hello friends long time no talk , I'm trying to figure out what this part is called so I can order a new one and get it fixed and is this a universal piece for chevy blazers, I have a 05 ZR2.
I think this is the last broken part before I can work on coolant flush and oil change.
thank you for your time.

 

You will have to be more specific.

Can you modify the picture and identify the part in question with an arrow?

 

I see a cv axle, an upper balljoint(which looks like you have the rough country upper control arms), a dust shield, a break line, an abs sensor, also part of the outer tie rod is there...

I'm gonna assume it's the upper balljoint. If that's so, you will need to find out what year the lift kit was bought. Rough country has 2 different ball joints, they redesigned it to fit a different bj about 4-5 years ago...

 

Hi guys, thanks for responding so quick, sorry for disappearing too I've been wanting to get a few more things done so i could show it off and be a bit proud, i purchased the rear link stabilizers eh Christine a while back but I've been waiting to get rear spacers 1" to match my front wheel poke and rear brake pads so i can get a new mechanic to get it done all at once but i haven't gotten any money to get the spacers or brake pads.

oh sorry there looks to be a split in my ball joint rubber and all the grease is leaking out? that was my issue but nobody seemed to see it so maybe I'm mistaken.

i was told to buy a whole new lift kit to fix any issues i had, like the rubbing of my front wheel on the bumper from the first mechanics who
fixed my torn cv boots but they took my front rough country shocks without my permission and they didn't tell me, i noticed afterwards. they lowered it to get my axels back in alignment like i asked but why would they take my shocks? to fix the height issue?.
should i repurchase the 2.5" lift kit, that's what i thought i had on before with the torsion bars cranked but i had no suspension and it destroyed my cv boots.

i have no shaking or control issues i just don't want my wheel to be damaged. I've been looking into this
can i fit a 6" rough country lift on my 05 ZR2?

 

Regarding the boot around your upper ball joint. When you fill any suspension fitting with grease, the old grease gets pushed out. This must come out somewhere. I can't remember about the RC ones, but generally, there will be a small slot where the old grease will come out. As long as the gap where the grease comes out closes up when not under pressure so that nothing else can get in, you should be fine. Your boot looks ok to me.

As for the tires, my understanding is that the ZR2 came stock with the 31x10.5R15 tires so that they should fit even without a lift. With lift, they should still fit.

As for getting a whole new lift kit, I don't see how that would help or if the original lift kit parts could be to blame as long as they were installed correctly.

Let me ask some questions to make sure I'm on the same page with you.

Do you have the full Rough Country 2.5" lift kit installed per the instructions by RC? This kit has a spacer and an extended mounting plate that lowers the front axle relative to the frame of the truck. This increases the distance between the frame and the axle and provides the increase in the suspension height without needing to add tension to the torsion bars to achieve this new height. The adding of tension, or "cranking of the torsion bars" is what the rest of us have to do who do not use the RC kit to modify the mounting of our front axles.

With this added distance between the frame and the axle, the shocks will have to be longer. This is because ever shock is designed with a minimum and maximum extension. When at rest, the shock ideally would be at the mid point of the extension range. This is why the RC kit will come with new shocks.

Second question: Did you also have additional suspension height added by also cranking on the torsion bars to have an even greater lift to you suspension in addition to what would have been gained by the RC lift by itself?

My understanding of the RC lift kit, is that by moving the front axle down relative to the truck's frame, the angle of the CV joints will be close to stock. This would be in contrast to getting a lift at the front suspension using only a torsion bar crank, or if a person also did the torsion bar crank in addition to the RC kit with the remounted front axle, which would result in the CV joint angles being greater.

It is when these CV joints are at an angle that the boots can rip or the inner or outer boots detach from where they are secured.

As for the shocks, I can't see why they would have removed your RC shocks as they would have been designed with the proper maximum and minimum ride height in mind if the kit was installed per the instructions.

Now, after reading your description, I'm getting an uncomfortable feeling about your mechanics. They don't seem to know what they are doing or are not very familiar with installing lift kits. Perhaps it is that what you remember about what they told you is incomplete. I don't like to cast unfounded dispersions.

Simply, I don't see any reason why you should need a new lift kit installed.

Now, keep in mind that I did not install the full 2.5" Rough Country lift kit. I only installed their upper control arms. So I only have some knowledge of the RC 2.5" kit.

I'm attaching a copy that I got for the kit from when I installed my RC upper control arms. I'd suggest you read it over and familiarize yourself with it. It will tell you about how the torsion bars should be adjusted. You should also be able to compare what you have to how it should have been installed.

