Hi, new to the forums here and soon to be a blazer owner.

I am looking at purchasing a 98' 4x4 blazer and currently have a 1988 s10 pickup sitting on 35's with 6 inches total lift - part body, part suspension.

My question is can I swamp the lift over from the 88 s10 to the blazer? I know the rear end wont be a problem as the my s10 currently has an axle from a 96 under it but has the front end changed in a way that would prevent me from swapping the control arm drop kit?

Thank you for your replies.

 

I'm pretty sure that it is not a direct bolt on swap. It may be possible with a little bit of work, but the best thing I can suggest is to have them both side by side and start measuring.

 

The main differences are the sway bar ends, and the torsion bar crossmember. What kind of lift is on the '88? If its just keys and shackles, it should go right over, if its a full blown lift with control arm relocation brackets, then the torsion bar cross member becomes a problem. You could look into realift torsion bar relocators, which keep the bars tucked up inside the frame at the expense of moving the crossmember towards the rear wheels 2-4 inches. Apart from those two things, it should go right over.

 

Thank you for the replies. I actually ended up getting a 1993 s10 that is in better over all mechanical shape than my 88. (which is why I wanted to tear it down). The 93 has the same lift set up as my 88. Both trucks have 35" tires under them right now.

What is funny though, is that the 93 has camber issues that has caused the tires on it to to wear prematurely and the inside. My 88 doesn't have this issue. The guy said he adjusted the camber bolts as far as he could but could not get the tires sitting even.

Both my 88 and 93 have the upper control arms cut to make room for the shocks.

I have been doing research and have found camber bolts that allow for more adjustment but I have also found redesigned upper control arms from a 2 inch lift kit that allow room for the shocks and I guess offer better camber adjustments?

Anybody familiar with camber issues on a lifted gen 1 s10 p/u or blazer?

edit: Oh and the lower control arms are relocated, the upper are stock location from what I see.

From further research it appears both trucks have a 5" inch lift kit made by trail master

 

Yea. The upper arms you need should be the old school key and shackles torsion twist kit from rough country or superlift. Although there is no reason a set of current 5" bds, 6" superlift, or 2.5" rough country shouldn't work. It's a common trailmaster thing. It's with the weak upper control arms from being trimmed down or the brackets weren't lined up just exactly. It's something like that.

I've been researching this same issue myself. The old style rough country/superlift 2" control arms seem to be hard to find, so I was thinking of trimming a set of upper arms and maybe boxing them in, then trying a ball joint flip and seeing how that works out. Gonna take awhile till I get to that point, though.

Edit: you should post up some pics.

 

Good Idea, here are both trucks as they sit now. Green is an 88 s10, other is 93. Tires from the green are going on the white as soon as I figure out which way is best to fix camber issues on white. (The fact that the tires are so wide on white one wouldn't cause the camber issues would they?)

Tire size on green: 35x12
White: 35x14

 

I can't see the pic