Thanks tajohns.

Went to fix an oil leak in the front of the oil pan by the timing cover, pulled starter, unbolted the oil pan thinking I would be able get it off since I no longer have a cross member in the way...but no-go. Looks like I'm going to have to pull the exhaust, unbolt the rest of the bellhousing bolts , and separate the engine and transmission a bit to drop it down.

So I'm going to be towing it back to the shop so I can get it on the lift to do it and save myself some hassle. Plus while it's there I'll weld up shock hoops in the front and a shock hanger over the rear axle.

 

Got it to the shop and pulled all the bell housing bolts and dropped the exhaust and tranny crossmember only to realize my dumb a** missed the 2 nuts above the rubber plugs and I didn't have to do any of that extra work

Either way, got the oil pan down, cleaned the gasket really well and rtv'ed the area that was leaking, and put it back on... And then bolted my engine and transmission back together. Just gotta bolt up the crossmember and exhaust tomorrow, then I can refill it with oil and hope my leak disappeared... because I don't want to pull it back apart again lol.

 

All back together running and driving again, and no leak! Nice to cross that off the list finally...I've been avoiding it for months lol.

Did a little messing around in the parking lot to celebrate.




Next on the chopping block- cutting out the factory rear shock cross member and fabing a new one

 

Very Nice! I'll drink to this celebration

 

That looks awesome. This is what I have does great in our Canadian winters on the prairies

 

Gotta celebrate somehow donL!

Looks nice and clean haydss- especially for a northern truck

 

Dropped my fuel tank and built my rear shock hanger today

Set up directly above the axle, had to notch it around the body mount slightly, but still have room to replace them if needed down the road





Welded in



Also cut the old shock cross member out.

Going to pick up a pair of adjustable rancho rs9000xl'sfrom Napa tomorrow, and I'll get the tabs fabed up and them installed. I'm going to be triangulating the shocks at around 20 degrees / \

 

Got the old panhard bar mount and old shock mounts cut off the rear axle last night and made an exhaust hanger out of a piece of an Audi A4 that's been buried in a junk drawer of my toolbox for 8 years(I knew I was saving it for something lol




That should keep my exhaust from dinging off the crossmember

Made up some shock tabs for my axle out of 1/4 inches plate



Made an upper mount out of some left over 3/16 wall 2x2 square tubing I had





Got the right side all welded in, ended up going with a 30 degree angle, and rancho 5000s for now because they didn't have the 9000s like they said they did. Looks like I may have to go with a slightly shorter shock also.



Now just gotta do the left side later on tonight

 

Both shocks in, rear brake hose mount made up and hose installed.



Got the rear brake lines made up too- new proportioning valve installed- all brakes are now working, all my vent tubes made up and routed to high ground to keep them from filling with water.

Also welded up the back of my frame where it was rotting out...I think ill find a donor frame and section it in eventually... But for now this is plated right up....even made a recovery mount for a d shackle on the back.






Got a bunch of wires cleaned up and ziptied out of the way also...


The blazer is all hooked up on a trailer ready to go to it's first off road event tomorrow morning! I'm pumped for it. Missed the ones earlier in the year, but I get to make the last one of the year! I'll post pics from it when I get back.

 

Got to have some fun in the blazer this weekend!








Snapped a u-joint doing a pull on the tug pad friday night..and sheared the bolts off in the rear pinion yoke...got them drilled out sat. Morning and ran to the parts store for a u joint. It also broke my tranny crossmember when it threw the u joint...so I temp. Rigged that up...Had it back up and running by noon for more mud and trails.

Ran it most of the day before I lost power to the fuel pump... She was so muddy at that point I called it a day and decided to fix it once it's clean and at the shop again.

It just crawls In the trails. Has a ton of grip and in really happy with it so far. Definitely a few changes that need to be made still though.

First off, I'm going to replace my pinion yoke with a u bolt style yoke- with a 1350 style u-joint instead of a 1310.

Second, I'm going to have to build a front bumper sooner rather than later...because my tire caught my stock bumper and did a number on it...I'll leave more room for flex with the one I fab



I also have to do away with the factory y-pipe, because my front drive shaft dinged off it a few times so that's gotta happen before I end up kinking it right up on the trail

It was nice to test it finally.. but it still has a long way to go before it's really ready