 

Kit came with 4 shocks, 2 extended rear shackles, brackets to move the rear sway bar lower, a wedge and drop bracket for the front diff, and 2 torsion keys that are slightly different then stock to help with the front end height and suspension rate... I have a pic of all the parts in my thread.

Granted I have a 4 door, I'm going out on a limb and thinking the 2 door kit should be the same.

im not sure if the 6" lift fits the 2 doors...

I would definitely look for a different mechanic myself... i dont see why you would need to replace the entire lift kit

 

this is the proper feed for my response,

that's great to know the slit is supposed to be there thank you.
as far as all the RC pieces are there I'm not sure i bought it like this and as soon as i drove it up a big hill my check engine light flashed and came on with a burning smell from my interior vents.
i took it to 3 mechanics and nobody wanted to touch it.
i finally took it to a diagnostic specialist who found my catalict convertor to be clogged and i found my boots to be torn when they lifted it up ,. i didn't know were or what to look for when i bought it i just loved it.
to bad the kid was a skid and didn't tell the problems and charged me a large price tag for it, said he paid 1500 for the tires alone.
anyways i paid 3 grand to get it fixed and the tires rub pretty bad and there's a clunking noise when i turn left only. that's why i was posting the pic, i thought i found the problem myself and was looking for the correct name of the part.
it feels like i cant go off roading at all. i have to come to a complete stop to turn left without noise.
i took it to 5 mechanics so far and the last one was Canadian tire and they said everything was tight and fine but had no answers for the rubbing noise.

I've been wanting to get some **** done myself before i came back so i had some good news to say...

also i was trying to research the proper engine coolant for my 2005 S10 and they say the best is Preston orange 50/50
is that true ?

i accidently mixed my post with another's about proper coolant.

 

Ah... a fellow Canadian lol... from souther Ontario here... if you can get pictures of the rear axle from the rear showing the whole sway bar with it, and also pictures of the drivers side and passenger side of the front diff, ill be able to help with if you have all the parts lol, the torsion keys will be hard to tell either way.

I have a 4 door, but the 2.5 kit is the same for both as to what ive found out. Only difference is that it doesn't give you as much of a lift on a zr2, compared to a non zr2, and that's because of where the suspension mounts to the frame.

I have a bunch of pics of when I installed my lift on my 99 blazer build thread. Maybe take a quick glance towards the begining of the thread, you'll be able to see the parts and where they go.

As for the noise turning, could be the cv axle binding. I had that happen when my front diff wasn't geometricly level.

 

First an overall comment. These are not new trucks with the newest being 17 years old! As such, it is not unreasonable to find issues with several of the systems simultaneously. The only commonality between these will be age. For my truck, I've had to replace my catalytic converter, and I also had to deal with CV joint boots that decoupled from their inner seal flanges.

I agree with DonL's assessment: You might have a worn CV joint which would require a new front drive axle on the left side. If one one of your boots had been open for awhile, then the grease could have been lost and contaminants could have gotten into the CV joint causing it wear.

Did you read the installation instructions I attached to my last reply? You can use it to compare to what you have along with looking at DonL's pictures.

Once you get the issues all worked out, you will have a nice rig for going off-road. The ZR2s are quite nimble and capable.

As for the coolant to use, these originally came with Dexcool which is orange. The early versions of this coolant had some issues with a sludge accumulating if there was air leaks into the cooling system or if it was mixed with the more common green ethylene glycol types. However, the modern formulation of Dexcool and the Dexcool compatible coolants no longer have the aforementioned problems. If you are not sure of the history of the coolant you have, have the cooling system fully flushed and then refilled with the coolant of your choice. I'm using the new formation of the Dexcool in mine but others use the more traditional green stuff.

Finally, in your earlier posts you mentioned that your tires were rubbing but in this last one you mentioned that it was rubbing noise. Can you see where the tires are rubbing or being worn away? Or is it that there is a noise that you attribute to the tires? If the latter, under what conditions do you hear the noise? If the former, can you post pictures of the wear marks on the tires and any scuff marks on the frame or body by the tires? Perhaps what you are hearing is simply the sound of the tires. Some tires, especially those with tread patterns optimized for off-pavement driving can be quite loud.

 

It's kinda hard to tell, but from your avatar pic, I'm not sure your Blazer is actually a ZR2. The avatar thumbnail doesn't look like it has the ZR2 fender flares. If that's the case, then it would help explain why your tires rub sometimes.

The sure way to tell if it's a ZR2 is to check the RPO sticker list in your glove box.

Do you know where your tires rub? The most likely places are the rear of the front fenders or the frame.