Lowering a 4wd '98 Blazer
 

So I've been perusing the forums for a bit now and haven't exactly seen any pictures / guides for lowering the 4wd blazers for a 2/3 inch drop the cheaper way.

Here goes nothin!

I'll start with a picture from beforehand:

Attachment 38397

Just your average stock blazer.

I realize I measured it the improper way but, the front wheels on both sides were 32" from the ground to the fender above the wheel and the back was at 33"

I ended up with $36 3" blocks and U-bolts from O'Rielly's without the taper.
(Haven't felt the rattling that is supposed to happen without having the tapered blocks but I'll let y'all know if anything shows up) and just let out the torsion bolts for the front.

First thing we did was jack the ass end of her up and put the stands on the frame.

Attachment 38398

Then we proceeded to get the bolts that were holding the leaf springs to the axle off of there, I believe they were 21mm bolts and they were hard as hell to get off of there.

Attachment 38399

Comparison of the old U-bolts to the new ones.

Attachment 38400

The gap that occurs when you jack the axle up so the leafs settle down.

Attachment 38401

Setting the blocks in.

Attachment 38402

After getting this far we placed the new blocks on and torqued them down as far as we could.

Attachment 38403

Then we dropped it down after making sure everything was tight enough,

Attachment 38404

Unfortunately we had to cut the back bump stops haha

Before,

Attachment 38405

We took the wheels off and just used a saws-all to get the bottom bulb off of the stops on both sides,

Attachment 38406

After getting all the back worked out we rose the front using the frame and went down to the torsion bolts, which, for reference are located on a crossbar right at the very front of the skid plate that covers the gas tank

(This picture was taken from the passengers side)

Attachment 38407

So I'm sure that every torsion bolt is going to be in different positions for your blazers but mine had the drivers side backed out a little further than the passengers side.

For my blazer it took 8 turns on the drivers side and 12 turns on the passengers side to lower the front end 2 inches. (turns being 360 degree rotations)

And here is the final product as she sits right meow! All said and done, the measurements are 30" from the fender to the ground on both the front and the back, with only about an hours worth of work.

Attachment 38408

And a few comparison pics with other cars I've parked next to the last few days:

Parked next to two other kin

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Parked next to a Forester

Attachment 38410

Hope this helps at least one person out there! Thanks for all the info y'all have inadvertently given me :D

sweet.

Thanks man, does anyone have any suggestions or is the write up all gravy?

looks pretty straight forward to me....if i wanted to go lower i could have followed no problems.

good write up and pics work well to.

do you have tire wear problems and alignment problems in the front?

I did end up needing an alignment, however I did drive around for about a week and a half before I could get into the shop without any noticeable wear on the tires.

I was initially worried that I wouldn't be able to get an alignment due to using the torsion bolts to drop the front end, but I just mentioned it to the alignment guy at Les Schwab and he said that he could make it work without raising the front back to specifications.

I still have yet to notice any extra wear compared to normal on either the front or the back set of tires.

As others have pointed out, the front does feel a little softer and the back is noticeably stiffer.

My sway bar links are almost gonna fall off, so I ordered some new polyurethane ones that I am hoping helps a little with the front end, before I get new shocks of course haha.