1st gen SAS
 

OK, after seeing ATVWARRIOR and a couple others trucks, I want to SAS my blazer this summer. I have a few questions regarging this project.

1, what axles should I look for to maintain my lugnut pattern since I have those brand new 17 in 33 in tires and wheels that I dont want to go to waste. Im thinking Jeep products may have the same pattern like a wagoneer or maybe an older cherokee or YJ if they had solid axles. I dont need super heavy duty one ton axles, I need solid axles with the same lug pattern my expensive wheels have.

2, will the gear ratios in the used axles be good enough for 33s

3, how about the driveshafts and yokes.

4, what leaf springs should I look for, I wouldnt mind alot of lift, like maybe 8 inches or more. ATVwarriors truck looks rad at the height its at. I can get new ones from an off road shop Ive dealt with. I guess I only need legnths and amount of lift I want right? The rears will use the same perches and just have more arc in them I figure.

5, steering - what should i look for, I recall reading about an astro steering box as its upside down and uses the same mount points. Will it hook up to the jeep steering linkage? Should I also take a jeep steering linkage from the junkyard?

I intend on moving the truck out to my driveway when the snow goes and start cutting off all the stuff I dont need anymore and taking it to scrap. I dont have a welder, but I will just prep everything and hire a welding truck for his hourly rate to come do all my welds for me, I figure if I have it all ready to weld it shouldnt take him very long to run all the beads and maybe only cost me a couple hundred bucks. At least that way they will be strong and done by a professional. I will get him to fill in my antenna hole and patch the rotten rear quarter panels at the same time. I would also like to get some strong tubing and get him to weld up some stepside/skid bars for the sides at the same time.

Ill be looking more closely at the SAS guys build threads and starting to source my parts this winter.

Things I have to get:
Taller jackstands, the ones I have barely put the truck off the ground with the lift I have now.
Axles
Springs
Driveline parts
new brakes for whatever axles I get
brake like adapters?
shocks - will have to measure legnth when its all together I think
skid plates - i kind of melted mine trying to burn the crud off them over my campfire...

there is a million different directions to go with these swaps. the astro van can accept different types of pit man arms not sure about the one you mentioned, i actually used the factory astro van pitman arm and just had it reamed to except the tie rod ends i was using, works great

what i did when i did mine was i just googled around, found a few builds and kinda borrowed ideas from some and went my own way on others, i was lucky enough to have a ton of k5 blazer stuff around here and was able to find stuff that fit.

alot of the k5 stuff bolted right in, the transfercase, driveshafts, brake lines were the same i love chevys interchangeability with stuff

1- no solid axles with the correct bolt pattern. Jeep axles can be modified to the correct pattern.

2- 4.56 gears

3- custom length. yokes are no problem, but depend on axles you are going to run.

4- grand wagoneer front springs are popular

5- astro box, steering linkage will depend on axle.

It sounds like you want it big, so I'd stay away from CJ/YJ/XJ axles. Grand Wagoneer axles would be decent, 6 lug wheels though.

edit: oops wrong thread...

Dang... I dropped 1700 on these wheels and tires tho... I really don't want to get rid of them, the wife will have an egg since I've never even used them. And between these wheels and my illverados wheels I spent 3700 on rims last year that already made her blow her top... Just wait till I get bigger rado wheels this spring, I won't be getting any action for a while till she cools down LOL

What about the tcase? Do I just unbolt it and rotate it 90 degrees to point down so my driveshafts aren't crazy angles?

I like the way atvwarriors looks, I would like that height, but with my wheels on it.

It doesn't need to be super tough, if YJ axles would accept my wheels I would go for that option.

YJ axle bolt patterns are not the same as Chevys. Some Toyotas are, though.

get rid of wheels u got, youll want bigger then 33 soon enough

sux u spent that much but what u wanna do it just wont work. just work the wife real good a few times so shes in a dazed state before u tell her the news of ur new wheels and tires. :) but if u wanna go big then dana30 are not the way to go. do a dana44 or chevy 10 bolts. i prefer dana44s, theyre what im running on mine. but im wide and need 6" flares to cover my tires. u can get them narrowed to stock width and still be strong enough. 33s just dont cut it, u need min 35s. :)

I think toyota uses 5 on 4.5...

Older (pre-JK, before 2007) wranglers are 5 on 4.5. So are ford rangers and exploders... JKs (07 up) are 5 on 5. Blazers and Jimmys are 4 on 4.75. Learned while searching for axles for my YJ. Sorry, I'm a Jeep guy...:icon_gunhead: