Hey guys,

Listen, I am considering two seperate lifts for my 1998 blazer. I was going to go with just a body lift for the aggresive look, and I will still do that, but in my searching I have found several choices for suspension. I found a 2inch lift, very simple and easy to do. But I figure if I am going to do it, then perhaps the 6inch would be better. However, even though it may be fun off-road, this will still be a local, daily driver, and according the instructions posted, the over the road vibration from the u-joints is bad. Does anyone have experience with this? Is it a really bad idea for highway use after the mods? Is there a way to soften the road noise?

This is a serious consideration for me, and I would hate to spend that kinda money and not be 100% satisfied with it. The 2inch sus. lift and the 2inch body lift will allow to get he look I want and most of the performance I need. Should I just stick with that?

Thanks again for all your input.

 

Well for starters on the 2 inch suspension lift, all it is, is a glorified version of tightening up your torsion bar bolts and a set of shackles or add-a-leafs for the rear. On top of that doing this will put some wear on your ball joints and cv-joints. Now if you keep a good eye on this stuff and make sure your ball joints are greased every oil change (as well as every other spot with a grease point on the front end) and you will get good lift out of this.

For body lifts, they are great. Simple, easy and they work without damaging anything. Yes they leave a gap between the body and the frame but they make kits to hide that.

Last but not least is the 6" full suspension kit (i'm assuming you are looking at the superlift one). This is a really nice lift that will prevent any front end damage in terms of wear (just make sure you still keep everything greased) and will give you blazer a really nice stance. Its a little expensive but its worth it. Plus for the daily driver stand point this will keep things working for a nice long time. On an even better note you can add a body lift and go bigger any time.

So in the end where does this leave ya for options? Well on the cheap you can do the torsion bar and body lift adjustment on the cheap and it will work nicely, ride pretty ok, and will hold up with good maintenance but can cause problems. On the flip side you can do the superlift setup which will get you more lift with possibly more reliability but at a price.

 

I agree with RCars2 on this one. I personally am planning on a 2" Body lift and then a 1.5" tbar crank in the front and 2" shackles in the rear which you can get for cheap (so my 1.5F/2R" suspension lift will cost about $80-100) and then with the 2" Body lift I will have the body 3.5F/4R" lifted, plus the height added by tires, with 31" tires you will be adding about an inch of frame to ground clearance if you get 32"tires then you have about a 1.5" lift just from tires (but you need the body lift and probably suspension lift to run these tires plus maybe a little fender trimming/banging). So I am planning on 31's for sure and maybe 32's which means I will have atleast a 4.5F/5R" lift maybe 5F/5.5R" lift for cheaper than a full suspension lift without tires. Just my thoughts on the situation.

-Lenny

 

http://www.performancecenter.com/pro...-Inch+Lift+Kit


Okay, I am not sure if this link works, but this was the 2inch lift I was talking about. also made by superlift. It talks about the control arms, not the torsin bars. although, I did do that in an older S-10 truck I had,, and it worked okay. and yes, I needed ball joints shortly after.

However, my real concern was this


"Tech Notes On Superlift Front 6-Inch Lift Kit / Rear Axle Relocation Kit & 5-Inch Lift Add-a-Leaf:

"Requires exhaust modification for vehicles with 4.3L engines. Requires frame bracket cutting. Front driveshaft vibration may occur at highway speeds. Will not fit ZR2/Highrider & Bravado models."

taken right from the page. If I go with the 6inch and I use the truck every day, will the daily driving hurt it? will the u-joints not withstand the freeway? How much vibration is there at highway speeds? and do they mean if the 4x4 is engaged or always? This is my big concern.

I know i can get good use out of the 2inch sus. and the 2inch body, but in the long run, the money is better spent on the 6inch?

 

The superlift kit does get you new control arms, yes, but for lifting it just uses keys on the torsion bars to gain the lift desired. Granted the new arms look slick and will hold up nice, they arent nessesarily needed. Plus with freeway vibration, if you cv's start to go it will vibrate as well (speaking from experience) especially as highway speeds.

As for the 6 inch kit with the vibration, im told that getting the original shaft re-balanced at a drive-line shop should fix that issue. Additionally (and because this makes more sense to me) is you can look into a drive shaft with higher angle u-joints. This would solve this problem too as i'm sure that it could partially be the front shaft being near its limit on the stock u-joints. Still there is less chance of catostrophic failure with the 6" superlift setup. It beefs up the front end and it moves the front axle down vs over extending it with torsion keys.

Now ultimately here what im getting at is that with either lift there are certain quirks as well, they arent gm stock setups. The blazer was never designed or intended for purposes of lifting. Now rather than me telling you which is best im just mainly laying out the general design and flaws to each as well as their strong pointsbecause ultimately it is your truck and you will have to do what makes you happy and what works best for youin the end.

 

I know that adding anything like this is not a GM recommended option, but I am looking for the aggresive look and ride. I appreciate that you cannot give me a verifiable yes or no, but my issue is long term what will be better. I agree on the whole lowring the IFS is better, and if I replace the front drive shaft, you are saying the vibration will subside, that is my real worry. I found a site where the 6inch lift is on sale for less then half the retail, and before I buy it and have it installed, i wanna make sure from some of those who may have had experience with it. I plan to replace the u-joints anyways, the tierods, the CV joints and all the ball joints, just so everything is brand new. Also, my goal is to put 33's on the truck, so I plan to replace the gears in both the front and rear with lower ratios and lockers. I am having it done professionally. Would doing all of this be better then saving a few bucks on the 2inch cheap lift? For a daily driver, and off-road toy, will it give the performance I am looking for? Is it trustworthy is what I am getting at here.......