Hey guys I just bought a '03 blazer with just under 145,000 kms for a great deal. Im looking to build it into a hunting/offroad vehicle. Any suggestions? Also im going through it and making any repairs I find, anything I should be looking for? Im doing the intake gasket since its toast and the reason it was for sale. Also replacing the spark plugs, upper and lower ball joints, and obviously a coolant flush and oil change lol Thanks!

 

I use my Blazer for towing a boat and for going hunting in North Idaho. I don't do rock-crawling but I do go off-pavement a lot. You might look at my build-thread for ideas that might suit you.

The quick run-down for mine is the following:

It came with the highest gear ratio you could get in a non-ZR2 Blazer so that is good. It also came with the 4-button transfer case. I find the extra Auto-4WD feature super convenient when driving on rural highways that are not plowed so well. I like that it came with factory fog lights too.

I did a mild lift (mostly for peace of mind) and used the upper control arms from Rough Country's 2.5" lift kit for the better angle for the upper ball joints. For the towing I installed a larger all aluminum radiator and an extra transmission fluid cooler.

I upgraded the steering with a steering stabilizer from Rough Country and changed out the worn out rag-joint with a stainless steel universal joint from Flaming River. I intend to install a 1-ton idler arm that is for a 1-ton Chevy truck I got the bracket to do so from Outfitter Design.

Instead of installing a winch, I got myself from Australia a Bush Winch that uses drums that attach to extended lug nuts on my wheels. This system allows me to self-recover going forward or backwards. It also means there is no extra weight on the front of the truck. I considered a winch set-up I could swap from front to back but I just couldn't see it being that great of a solution. This also means I did not have to upgrade the electrical system. I also have traction boards for the snow. I keep all my recovery gear in a Yakima Rocket Box mounted to my roof luggage rack which leaves room in the passenger compartment for my bin with tools and other gear. The Blazer being small (by today's standards) I thought the Rocket Box was a good solution even if it reduced my mileage a bit.

I'm considering installing a swing-away spare tire carrier on the back that I got from a 2dr Blazer. I got a flat last spring while driving in the woods and fortunately I was able to get the truck on the gravel road out of mud or even from where there was grass on soft ground where getting to the spare under the back bumper would have been harder to do.

When hunting deer, I'll install a luggage rack into the receiver. It folds up when unloaded so that I don't reduce my departure angle. For elk hunting I'll sometimes tow a small Harbor-Freight-esque utility trailer into which I can carry a game cart and shovels and a spare tire. (I needed that spare tire last year!)

There are many more upgrades a person could do. People have installed the 2.5" suspension lift kit from Rough Country. This kit allows a remounting of the front axle a bit lower so to not force the CV joints into extreme angles. Others will do a solid axle swap for the front. From Outfitter Design you can also get a steel, rather than aluminum, IFS axle that also has a locking diff.

If you do a suspension lift, I would recommend swapping out the inner CV joint covers with newer neoprene ones. When any sort of lift, the old covers made of stiffer plastic can break their seal on the inside of the inner seal. With the drive axles out, it is not a hard job to replace then and you get a chance to repack the joint with fresh grease. I've done this on one of my drive axles and will do it to the other if/when I have to ever remove it.

 

Thanks! Ive been thinking about a small lift as I was to go with 33's on it. The upgraded steering is something ive been thinking about as well. The roof rack I will be doing for sure as I carry alot of gear on my 10 days elk hunts. Do you happen to know where I can get an offroad bumper? Ive been looking online but cant find anything. The front and rear bumpers are a bit beat up and im thinking I will upgrade to steel ones.

 

As for off-road bumpers, the only place I ever looked was here: https://www.bluelakeoffroad.com/s-10...lblazer-jimmy/ They look great but are too pricey for me. I was primarily interested in the rear bumper for the swing away tire rack. But I got one from a 2dr I plan to install some time soon.

