The front shocks have seemed to work fine so far. No excessive wobbling or leaking. I'm not a major off-roader although I do my share of off-pavement driving when I go to the woods for hunting and fishing.

If you don't use the full RC lift kit with the bracket for dropping the front axle differential, I would recommend installing new CV boots on the inside CV joints of the front CV axles while they are out. If they have never leaked, then they are in all likelihood just fine but could do with some fresh grease. The reason behind this suggestion is that if you don't use the brackets to drop the axle, then the CV axles will be at a larger angle and on mine this caused the inside boots to slip off. The only special tool you need is a set of snap-ring pliers. The new boots have the benefit of 20 years of engineering behind them in the form of them being made out of of more flexible neoprene. Next time I have the CV axles out I might install new boots on the insides too just so I have an excuse to repack the joints. The boot kits and grease are all available at NAPA for a decent price.

Something on my To-Do list but I didn't get to because of this COVID Summer is to install replacement torsion bar keys. I think I was able to just get the lift I wanted but I had to go to the limit of the stock keys and I'd prefer to have the ability to tweak things a bit more. I also was thinking of installing a bit longer rear shackles but that was only after I did some measurements to double check that I needed them.

Hope this helps.

 

Christine I was wondering if you had ever replaced the torsion keys... good to know. the the complete kit now includes the front diff bracket and the shock extenders and taller shackles according to the RC website. I wouldn't mind replacing almost everything in the kit except that the shocks won't do me much good. at $530 for the kit is it still cheaper to buy everything a la carte? will RC even sell it that way? does putting the stuff on the Bravada void the warranty? probably all RC questions I have them on speed dial for Tuesday morning LOL. would I be able to sell just the shocks to anyone? on a side note have you had any problems with your rtz shock extenders? saw some negative reviews on F150 Forum. also have you had to replace those rear self levelers yet? I can't seem to find them.

 

So the only RC parts I purchased from them were the upper control arms and later the brackets to relocate the attachment point for the rear sway bar. When I got them in 2016, they sold just the upper control arms to me for $250. I did not get the torsion bar keys but I wish I had. At the time I thought the rear shackles would be too long since I was only going for at most a 2" lift, not the 2.5" that the RC kit is designed to give. At the moment I likely have at least 1.5" lift but not the full 2". I don't mind as I was able to install the 30x9.5 tires with no fitment issues at all and I was OK with not overly stressing the rest of the front end components by going to a taller lift with the subsequent more extreme angles for all the parts. The tire shop test fit 31x10.5 tires after I did my lift and we learned that the 31s would hit the frame rails when the steering wheel was turned fully over. I took off the rear sway bar relocation brackets because they prevented me from installing my spare tire under the rear bumper.

As for the shock extenders, they seem to be working fine for me. I'll take a look at them now and then and I haven't see any issues with them or the attachment point. If I knew how to weld, I'd likely have either made my own or added a small plate to where they meet the underside of the attachment point so that there would be no way that they could flex/pivot forward and aft.

Regarding the rear shocks, they seem to still be working ok. I've attached a webpage I printed out when I was trying to learn about this. This particular page is now dead but the same website has this link: https://www.shockwarehouse.com/site/monroe_nivomat.cfm They also have conversion kits but not for our Blazers. But then perhaps they are similar? https://www.shockwarehouse.com/site/...cfm?id=3010078

And then when I looked for shocks at the Monroe website for my 1999 Blazer, I was able to find self-leveling rear shocks with part number 58523 "Monroe Load Adjusting Shocks". 58523 :: e-Catalog :: MONROE® SHOCKS & STRUTS . Considering the cost of replacement of these self-leveling shocks, if mine ever go out, I might consider replacing the rear springs with more normal springs. But that would be a hassle too. I do like the self-leveling action for when I'm towing.

And finally, regarding the warranty: Are you worried about the warranty for the Bravada? I'm sure that is long past expired.

Good Luck and keep us posted on your decisions on how to do your lift.
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P.S. I just now had this thought: Perhaps the Monroe people could help you find shocks that are the same as the 58523 ones but just a bit longer? Also I just did a quick search and they are not crazy expensive.

 

well after two phone calls and a bunch of other studying in the middle, it appears rough country stands behind their lack of application for the Bravada. I finally got someone to tell me that their research and development team studied all wheel drive transmission and that there was a Driveline vibration that they could never resolve. But they never studied it far enough to figure out where it was actually coming from. They just stopped applying it to Any all wheel drive application, so I kind of have an unbuildlable motorized paperweight in my driveway.

 

Well at least you (and now the rest of us) have some clue as to what is going on.

Does anyone here who understands the transfer cases in the Bravadas know who this would be the case? I had assumed that the Bravada transfer case was equivalent to my 4-button transfer-case if it was always in Auto-4wd.

 

I may be out in left field, but I seem to recall the front driveshafts being different in the AWD 98+ trucks which could be what makes them not play well with the dropped front axle. I'm not sure if a NV236 front driveshaft would work on an NV136 tcase to see if that would cure the issue if that is even the reason or if I am even remembering things correctly.

From everything I can recall having read about the differences between the two transfer cases, they were pretty much the same transfer case with the major exception being that the NV136 does not have the range planetary setup in it for the LO/HI functionality.

Could go all in and clock the t-case as well, but you'd want to see how far you would need to go for bolt clearances and drive shaft clearance at the back, and, and, and...

 

you are probably more on point than you think with the driveshaft query. the tech on the phone mentioned that similar to all wheel drive jeeps, there was zero tolerance for any angle at all in the U joints for the T case and driveshaft. so apparently even with their now included differential brackets it's not enough and the shaft doesn't stay straight. either way I'm not aiming for a Driveline vibration that I don't know what they will further cause LOL. with any luck the New Shackle and four new shocks, and a couple pair of new shoes LOL will make it stand slightly taller any whooo. I am looking into the monroes Christine that you linked to, and still looking into 30 by 9 and 1/2 15s.

 

so I may not have a paperweight after all, call me crazy for not realizing that a simple repair would actually affect about a 1 inch lift.
before repair stance.

amazing what an Intact shackle will do LOL

Monroe load levelers.

what the what?!? now for the front end LOL

 

Looking good.

I was following this thread as an interested observer. If I read the posts correctly, the issue is with the front drive-shaft due its construction. Am I right? If so, would it be possible to retrofit some Blazer parts such a Blazer front drive shaft to over come this?

 

according to Swartlkk, apparently something like that. but as he pointed out in the post before, it would be a lot of ifs and a lot of potential other tweaking. so if the 136 will accept a 236s driveshaft? and if not then you could tweak this and if not that then you could tweak that.... I'm not that ambitious nor that technically skilled. aka I'm not the guy to try to fit a Ford rear end under the thing or to do a Cummins swap haha LOL. I was hoping application from the Blazers for Rough Country would be way simpler than thatt and apparently it was not. For a 22 year old truck Im not real sure Driveline vibrations is the way I wanted to go. so I reverted back to stock applicable options and still got a bump out of it LOL. and I haven't even really rebuilt the front end yet but I think I will stick as stock as possible, even though it looks like new front shocks might still accept the slight T Bar crank just to level out. Again, bonuseybonus. the shop I used said idler arm has play which gives pitman arm play as well apparently, but otherwise everything else was tight. Are there bushings that can be replaced without the whole idler arm replacement?