secure way to accomplish what is needed. If you ever get around to doing it though please let us all know about it on hear I would love to see it done!

I got my roof rack for xmas from my father in law!!!! I got it mounted yesterday I love it!!! Due to slight miscomunication between my wife and father in law my bedliner for the rockers did not arrive in time but it should be here this week so then I will have to find time to get that done. Time is tight right now with a baby due in the next 5 weeks so I hope I can get it done before he comes. Heres some pics..

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0189.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0190.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0191.jpg

Looks good!

That looks HOT! What kind of rack is it?

Thanks guys. CraigSnedeker It's a Surco 4560. Which just means it's 45"x60".

Thanks!

look forward to seeing pics of the application of the liner.

clean truck man!!

Thanks man! I will defiantly take photos along the way it's a two to three day process according to their instructions so it should be fun to do. I'll get them up a soon as I get started!!

Well its not really any progress but I did pick up my upper ball joints yesterday. I will be getting the lowers next week but I am spacing them out (1) because at $75 ea they are expensive and (2) because Advance has their spend $100 save %15 and get $50 towards a future purchase of $100. With that I am saving almost $150 on the parts I need to redo my front end including all the ball joints and CA bushings. I'm hoping they keep this sale ongoing from time to time it really saves alot of money. I paid $22 for my wheel hub thanks to this sale. Its a Moog as well (I think) and it has a lifetime warranty. As soon as I get the rest of the parts in I will be doing the install. I'm going to do shackles and t-bar crank at that time as well. I figure I may as well wait and do it all at once so I only have to have one alignment even tho I will pay for the lifetime. I am also going to flip my upper ball joints and see how that goes with the crank and all. They are lifetime replacement so what do I have to lose besides a bit of my time.
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0193.jpg

Not much progress today just gave it a bath in hopes that my bedliner arrived at the wifes office today and I got my new sticker and sticked it on LOL!! I think I may reorder it in reverse so its the letters and not the outline.
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0215.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0216.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0218.jpg

Again not really any progress as my bedliner still hasn't arrived and since my father in law ordered it for me I have no tracking number. I did however pick up my new Moog pitman and idler arms today! All that is left is the lower ball joints and all of the bushings for the front end. I should have everything in the next two weeks to get that project completed. On a really bright note the unit 4 doors down from me just opened a full on Porsche performance shop. The brand new alignment machine that I will need once I'm done doing my front end was just delivered today. There is a guy there with a (sorry guys) beastly ass jeep and I am working on making friends with him so that I can have another nice hookup when I need it. Heres a link to the shop

Porsche, Tuning, Motorsport, Accessories, Performance.

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0224.jpg
More updates to come!!!

I am loving the way your blazer has turned out, its exactly what I want to do to mine! I cant decide though on what size tires to go next (currently stock). What did you all have to do besides trimming to get the 31s to fit?

Thank you for the compliment. Other than alot of fender trimming and removing the front valance (which can just be trimmed if you want) I haven't done anything else to fit the 31's. I will say you always have to be aware of it when wour driving though cause even with all of the trimming I have I still rub occasionally. Mostly when turning sharp in reverse or entering steep driveways at an angle. I am fine with it for now but I will be doing shackles and T-bar crank as soon as my front end is rebuilt. I would recommend doing it as well. Its cheap and relatively easy to do. If you search around the forum there are a ton of posts about it and I believe there is a how-to sticky as well. The main reason I'm not going any bigger is that my wife has to use my truck for our baby once he arrives in like 3 weeks cause she has a Mustang GT convertable that is not at all baby friendly. Make sure you get some photos up when you decide which tires to go with.

Ok so now I have good updates. First one is that I have returned all of my Moog parts becuse I just got an awesome deal from KM346. I picked up the RC 2" lift tubular control arms freshly painted with brand new superlift bushings, and all 4 ball joints and the idler and pitman arms all of these are Proforged. They are all brand new. I have read good things about them and they have a million mile warranty so I think I should be ok. I'm extremely happy with this and he has been great to work with. Thanks again to him!

And for update #2! This just arrived at my wifes office install to start right now!!!!!!!!!!!
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/.../IMG958924.jpg
Of course pictures will be posted.

Sorry this is a little long!!!!!!!