If you want to run 33" tires, you might also want to do a body lift. You would definitely would need to do some fender trimming for the front tires as I know that those who run 31" tires almost always do a bit of trimming to make things fit. You may want to find some fender flares too. With the 33" tires, you will likely want to go with at least the 2.5" Rough Country lift kit. Others have done 6" lifts. I think Rough Country might have sold a 6" lift kit but I'm not sure and if they did, I'm not sure if they are still selling it. A solid axle swap might be better too with the larger tires. I originally thought I'd want to go with the 31" tires but I'm happy with my 30" ones as it doesn't reduce the effective axle ratios as much since I like to be able to preserve the torque I can apply.

Where do you do your elk hunting? What sort of driving conditions do you expect to encounter?

Every now and then I think "Man, a 4Runner would serve me better." but then I look at the prices for even 10-y.o. ones and I flinch at the prices they want.

And then there is that our little Blazers are quite nimble. I was able to squeeze past the front of my friends Ford F150 that she got sideways on her iced over driveway so I could pull her free. I would not have been able to do that with anything larger. And then there was the time I found myself on the wrong side of a locked gate! Again, I was able to squeeze by where anything larger would not have been able to go.


Uh oh! I'm on the wrong side of the gate!


Now on the right side of the gate. Whew! BTW it was a steep drop-off for the road-cut on the left that is partly hidden by the tall grass.

 

Just keep in mind the more capable you make it for offroad the less you will like driving it on the road. I had 33's on my Blazer but swapped them to 32's as I lost too much torque, and I originally had 31's from the manufacturer. Your mileage and ride quality will suffer a bit too. If you want a fulltime offroad vehicle then disregard everything I've posted.

I started out with a stock ZR2 that was very capable offroad with the right tires. Ended putting a 2" body lift on it with 33's, and needed to do some trimming for them. Worked great offroad but turned it into a slug on the highway. Towing anything was slow. Rather than do a gear swap I went down to the 32's. Still not as fast with the 31's but much better than the 33's. I tow my camper with it and does well until I hit a pass over 10,000 feet. Still very capable offroad as my Blazer is the vehicle of choice to get to a downed elk or deer when the forest road is less than pleasant.

 

Agreed that you want to keep in mind the loss of torque with the taller tires. I'm running 32's on my Sonoma with factory 3.73 gears (same as stock ZR2 gears) and the difference is noticeable. Not terrible, but noticeable enough to have me checking how much 4.10 gears would cost.

I love the size of the S-series trucks for off-road though. There's a few places where I go hunting or camping that would be impossible to take a bigger vehicle.

 

StevenE and others, regarding the effective gear ratio, here is a handy calcultor. https://tiresize.com/gear-ratio-calculator/

And El_Beautor, I thought all ZR2s came with the 4.10 gears. When I got my LT, I had not known of the wide range of gear ratios and felt fortunate when I realized I had gotten one with the highest gear ratio for a non-ZR2.

Now, if I had a magic wand, I'd turn my Blazer into the equivalent of a 4-door ZR2 with an LS swap. LOL But I'm pretty happen with what I got and the few mods I have left to do. (1-ton idler arm upgrade, larger supplemental transmission cooler (Hayden 699), swing-away spare tire carrier.)

 

Stock ZR2 gears were 3.73 (RPO GT4). The 4.10 gears only came stock on the 2wd 4 cylinder pickups. Pretty sure they did not come stock on any Blazers or Jimmy with the 4.3L engine at all. My understanding is that 4.10s were an option if you custom ordered your S-series truck, but that it was super rare. Non ZR2s most commonly have 3.42 (RPO GU6) or 3.73, depending on the trim level. I was trying to find some of the source links for that information that used to exist on some of the ZR2 forums, but unfortunately they all seem to be defunct now.

Of the 6 ZR2s that my brother and I have owned, they all had 3.73 gears. We used to buy ZR2s that needed work and fix them up and flipping them. It made us a bit of spare cash to work on our own trucks.