Whats the secret formula....haha

[brown78]

Hello all, recently got rid of my brown 78, moved to the pnw, and purchased a 71 blazer. Ill post some pics of the new blazer soon. I know the 73-87 blazer guys have a fairly cheap formula for lifting and improving there trucks/blazers with the whole rear springs up front/shackle flip out back, is there a magic (cheap & effective) formula for these first gen.blazers? Im not looking to turn it into a stiff riding tall mud truck, more of a flexy trail rig on 35s. Any imput would be great. I know everyone loves photos so here are some pics of my 78 after i lowered it, proudly done in my one car garage. Ill post some pics of the blazer soon. Thanks.

[NW_Ryker]

Lets see some pics of the Blazer! I'm in the same boat as you. We can tuck 33's under our trucks on stock suspension, but I'm curious to see what comes up. If you haven't already driven your truck yet, they're really tippy as it is. Where are you in the PNW?

[brown78]

I cant wait to see what comes up either. The board was very helpful when I drop my 78, couldnt have been happier with the way it turned out. I have 33s on it now, havent really driven it that much. The PO removed the seat belts and the drivers seat is hacked together...front hubs dont seem to be locking the front axle either, hoping to find get it into my garage this weekend and start working on it. I will post up some pics tomorrow for sure. Im over on Camano Island. NW_Ryker you belong to a four wheel club you could recommend? Most of the one I see are jeep clubs. STILL LOOKING FOR THE SECRET FORMULA!!!!

[CagedCustoms]

Do a shackle flip in the back that will give ya about a 4 inch lift. Then swap in 52 inch springs in the front. This will give you a nice budget flexy setup. The spring swap is a little more labor intensive then the shackle flip but some one might make a kit for that as well.

Scot

edit**
After searching the net i found a spring swap kit for the 72 both kits (shackle and spring swap) run about 170-190 bucks apiece.

[brown78]

So basically its the same formula as the third gen. blazers? Theres been plenty of right ups i've read on this method, seems pretty straight fwd. Anybody on the board lift there blazer with this method? I know, I know, pictures, pictures.

[brown78]

Here are a couple of pics, was busy today, more to come....

[Firebirdjones]

Originally Posted by brown78

Here are a couple of pics, was busy today, more to come....

It appears to be lifted already? Maybe it's just an illusion but if those are indeed 33" tires, there sure is alot of distance between the tires and the wheel wells. Or maybe in that picture you have 30" or 31" tires??

I run the same setup with 33's and stock suspension, and I don't have nearly that much distance on mine. Here is a pic, judge for yourself.

[brown78]

CagedCustoms, Very impressive. From what ive been reading 52" springs up front and shackle reverse out back seams the way to go. Ive got alot of things I need to do to the blazer before Im going to tackle the lift. After looking more closely I do believe it has a small lift, looks like 2" blocks out back. This weekend I got the front hubs back into working order, rear tail lights working, dash lights working; swap out the beat 33" tires for some fresh 33" BF AT's. Next project is going to be to swap out the rotten, missing seatbelt, mold smellin' seats from some out of a 99-2007 gm truck. Once this is done it will be streetable. Ill keep posted and more pics to come.

[CagedCustoms]

Ive done this with my blazer ushing my own brackets and 63 inch springs in the back instead of stock length

[AlaskaMatt]

That looks like a 4 inch lift to me. I suspect you could run 35's as is.

This is mine with 2.5 front 4 rear all spring lift on 33's

[Firebirdjones]

Originally Posted by AlaskaMatt

That looks like a 4 inch lift to me. I suspect you could run 35's as is.

This is mine with 2.5 front 4 rear all spring lift on 33's

I was thinking the same thing, looks like it's been lifted about 4" to me too. Definately alot taller than my blazer, and I know mine is stock.

[brown78]

After looking at the stock blazer height, my has some some of lift. Like I said before, there are 2" blocks out back, but the front looks stock. Ill post of pic of the front spring pack. Got a lead on seats, going tomorrow to check them out. The story behind the blazer, from the po, was the truck belong to a friend "org. owner" who started to restore it, rebuilt motor, painted...so on and so on. Friend ran into $ problems, truck sat in storage for years, lost storage, friend buys from friend to "help him out", has no use for it so sells it. Thats when I come in! How much is true....never know, but it runs good and body is 95% solid; I removed the tires, the brake pads/rotors look brand new. Here are some more pics:

[Firebirdjones]

The picture of the front leaf spring appears to be 3 leafs.

Stock is 2 leafs, so someone has added a leaf, or that is a completely different set of springs. Either way, something has been changed there.

[AlaskaMatt]

Originally Posted by Firebirdjones

The picture of the front leaf spring appears to be 3 leafs.

Stock is 2 leafs, so someone has added a leaf, or that is a completely different set of springs. Either way, something has been changed there.

Agreed, although I believe there was a "stock" heavy duty or plow package that had 3 leaves. Also the stock ones I have seen have flat or negative camber to them and those have a positive camber.