Convert 4x4 to 2 wheel drive

[65n70chevys]

First things first

I know this goes against everything 4x4 related and almost nobody agrees with it. However I have 2 K5 blazers a 74 and a 75. I would like to have 1 4x4 and 1 to be 2 wheel drive. Before I get all kinds of 'use the search button", I have, and have read hundreds of post. I still seem to be running into problems. What I am trying to figure out is the easiest way to put 2 wheel drive front suspension components under my blazer. I don't expect this to be easy by no means and i'm not rich, so backyard build is what I got. I know this site loves picture so I have added a few so you can see what I'm working with, and whatever happens I will continue the post with as many as I can get as I go through the conversion

What I do know (I think)
-Front crossmember will fit both 2 and 4 wheel drive frames?????
-Conversion requires new transmission, crossmember, rear springs and shackles from a 2 wheel drive
-Requires different steering box
-Requires different brake line routing
-Im sure there is waaaaaaaay more to this that I just don't know

Any help would be appreciated

65n70chevys

[65n70chevys]

More Pictures

[BaggedRanger]

Originally Posted by 65n70chevys

First things first

I know this goes against everything 4x4 related and almost nobody agrees with it. However I have 2 K5 blazers a 74 and a 75. I would like to have 1 4x4 and 1 to be 2 wheel drive. Before I get all kinds of 'use the search button", I have, and have read hundreds of post. I still seem to be running into problems. What I am trying to figure out is the easiest way to put 2 wheel drive front suspension components under my blazer. I don't expect this to be easy by no means and i'm not rich, so backyard build is what I got. I know this site loves picture so I have added a few so you can see what I'm working with, and whatever happens I will continue the post with as many as I can get as I go through the conversion

What I do know (I think)
-Front crossmember will fit both 2 and 4 wheel drive frames?????
-Conversion requires new transmission, crossmember, rear springs and shackles from a 2 wheel drive
-Requires different steering box
-Requires different brake line routing
-Im sure there is waaaaaaaay more to this that I just don't know

Any help would be appreciated

65n70chevys

Cross member will fit.. However the bolt holes aren't there. My suggestion is if you are getting the front from a donor get the whole frame from the a piller forward. There are a few holes that do match up between the frame that you can use to figure out where you need to drill to mount the cross member.

Transmission I think you can use the existing but will need the 2wd tail shaft. I'm not 100% on this but I believe that is really all you need

Shackles you can use the 4x if you want but they will sit high in the rear. The difference is that the 4x shackles hang lower where the 2x shackles are more even with the frame.

Steering sorry can't help there I converted to a Mustang rack on mine

Brake Line routing I believe is the same. Not 100% on this but I believe it is the same. I can't remember if it needed to be changed or not.

Mine was originally a 2x that had a bent frame and I swapped it for what I could find which was a 4x.

[65n70chevys]

BaggedRanger Thanks for the quick reply. It looks like we are going to remove the partially installed front cross member and disassemble it so it is easier to handle. Also we did keep the frame from the doner truck but it was from right behind the shock mounts forward. We will see what we can get to match up for mounting holes. I will post more pictures as I get them. Thanks again

[65n70chevys]

Here are some pictures of what has been accomplished so far. We got the front cross member aligned, drilled and bolted in. Added a flip kit to the rear.

We are waiting on new front brake lines (metal and rubber) to run those. We also still need to reinstall the doghouse

[65n70chevys]

more pictures

[65n70chevys]

Annnnnnd more

[mcnally351]

Nice work!

[Dieselwrencher]

Great work! I just stumbled across this but I actually have a 79 K10 suburban I sold the axles out of and I have been thinking of putting C20 front suspension under it. I'm looking forward to your write up. Maybe I won't cut up the burb and junk it after all.

[Warrens69GMC]

Nice!

[65n70chevys]

Thank you for the compliments, here is the write up for what we did

4x4 to 2 wheel drive conversion

This is still a work in progress but here is a rundown of what we actually did to convert this blazer to 2 wheel drive.
These are not consecutive days, just what day we were able to work on the Blazer.

Day 1 – My brother and I dove head first into disassembly just knowing that we wanted a 2 wheel driver Blazer. All of the front 4x4 suspension was removed leaving an engine hoist to hold the engine up.
Day 2 – Went to local salvage yard and purchased the front suspension, cross member, steering and basically everything forward of the firewall that was still bolted to the chassis off of a 78 C10. (We cut the frame off at the firewall)
Day 3 – Power washed and prepped the Blazer chassis and the front cross member removing only what needed to be removed for installation
Day 4 – Spent most of the day mocking up the front cross member. The frames are different between 2 and 4 wheel drive so we ended up cutting about ½ out of the upper frame rail to allow the engine mounts sit on top of the frame like it is supposed to.
Day 5 – This is where the fun stuff happens. We raised the cross member into partial position then bolted the engine to the engine mounts. Then what we ended up doing to ensure the wheel placement was correct (or at least we believe is correct) was we took the upper frame rail from the 2 wheel drive that we cut up and placed it on top of the 4 wheel drive frame then scribed the original 2 wheel drive holes to the 4 wheel drive frame then drilled them out.
Day 6 – We drilled out the rest of the mounting holes and bolted everything together on the front cross member.
Day 7 – Being that this is a back yard poor man’s build we used a flip kit from etrailer.com for the rear and pulled a few leafs out. This gave us a semi desired ride height for the rear.
Day 8 – Messed with the steering column and idler arm. The rag joint is different from 2 to 4 wheel drive. We were unable to get the correct placement of the idler arm because of constant hitting on the lower frame rail.
Day 9 – Brakes. We ordered 2 wheel drive rubber and metal brake lines to get them routed to their new location
Day 10 – Ordered 6 lug rotors from Summit racing so we didn’t have to swap out rims or tires yet.
Day 11 – New rotors showed up, went to the parts store and bought new bearings and seals for the rotors. We tore the front suspension apart and did the unthinkable. We cut 2 complete coils off and then put it all back together.

For those about to ask, we DID NOT swap the transmission or transfer case out yet. We are in the process of sourcing a TH350 for the swap then we will have a driveshaft made. The Blazer is currently sitting on 31 inch tires and is drivable.

Hopefully all of this makes sense and if you have any questions please let me know

65n70chevys

[68Timber]

Very nice. You made it look easy.

[Warrens69GMC]

Any update?