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Trucks...

#101
James Hart said:
I was figuring on picking up the specialty tool for the torsion bars... and the shackles are something I've dealt with before. I have a local guy who runs a repair shop in a 4 bay (2 wide x 2 deep) garage in his back yard if I get in over my head. Great prices for honest, competent work... but outsources for alignments (which I was aware of the need to do after the mod).

My understanding is that the Invalid Link Removed (or lift keys) allow for the torsion bars to be at the same load as stock height when in the lowered (or raised) stance. This should eliminate the 'rough ride' of tightening them to raise the nose. Am I wrong in that assumption? Also, I assume that loosening them to lower would make the truck sway and bounce more... right?
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You probably wouldn't raise or lower it enough to notice a real change in ride quality, plus you're just changing the clocking of the bar, the load on it should remain pretty much the same. I raised the bars on my 95 and Wifey's 98 to offset the weight of the snow plow each has, and no noticeable difference in ride quality was noted on either.

The link that you have for those keys show they fit the 82-93 Blazer. I'm pretty sure that's for an S-10 Blazer, not a fullsize like you have. You would search for 88-98 K1500 for your truck.
 
#103
Mike N said:
You probably wouldn't raise or lower it enough to notice a real change in ride quality, plus you're just changing the clocking of the bar, the load on it should remain pretty much the same. I raised the bars on my 95 and Wifey's 98 to offset the weight of the snow plow each has, and no noticeable difference in ride quality was noted on either.
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I have read MANY tales like MJ5150's with tightening... but also many like yours too. I guess it's a matter of doing it and judging for myself :)

Mike N said:
The link that you have for those keys show they fit the 82-93 Blazer. I'm pretty sure that's for an S-10 Blazer, not a fullsize like you have. You would search for 88-98 K1500 for your truck.
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Yeah, the 93 full size is a hard model to find parts for. LMC has drop keys listed in the K1500 Blazer/Suburban/Yukon catalog, but I couldn't link to it directly since it's a PDF type page. Most places have "Blazer" and "S10 Blazer" listed in the drop down yet both go to the S10 stuff. Most parts for this truck are listed as 92-94 only.

Tim Cole said:
Love my truck! 05 2500hd Duramax/Allison. Almost 300k on it.
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I do like 4 door pickups... just generally WAY too much truck for me if optioned with the 8' bed like I prefer. My neighbor's F350 long 4 door is just obscenely huge for my needs. We did come up with a solution to the "what about hauling icky stuff" complaint from the wife with the Blazer vs pickup discussion. I'm gonna pick up a small utility trailer.
 
#104
James Hart said:
Yeah, the 93 full size is a hard model to find parts for. LMC has drop keys listed in the K1500 Blazer/Suburban/Yukon catalog, but I couldn't link to it directly since it's a PDF type page. Most places have "Blazer" and "S10 Blazer" listed in the drop down yet both go to the S10 stuff. Most parts for this truck are listed as 92-94 only.
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After a while they dropped the "S" from Blazer in catalogs. So the S-10 Blazer became known as Blazer, which to me is equivalent to blasphemy.

Any suspension parts that fit a K1500 should fit your Blazer.
 
#105
It's sort of a bummer the ride in my Ram is stiffer, but hey it's a truck. If I wanted a smooth cushy ride, I would have bought a Cadillac.

A few weeks after cranking the t-bars, I swapped out the factory shocks for some Bilsteins, which I really love. The ride is much tighter now and holds the road way better when I'm flying through those mall parking lots. :)

-Mike
 
#114
MJ5150 said:
It's sort of a bummer the ride in my Ram is stiffer, but hey it's a truck. If I wanted a smooth cushy ride, I would have bought a Cadillac.

A few weeks after cranking the t-bars, I swapped out the factory shocks for some Bilsteins, which I really love. The ride is much tighter now and holds the road way better when I'm flying through those mall parking lots. :)

-Mike
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How much did you raise the bars?
 
#115
NWB said:
Oh yeah, I agree completely!

I love the old K5's and to associate the modern grocery-getter with one is sacrilege.
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Between my Wife and myself we've owned close to 20 K5's and we still have one, my 79 with 44" Swampers.

Otoh I owned one S series and sold it rather quickly..... total roach.
 
#116
Mike N said:
How much did you raise the bars?
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Just over an inch and a half. Then I lowered the back end a skosh. I was nervous about overextending the front end, so I didn't max them out. I have to get front end alignments more than I should, and I think it's because of tweaking the t-bars.

-Mike
 
#118
Mike N said:
25 years ago I had a 69 C-10 that I paid $200 for. Rotten body, pretty stout 350 and a three on the tree. You should have seen me trying to board shift that heap at the drag strip.
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The trucks I'm looking at from that era are mostly solid... and mostly have the 3 on tree or 4 on floor with granny first. Not sure I'd be willing to do a conversion to auto at this point. I have found a whole but dismantled 72... it's $700 and was on okay condition before the guy started a frame up restro and lost interest. I briefly considered grabbing that and building a C notched 4/6 drop street truck. Still don't know which direction to go.

Mike N said:
Between my Wife and myself we've owned close to 20 K5's and we still have one, my 79 with 44" Swampers.

Otoh I owned one S series and sold it rather quickly..... total roach.
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That 79 must be wicked! I did own a GMC S15 pickup with a 4.3 and 4WD that wasn't bad, but I haven't considered the S series Blazers.

ulrich said:
My '91 Mazda b2200. Reliable, and fun.
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My old guitarist who owned an 800 acre Christmas tree farm drove a 2wd long bed a little older than that one. The truck shouldn't have been able to get to half the places he'd manage to get it!
 

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