So it was a weekend from HELL!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't get my bedliner installed like I wanted. It was a perfect weekend to do it to but my neighbors who are also our best friends asked me to replace the wheel bearings in their car. Being as they have four boys 14 and under I couldn't say no to them as like most of us paying a shop hundreds of dollars to do a repair is out of the question. So I started in on them mid day Saturday and around 730 my wife yelled that we had to leave because her mother was being taken to the hospital by ambulance. Me and my 13 yr old step son who was helping me with the car threw all of my tools in the back of my truck and left the car on jack stands. We rushed to the hospital to see her mother (she is doing ok still not sure of a diagnosis). While we were there my wife started having contractions so we called our doctor who asked us to come in to our hospital which is 35 miles away from where we were so we rushed there. They hooked her up to the monitors and after a few hours past around 1am they told us we had to spend the night incase she went into full on labor. So I took a shower at the hospital and tried to get some sleep on the hardwood floor. That was a bad idea after wrenching on a car all day. So we finally got to leave around 930am and I returned home to an unfinished car that had to be finished that day. I spent the next three hours finishing everything with a few complications and then took a hot shower and had a nice deep glass of Jack on the rocks and sat there annoyed cause I didn't get my truck done and I still don't have my son here yet. But on a brighter note my new front end parts should be arriving tomorrow and I did manage to fix my heater controls today. I had a leak in the vacuum ball that I fixed with some packing tape for now. Here is a pic of the progress on the beldiner install. NOw I have to drive around like this for who knows how long but I guess its motivation to get it finished. I hope to get it finished soon weather and baby pending.
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0233.jpg

looks good..

Well I got alot done this weekend. I got the front end completly rebuilt and aligned. I only took a few pictures becuse it was cold as h*** outside and I just wanted to be finished. I cranked the t-bars about an inch since I have the new control arms and I didn't want my tires to rub anymore. Plus I had to get an alignment so I figured I would get it outta the way now. I will do the shackles later when I get around to it.

All of the old parts that were replaced.
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0258.jpg
when I started. YOu can see my wifes car in the backround too.
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0248.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0250.jpg
Removal has begun.
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0251.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0252.jpg
New installed
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0253.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0254.jpg
Heres how its sitting right now.
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0259.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0260.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0262.jpg



I also started fabbing some light mounts for my roof rack. I got alot to go yet as far as grinding and shaping. I took some old recliner parts I had laying around the shop and cut them up to make them. I have three for the front and one for the back. Heres a couple pics so far.
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0236.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0245.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0243.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0263.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0265.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0264.jpg

Well thats all for now. Its to cold outside to do my bedliner and I expect my new baby boy will be introducing himeself in the next couple days so I will be busy with him for awhile.

Looks good man. Early congrats on the new son! My son is 20 months old now and it's amazing to watch them change everyday. Enjoy every second.

.
 

Blazer is looking good! Great progress! And also, early congrats on the son! :)

Truck looks beast. Pretty much the same look I'm going for with the rack and lights.

Have fun bro! great truck!

Your truck looks awesome btw. It looks like you need an add a leaf for the rear. I have new leafs at the moment and monroe coilovers in the rear but taking them out and putting in air shocks and a long add a leaf i made. I think im going to take off my front valence now lol. Your truck will look pretty much close to mine after the bottom bedlined. Hers a pic of mine on 31" MTZ's also http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/e...717112002a.jpg

Thanks for the compliment!!! As for the back needing some help I agree. I actually just picked up some 2in shackles from Ebay. I won the auction on Friday night so they should be here early this week. Seeing your truck had motivated me to get my bed liner done. I will get some pics up so get this accomplished ooh and did I mention I love that shot of your truck!!

Thanks man i appreciate it. Im probably going to be trimming the top part of my fender because with my soft torsion bars (should be getting zr2 tbars soon), stiff shocks, and bump stops i cant get it to stop rubbing on the top of the fender and killing my old tires and im not doing it to these new even larger tires lol. I dont want to crank up my front end and make my cv angles worse and go through them even faster, and ive been looking around on the rough country 2.5" lift the front diff drop bracket really doesn't do much it looks like at all so its kind of a waster imo but only time will tell

Today I got these in the mail!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0279.jpg
I should be able to get them put on at work tomorrow weather permitting. Picture will be posted.

Very nice, Im more of an add a leaf guy compared to shackles but it will do the job. Be sure to post pics of how it turns out!

I thought about the add a leaf but I won these on ebay for $39.95 shipped and they are so easy to install I just put them on this morning at work and it only took like 45 min start to finish including removing my sway bar.

As promised!!!
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0290.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0289.jpg
The truck is on a small incline to the passenger side.
Passenger side before
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0280.jpg
Passenger side after
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0283.jpg
Driver side before
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0281.jpg
Driver side after
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0284.jpg
The sway bar removed
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0282.jpg

And just some of the truck. Stupid me didn't take any this morning before I started oops owell there are plenty of it on here before.
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0285.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0286.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0288.jpg

Looks good dude, keep truckin!

A little flex after the shackles and sway bar removal:)
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0291.jpg
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG0292.jpg

Truck looks real good. I want to do the 2 tone to mine, not sure if i want bedliner or glossy black since i dont really want to go for the off road look. I just want something agressive looking.

What does it do for your truck to take off the rear sway bar?