So I'm in the process of doing a fairly extensive project on my blazer, and I may need to replace the front hubs/bearings. I have the older style where the ABS sensor is part of the dust shield. I'm wondering if anyone knows if its possible to use the hub from a newer style where the ABS sensor is part of the hub?

 

I have never seen this done, nor looked into it myself, but I can run down through the highlights of what would need to be checked.

I believe that the sensors would need to have basically the same resistance so as to provide the same output whenever the tooth on the reluctor ring (or toner ring) passes under the sensor. The # of teeth on the reluctor ring needs to be the same as well.

Then it would have to physically bolt up to the knuckle & CV shaft stub.

 

Yeah, I've done quite a bit of searching on this and other forums, and apparently I'm the only one who thought this might be a good idea. Might be a sign I should stick with what's already there.

 

I'm not saying that it wouldn't be possible, but you would have to get all of the parts together and either try them out, or have access to the proper measuring devices to compare the two designs.

 

If you really feel energetic, Go to the junk yard and get a set of front hubs. It will be a cheap expiriement. If it works, PLEASE let us know! I have a 97, 98 and 2000 that I would like to be able to use the same hub on all of them. I wouldnt mind keeping an extra hub on the shelf if I knew it would fit all three trucks!

 

All right. Thanks for the advice and help Kyle and Kristoph. From every picture that I can find they look very similar if not the same, but that doesn't mean much. If I can find a serviceable one from the local pick 'n pull I'll give it a try when I change out my front diff. I'll let you know what I learn.

 

Well, if anyone is interested, I've answered my own question about using a hub from a '98 or newer blazer on the older 95-96 blazers. The answer is maybe. Here's the deal. The hub bolts right up, and the ABS plugs in, but you'll need to find a new dust shield because the older one won't fit (it maybe would with some modification). The real problem though, is that there is a difference in the depth of the part of the hub that slides into the brake backing plate. The new model is about 4mm (just over 1/4") longer than the older model. This means that the mounting pad doesn't quite sit flush against the backing plate. Here's a few pictures to try and illustrate the differences. (There is a lip on the older model hub too, its just blocked by the tape measure in the close up view.)

Older 95-96 hub:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/preteygoodpics/6047138987/http://www.flickr.com/photos/preteygoodpics/6047691170/
Newer 98+ hub:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/preteygoodpics/6047140393/http://www.flickr.com/photos/preteygoodpics/6047692458/
So, with the dust shield in there, there's approximately a 2mm gap between the mounting plate of the hub and the face of the backing plate. The neck of the hub that slides into the backing plate is exactly the right diameter, but 2mm too long. I personally don't like the idea of that gap because it would add more stress to the bolts and potentially cause them to fail. If you had a way to make the dust shield thicker so that the hub sat tight against the face it could potentially work just fine, which would make replacing the hub and abs sensor in the older model blazers a lot easier.

 

If you put a straight edge across the back, you'll be able to get a better measurement.

 

Yeah, I thought of that afterwards, but I'd already returned the '98+ hub to Pick-n-Pull. I still have an old one from the '96, so when my brother changes the hub on his 2002 S10 in the near future I'll take another picture to complete the thread.

 

I had a thread open about this from a lil while back, i did the updated hubs on my 96 blazer 4 door, All i did was get a complete driver & passenger spindle setup from a truck with the newer design and swap my spindles out for the newer setup and plugged the abs ss into the plug luckily it was the same connector, never had a problem with the abs communicating or anything i would say if u can get a complete spindle setup go for it, i cant speak on if the spindle is the same, but i believe there was a few suddell differences between the single piston setup "96" and the newer style setup that i believe u can find on any 97+. i changed mine out mostly because i like the duel piston calipers up front over the single because i do some light towing sometimes and it makes me feel better about stopping.