In my conversations with Will at the vendor, he suggested that I could file the weld back. I thought about it and decided the using the Moog would be enough of an upgrade. The 2nd bearing makes the idler arm stronger and it's designed for a 1 ton truck with a diesel or 454 engine. Both engines are heavier than our 4.3.

You could see if they will trade out the bracket.

 

I was thinking that cutting out a small notch in the welded edge to make space for the top of the idler arm pivot part might work. When you wrote that they suggested filing away a bit of the weld I'm assuming that they were saying to only do that filing on the inside of the joint where the top of the idler arm pivot would touch the metal/weld. Correct?

I'll have to try to contact them myself too. I just should have stuck with all Moog parts!!! LOL

 

Here are a couple more pics of how the Proforged part fit.


Will said to file part of the weld but I chose to go with Moog.

 

2001ZR2, did the Moog parts say: 'Made in the USA' ? Some one on this post said in regards to Moog: use only if they were made in the USA, and not out sourced to another country. This Idler arm topic should be a topic of interest to all Blazer and Jimmy owners. The idler arm has been a weak point in many GM cars and trucks over the years. Whether you ride on rutted dirt roads with pot holes or go to the Moab trails, they will wear out. I first heard about this idler arm issue on the 94-96 Chevy Impala SS forums. I am just saying it has been around awhile.
I hope that 2001ZR2 and Christine will both post the results of their installations on this forum for future reference. Thanks for all the details and the brand names and part numbers. That is very helpful. Thanks, Jim in SC on a dirt road.

 

They are the problem solver Moog which are made here.

Only regret so far is that I didn't change out the steering stabilizer at the same time. I have the factory mount and getting it to let go of the center link is challenge.

Just not a lot of access

 

FYI, I got an email from Will also that said the same thing.

'Yes you can just grind the bracket a little to get the large pivot to fit. We have changed the design of the bracket moving forwards to accommodate this. '

 

Until.I pointed out to him.he was unaware of what Proforged had done in their redesigned pivot.

 

Interesting.

When I get to it, I'll be needing to grind it. Would a Dremel tool be powerful enough?

 

I was able to clean up some of weld imperfections with a hand file. Let us know and my advice would be to go slow and grind a minimum part of the weld. They have ground down the weld on the outside.

 

Thanks! This is really good to know.

I figure I'll only be grinding about 1/4" to 1/2" of the weld.

I'm guessing I could do this with me Dremel tool but I wouldn't be upset to have an excuse to buy a new tool.