Alright so ive decided im going to do a sas swap after doing some pricing. The person that owned it before me didn't believe in maintenance and im pretty much going to have to replace the whole front end around $700 in parts is the cheapest i could get away with all moog parts. So i figured doing a sas swap would be much much cheaper than doing that, and buying a 2.5 in lift. I plan on fabbing everything myself, and doing the work myself with some buddies help ofc... I dont really wanna go too high with the lift i plan on running 31's for that rugged beater look. I dislike the way blazers look with 5inches of lift and 33s. My plans are to flip the rear axle and use leafs and a 10 bolt from a 1/2 ton gm vehicle hopefully that wont give me huge lift and if it does ill just run axle over leaf and shackles. my questions are what does it all involve, and would i be better off to just do the repairs and buy a lift kit for the look i want. I think i would prefer the sas swap over keeping the ifs maily because all the parts that will eventually have to be replaced again and that i had it alighened when i lifted it probably 500 miles ago and only did VERY MINOR off roading and its out of whack again... i know the alignment was done correctly... So what all does a sas swap involve and what will be needed im still doing some research, and i know this has been answered 1000 times but i wanted an opinion on my issue and theory. Thanks jbb
sorry for the wall of text and grammar

 

sas for 31s isnt worth it, it can be done for cheap if those axles have 3.73 or 4.10 gears in them and you dont have to change much of the steering. but youll need wheels and tires which can range from 100-1000s$ bc a 10 bolt is 6lug?? not 5lug like our blazers, a spring under axle is going to net about 4-5in of lift anyhow and the rear spring over is about 3-5in I believe as well idr bc i have different axles as im SAS but im on 37s and 4grand deep *including truck*...not only that but you have to added in the other parts, does that axle need axleshafts, ujoints, brake pads/calipers, you may have to extend the brake lines, you need leaf springs for the front etc, all of it adds up quick. for Very minor off road, i would just trim it and put 30s on it and not 31s. note that NOT EVERYONE ruins the ifs it depends on the truck. so here goes a list

brakes *calipers, pads, lines
gears, master install kits for gears *if needed
ujoints, front driveshaft and/or axleshaft *if needed
rims and tires
springs/shackles and their hangers
ubolts, brackets etc
bushings *if needed
steering ends *tres, links etc
and time. im sure there is more, but that is close to the 700 already depending on how much you get deals on used or new

 

Okay, solid axle swaps get kind of pricey, but if you say you can fab and install everything, you might be looking at a good bit less. Your ifs would run better on road. Most people who do a sas have it done for the advantages it brings offroad. If you do spring over axle, that'll lift your blazer a good 5.5 inches right there. So I'm guessing you want to stay spring under axle. And honestly if you want to stay spring under axle, it would be a lot less staying ifs and getting the rc 2.5 ifs lift and maybe a 2 inch body lift as well. If you want to do a sas right, I'd replace both axles with at least dana 44s or gm 10 bolts. Both of these axles will support up to a 35 inch tire. But if you run a few sizes down, you know you won't have any worries about breaking an axle.

Doing a sas used to be easier when offroaddirect had a sas kit for the blazer that you could use. It came with most of the stuff you would need to complete the conversion minus the axles and I think the leaf springs as well. But offroaddirect went out of business. As far as costs... You could get a gm 10 bolt or dana 44 for about $250 or $300 I'd say. Replacing both axles, you're looking at $600, then I'd say about another $500 to $600 in miscellaneous parts (leaf springs, etc). There are just so many factors out there that makes an estimated cost not really accurate.

 

yeah its gonna be around $700 like you said + misc parts... is the rc 2.5 242N2_RC about the best lift to keep ifs and price wise?

Thanks guys i really really appreciate all the input.

 

if u only wanna run 31s id do the rc 2.5" ifs lift, and 2" body. ul be happier in the long run if u dont offroad much. its more of a headache then is needed to do an sas if ur only running 31s. and ul definately be in deeper doin a sas then rebuilding the ifs. plus the 2.5" and 2" body doesnt make ur blazer look huge, but itl still give it the aggressive look all while keeping ur good ride and control.

 

What kind of gm vehcicles have the 10 bolt axles? I thought you could only use dana axles.

 

^ why would you think that? just because of the kits that use dana axles or bc of the builds youve seen

 

Because of the builds I've seen.

 

Thanks for the replies... and most of older gm 1/2 tons if not all are 10bolts stock I guess ill go with rough country lift after i figure out the no start problem -_-

 

dana 44 and gm corp 10 bolt are basically identical. theres a few stupid parts that dont interchange like the diff cover and the inner axle shafts are a hair fatter

my 10 bolt has got chevy dana 44 parts on it along with dodge dana 44 knuckles

if youre gonna build the hangers and brackets yourself just google around and find some builds, thats what i did. i found like 4 builds and just kinda stole ideas from everyone of them and kinda went with my own design.

i spent about 20 hours a week on my SAS and i think it still took me about 3-4 months to get it totally done