Thread: Anybody have/had a Blazer?

96-02 style. I'm just wondering how big of a tire you can run with a small lift(about ZR2 height) without rubbing.
It'll be a winter vehicle.
My dad has these on his F-150 i'd have to say theyre pretty damn good.
BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO

I believe my buddy ran 31" TSLs on his his at stock height, but i think it rubbed a little at full turning, but i could be wrong

I know he lifted his suspension 2-3 and ran 33"s on his 4x4 S-10, had a great stance and worked well in the mud and snow

It'll be in the snow most of the time....i'd rather have an S10 truck but theyre like double the price of a Blazer...so im gonna get a Blazer instead...I had a 96 but I sold it to buy the GTP...but next winter I want a 4wd and Blazers are rediculously cheap

by far the BF goodrich a/t is the best damn tire for snow and off road, i've used nothing but them on my last 2 trucks, 33x12.5 , the price is high but well worth it. i had full size gmc pick ups. and hardly got stuck while snow plowing over the last 15 years.

BIG TIP: if you do get stuck, DO NOT sit there and spin the tires, they go bald very fast and it will be up in smoke before you know it,(aka 160 clams in the hole) they are a soft rubber compound, and only last 50,000 miles, with rotating and proper air pressure.

33's fit just fine on my 97 3500, and the same rims and tires rubbed the rear inner wheel well on my 03, 2500 hd, so i cut the area where it rubbed out, you cant see it so who cares....

Ya as far as i know my dads never got stuck plowing.

heres a pic of my 03 stock hight and 33x12.5x 16.5 tire and rims

like i said the front wheel wells rubbed a little bit when the wheels were turned all the way and backing up, silly i know, but thats when and where it rubbed, and i just cut out the wheel well plastic, other than that, they fit nice, and filled the wheel wells nice.

you can always PM me a link with lifting/tire info.

u can post other forum links here... u wont get tracked down and killed.

If you are talking about an S10 Blazer you can fit 31 with minor rubbing on the frame at full turn with no lift with the newer body style.

I currently have 31 Mickey Thompson MTZ on my 91 Bravada with no lift, older body style requires minor trimming of the body panels to run 31's.

btw I believe your MPH will be off by like 2MPH with 31's, but as 98GPGT2D said go over to the S-Series.org site and ask.

I'm thinking I want roughly 2" of lift without the tires. I don't want it huge...im not gonna go muddin and shiz with it. I just want it a little higher than factory, not really high.

I read some stuff I know I can get new keys for the torsion bars up front but what about the rears?

Originally Posted by 4THGENCAMAROFAN

I'm thinking I want roughly 2" of lift without the tires. I don't want it huge...im not gonna go muddin and shiz with it. I just want it a little higher than factory, not really high.

I read some stuff I know I can get new keys for the torsion bars up front but what about the rears?

i had the torsion bar lift keys, and they suck!!!! all they do is push the lower control arm down to max, and you can't find shocks to fit right, i snapped 2 shocks right in half, THEY KILL BALL JOINTS TOO, and if you hit a big pot hole theres no down travel left in the suspension so the whole truck drops like a lead weight into the hole.

i know they are cheep and they are easy to install but, DON'T DO IT, YOU WON'T BE HAPPY.

i say put a body lift kit in, make sure you get the brackets to relocate the bumpers front and rear, and you could fab up some metal skirts to hide the space between the bed and frame.

body lift kit will still give the clearance for tires and leave the factory ride alone for about $150 with everything i just mentioned, and you can get a 2 inch or a 3 inch lift.

4th..

Like Neo says over on s10planet.com, just turn your t-bar bolts up a bit, to get about an inch and a half of lift in the front, and you will be fine. A camber alignment can be done to correct any camber issues, if any. Many of our members do this, and have NO issues at all with CV's, bearings, or balljoints.
Its only when you install a 2 inch kit that includes upper control arms that you start to run into major alignment issues and premature balljoint failure.

As for the rear, shackles for the leaf springs.


Jay

I'm dumb...what's a shackle? I've seen that word a couple times on s10planet but i dont know what they are.

shackles go where the rear of the leaf spring mounts, they aren't to good either.

you can just order up some lift blocks, they go in between the rear and the spring, with U bolts, u will have to buy new U bolts for the new lift blocks.

as said above you can crank in the torsion bolts to gain lift but it will make the ride real stiff, and sometimes bouncy, a cheap suspension lift is just that, cheap.

a body lift is more likely going to get you where you want to be without compromising the ride of your truck.

how much will rasing the front only like an inch with the tbars affect ride?

it will firm it up some, before you do anything, jack up the front end, crawl under, and count the treads showing still on the bolt, and make sure you make the same amount of turns on both side, if you don't jack up the front end the bolts will be very hard to turn, hit them up with some bj blaster or your favorite penetrating oil, to clean up any rust also.

kinda thinking about getting a k5 blazer or a k10 truck now...i want something bigger than an s10. I don't really care about the gas mileage a whole lot considering the best my s10 would ever get was like 20-21 highway and like 15 city and i babied it.

You could go "Tink's" route and put your S on a K5 frame and power train. Her's turned out real nice. It started out as a Baja S-10 with a rotten frame I believe. She didnt want to destroy a Baja, so she put it on a K5 chassis. There is another member doing a 2nd gen on a K5 also.

All depends how much you want to spend, and how much time you have.



Jay


EDIT:
>>Here<< is a link to her Build Thread on S10Planet.