OK, I'm trying to figure out what parts I need to complete my SAS. I've read and read, and read and have a pretty good idea of what I need, but I have a couple questions.

First off, I'm using axles from a 94 Jeep Cherokee sport. I'm getting the axles, front and rear with everything attached to them. They have the coil spring buckets still. I know I can't use the high steer arm bracket since I'm using Jeep axles. I've read to use the steering box out of an Astro, I just don't know what year? I'm wanting to use the Jeep drive lines, if they'll work. I'm getting both drive shafts and probably the transfer case, the 4 link, everything but the coil springs.

I'm also debating on whether or not I want to do a coil or leaf sprung front end. The set up now is leaf sprung, but, it's a hack job. ( I didn't do it ) The way my Blazer sits right now, my tie rod hits on the passenger side leaf spring when I turn to the left. I want to fix that, hence the Astro steering box.

The leaf springs that are on my Blazer, I was told came off an Isuzu Trooper, the rears seem to be about flat and the fronts are just too short, causing my front end to sit forward in the wheel well.

This is all fairly new to me, so I'm still learning the "lingo". I apologize for the noob questions, but, how else am I going to learn? Well, that and a lot of reading, which I've been doing.

Any comments/suggestions are greatly appreciated. If pictures are needed, weather cooperating, I'll get some tomorrow and post what I have.

 

i think my astro box came off like a 91, i know it was one of the older ones. theres just so many different ways to go when building these things so telling you exactly what you need can be difficult. when i built mine i just googled around and read up on some builds and borrowed ideas from all of them. i built mine about as easy as you can, leaf springs up front, k5 axles driveshafts and k5 transfercase

 

I think I'll stick to leaf springs up front. I have the mounts and everything already. I just need to get a longer drive shaft and get that squared away. I've read quite a few pages and didn't really see any definitive answer on the Astro steering box (thanks by the way). I think that's the missing link to get this taken care of. Well, that and the front drive line. I think as soon as I get the other parts out of the donor Jeep, I'll disassemble the transfer case and use the parts from that to make the Cherokee drive lines work and go from there.

 

you need a 2wd astro steering box, any year fits. a late 70s, early 80s camaro pitman arm is what i used on mine. you need to file out the indexing splines on the pitman arm so you can clock it where you need it. you can also use an XJ or ZJ pitman arm if you arent going to use a hi-steer setup and coils.

oh and if all you can find is a 4wd astro box, all the 'guts' will fit inside your blazer steering box(what i did)

 

Forgive me for being new to all this, but, is the XJ the like 94 Cherokee? If so, I could probably get that too. And could I use the XJ pitman arm on my stock steering box, or on the Astro box?

 

i actually used the stock astro van pitman arm, BUT had to have it removed from the box and brought a machine shop and have it honed out for the tie rod end i was using, thats another option, but the xj arm seems to be pretty common

 

OK. I'll see what I can do with the XJ Pitman arm. Not to sound like I want to be spoon fed, but, does that arm need any modifying to work on the stock S10 steering box?

 

It will bolt right on, but depending on your setup you may need to file out the index splines so you can rotate it a bit, no big deal.

 

Sweet! Thanks for the help. Hopefully this will eliminate my tie rod hitting my passenger side leaf spring. Now to find some correct length leaf springs for a reasonable price. The junk yards here will probably want an arm and a leg for them.

 

A couple guys I wheel with have had good luck with these.