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Search and Rescue rig

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Old 09-16-2019, 06:12 PM
Zach Downs's Avatar
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Default Search and Rescue rig




This is what's left of my 1998 Blazer, the front end is shot and won't hold an alignment, and the steering wheel has a LOT of play. Dukes of Hazzard kind of stuff

Does anyone have any idea for an extremely low dollar lift? Was thinking about gutting the Blazer(1998 4-door 4.3 4WD) engine and all, and adding a second frame under the original. The second frame would be a 3/4-1 ton pickup of sorts so that I could utilize the pickup's power and drivetrain. This would give me an obvious body lift, engine tranny and axle swaps for fairly low dollar. For example, this would Blazer would have to navigate high water, mud, large obstacles, and have to pull other vehicles occasionally. The reason for the lift is to move the axles out from the center of the vehicle so the front tires would stick out from the body and the rear would not require me to cut out the rear doors for clearance.

Does anyone have recommendations on donner trucks and examples if anyone has ever done this? I can't find any info on this kind of mod. Also whats the best bang for buck as far as large offroad tire size goes?
 
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Old 09-17-2019, 12:19 PM
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The wheelbase is very close to that of a K5 Blazer, so that might be an option. But I can't imagine putting your body on a 3/4 ton truck will be simple or low-cost.

Personally, I would SAS it with a couple of Jeep Wagoneer axles if you want extra width, or a Jeep YJ front axle and keep your stock rear if you want low-buck. If you can do the fabrication yourself (and there's probably less fabrication involved than there would be putting your Blazer on a different frame), it's not very expensive or difficult.
 
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Old 09-17-2019, 09:53 PM
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I agree with Tom A - your idea of stacking frames would be royal PIA to get anything close to lining up engine under hood ECT -
My morf is a 1986 RX7 with a narrowed and shortened GMC Jimmy S15 frame with a new center section installed and it's running gear.
I have over a year and thousands invested in project.
 
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