After a trip through the mountains, I really like my setup, this little blazer has never cornered so well....and the very small difference in steering torque added to control...........I don't think I put enough miles on to worry about front end wear...:.........wait and see on that??

So if i drive my blazer,.......IT WILL BE WITH SPACERS..........

 

This is all sounding pretty good to me. I'm guessing I might go with 1.25" front and 2" rear. With me, 95% of it is to lower my center of gravity. 5% is filling that space at the rear. So.........the 1.25" are the shortest that will not require grinding the studs? And all I know is to go with hubcentric and a T60 billet. Can anyone recommend good brands?

 

I'll be getting a pair of spacers on Monday or Tuesday for my rear axle (1.25"). I'll post pictures and my thoughts on them when I get them.

I measured the studs on my rear axle and they are 1" long and saw that others had reported that spacers that are 1.25" thick do not require the studs to be shortened.

 

(Disclaimer, I am a physics prof, hence me having to reply to this. LOL)

With regard to the stability of the vehicle, I'm guessing what you intended to write was not that the spacers would lower your center of gravity but rather widen your stance.

BTW, according to the data I have for the stock Blazers in 1999, the ZR2 2dr/4wd stance was 4" wider (57.2/55.1 vs. 61.1/59.0) and about an 1" taller (8.3/8.0 vs. 9.2/8.9) than the non-ZR2 2dr/4wd Blazers.

 

Here is what it looks like..........plus some hummer pics

 

Here are the 1.25" spacers I got of of eBay that arrived today. There are ones that are a bit less expensive (~$30 vs. ~$40) but these are the only ones I found that indicated in the ad that they had an anodized finish. I'll be installing them this weekend when the temperatures are supposed to get down to the 80's instead of today's 105'F!

BTW, the website for this brand looks pretty but it did not take long to figure out the pictures are mostly stock images with gibberish descriptions. Either the person in charge is lazy or the site was never finished or they are just trying to look like a bigger company. However, I still went with them because I liked the idea of an anodized finish.

The stud lengths are 1 5/16" with metric threads (M12 1.5)

 

Those look great. Hope you keep us posted about them.

And yes, I did indeed mean.....lower my center of gravity. Does not an increased stance, do that by default? I'm sure you can enlighten me :-)

 

Your CG will remain in the same relative location. The only way to lower your CG is to physically move the weight closer to the ground. Widening the stance does not move the weight by any appreciable amount (only the weight of the new spacers has been added). It will handle better because of of the change in the roll center location which will move closer to the CG.

 

Hey... I learned that in my train the trainer lessons for my forklift liscense!

but those are some nice looking spacers... I want to get a pair of 4 and throw them on. And also keep my 1.5s in the back. But I need to get a pair of hub centric.

 

Thanks. Will do.

Yes they are pretty nice looking! Normally I am not that interested in making my truck or its parts "pretty", rather going for functionality and a clean look. However, it is nice when a part can combine nice form with quality function!

I took them for a 20 mile round-trip drive yesterday after my installation to see a friend who lives outside of town in the country. Most is paved with the last bit on gravel. I can't say for sure but I think I was able to feel a bit more stable in the curves. It is a road I've traveled several times at always about the same speed so my thoughts could be more than a "placebo effect." LOL

Here are the before/after pics. (It took several tries to get the after pic close to lined up like the before one.) I think the best reference would be that the rear tires are now flush with the outside of the running board whereas before they were recessed a bit.


Before



After