I was pretty busy this past week so we didnt get as much done as I would have liked on the lift project.
After discussing a few options I decided to just start fresh on the rear end by cutting off all of the spring and shock mounts.
I purchased some standard spring perches and added some plate to the top to increase the surface area lengthwise. This was necessary as we decided we were going to relocate the rearend back about 1-1/2" as to have it centered in the wheel well opening. The other reason was to accommodate the 2" cast steel lift blocks that we also purchased to get the rear to the desired height but would need to bridge the difference between the center mounting points of the springs and the now center of our rear end 1-1/2" rearward. The decision to modify the rear end also allowed for us to keep the spring on the center shackle hole for future adjustment if ever necessary.
Holding it all together is a set of custom u bolts I had made up at a local spring shop and top spring plates out of 3/8" plate steel. I will try to get some pics uploaded of the completed setup in the next few days. Also made up some shock tabs and mounted the new rancho 5000s on top of the rear end.
Did I mention it was a busy week? Our decision to change the rear end also created another problem. The rear drive shaft was now too short. So I had to have a new shaft made up. It turned out nice and will be even better if it doesnt vibrate. [-o<
We also notched out the cross member to accommodate our newly fabricated hybrid s10 blazer / astro front drive shaft.
It was sweet using the plasma cutter to tackle the task. Then rolling a piece of steel to weld back in neatly.
Almost finished the 80s Suburban manual 4x4 floor shifter install but still need to finish connecting the 2 linkages together ( more bracket fabricating ahead) plus I will have to do some floor patching because the guy that was helping me cut the hole in the wrong place even though he "know what he was doing" and got a offended when I asked him about it while he was busy zipping away in the wrong spot ](*,)
Finally got around to installing the Posi Lok front Differential cable. I made the decision to eliminate all of the s10 bracketry and just connect the two cables together with a pseudo clip system we made up and mounted to the back of the lower radiator frame support.
Picked up a set of the clear corner lights off of "fleaBay" for a song. They even came with the 4 amber bulbs I will need to install with them to keep Johnny long arm happy. I also am planning on getting some new headlight doors and a grill to really freshen up the frontend. They are just cheap enough to say what the hell.
Also tackled the job of hitting the front fenders with the cut off wheel to trim the bottom corners to accommodate the brand spanking new 31" M/T tires and 15x8 wheels. All in all it went very well but this is not for the faint of heart guys that like to keep every thing factory fresh. And if you think you will be able to run 31x10.50 tires without trimming...it aint happening. They were rubbing front and back when turning on our test fit. So... I basically cut pie shapes into the fenders and bent the inner lip back under the newly shortened outer panel. I may weld it up but are thinking about using panel bond to prevent any possible bare metal on the back from the welds burning through and causing potential hidden rust prone areas. And the great thing is that I am going to install a set of the 3" rubber flexy flares so all of my trimming will be hidden
So thats about it for now.
I have to get some more pictures and way too many loose ends finished like installing my tranny cooler, exhaust, custom rear bumper/tire carrier, and getting my A/C working again so I can finally get this rig headin' down the road. And I still have concerns about the front end aligning up especially the front CV axles being stressed out with the greater angles they reside at now. But Ill address that in the next few days.
