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64" springs in a 72 Blazer
I want to put 64" rear springs from a 88-98 Chevy 2500, on the rear of my 72 Blazer. Anybody have any experience doing this? I also want to do the shackle flip.
I got the springs and the front hanger off the 95ish chevy. They are 4/1 and I am gonna remove the 1 (over load). I have them all apart and am wire brushing them and painting. Have new bushings, stock shackle, center bolts (they were metric) and am trying to get the correct wear pads. The spring shop sent me 3 different kinds and all of them were incorrect. Mine are square with a 9/16 nub. Anyway, how many leaves should I run? Should I find a 5/1 pack? How far foreward, or backward do I have to move the hangers? It looks like a body mount is gonna be in the way of the front hanger. I want a 20-30 degree angle back for the rear shackle. The rear cross member might need to be relocated. The 95 spring hanger will have to be spaced out to match the stock front hanger. I dont have a exact measurement yet, but looks like about a 1/2 inch. I want to keep the axle in the exact same location and have the same 2.5" lift. Soooo, does anybody have any tech to post up?? Some pictures would be even better. |
Re: 64" springs in a 72 Blazer
I don't know. I hope this helps.:lol:
^^^TTT^^^ |
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Looks like I will forge ahead and put the info here. I'm gonna go do my favorite thing. Cut rivets!:cuss: |
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I have read about it on other sites but never experienced it myself. Looks like your paving the way for others who would like to do the same. If you can would you mind snapping some conversion pics and a before and after? I have considered the 63" spring swap on my '71 long box along with 52"s on the front for ride quality with an eye towards load ability.
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Re: 64" springs in a 72 Blazer
I just spent $500 on new 52"ers on my '85 Jimmy where the plan was to simply swap the lift and axles from my dead '91 Suburban. I laid under there and pondered dropping the tank,pulling the bumper and hitch,then those pesky rivets started laughing at me. As I crawled out from under there I even heard "And,don't forget about drilling those 12 holes" followed by more laughter. My money's tight,but I can only take so much. So I went inside and called Suspension Connection with tears of humility still in my eyes.
Yes,I plan on being there for sure! |
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I did 52's on the front last year. |
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Your coming to the race! Excellent! You guys should throw something together, I will drag you out if it dosent make it. |
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Haven't run 64 inch springs on aything, but getting rid of rivets has become a recent favorite passtime. I cut two wedges out of the large side with a cutoff wheel and push the body of the rivet through with my air hammer and pointed tip.
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I got the hangers off with the help of my buddy Jeff. I did the pass side, he did the driver side.
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I hate rivets.
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I might have to relocate the body mount. Or modify the stock hanger. Or make a new hanger. Or.....
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Re: 64" springs in a 72 Blazer
Congrats on your riveting battle!
Where's the center pin sit on the 64's? Who did you go with for the shackle flip? |
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The one on the left is the front hanger from the 95ish pickup. The one on the right is the 72 Blazer rear hanger. I need to space the 95 out 1/4 to match the 72.
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Here are the springs from the 95. They came from a 2wd 2500 and were 4/1. I eliminated the over load. No firewood hauling here.
I still need the correct wear pads, and its proving to be difficult. |
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Here are the wear pads. The ones with the sides are no longer available. They go where the band is on the bottom spring. So i cut some UHMW at work and glued them onto the paper thin old ones. The glue to bond UHMW is $70 for a little bottle. My boss said "take a bottle home." We will see if it works.
The spring shop sent me wear pads 3 different times. None of them are correct. I will have to comprise on what ever fits snug in the spring hole, the round ones with the 9/16 pin I think will have to work. |
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Here are the old 2.5" lift springs. When I converted to 52" front springs I had to add the small lift block to help level it out. This will be eliminated now.
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It looks kind of empty.
I took height measurements and marked the frame and the top of the axle with a plumb bob. So that I can get the axle in the exact same spot, at the same angle. |
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For the shackle flip I hope to use the 95 hanger in the rear and a stock 4.5" shackle. |
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I put a spring in to eye things up and right away the plan has changed.
I think I will have to fab a front hanger and reuse the rear hanger, only invert it. |
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Dang,that's about right under the body mount,huh? Will you plate the inside of the frame to run your spring mount support up the inside? Or,make one to straddle the body mount? Or...? I know you have a plan. Just a minor set-back,right?:rolleyes:
We'd get a rig together but you'd lose you whole Maryland fan club. And,we wouldn't have any fans. Just a bunch of Pennsylvanians hollering,"Get that broke down junk outta da way. These ain't no DC potholes here and we ain't got no AAA!" :lol: |
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Have you looked at a square body hanger ? Tim has some on his burb that he's parting. Whats the date for the race ?
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Tim, I'm conifident that your junk would be much better than some of the other junk there. And when your broke down on the track, now your just another obstacle, yelling profanity woulnt do any good. Just smile and wave.:lol: |
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The race is Sept 17th, I will probley leave Thursday morning. |
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When I took my springs apart to clean and paint them I researched for days trying to find new wear pads. The only place I could find that had them was Skyjacker and they were a nightmare to deal with. Since you can't order directly from Skyjacker, I placed my order through Summitt and instead of just drop shipping the items from Skyjacker, the idiots at Skyjacker send them to Summitt then Summitt has to process them and then send them back out to the customer which wouldn't be all that bad if the idiots at Skyjacker could get an order right the first time. After eventually receiving my full order of about a dozen wear pads in three different shipments over about a 1 month period I was able to put my springs back together.
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I know what ya mean drunkbus. I placed my 1st order with the local spring shop on Aug 1st. and they sent me 7 wear pads of the incorrect type. 7!! After sending them a sample of what I had and them sending me more wrong stuff, I finally compromised on a pad, and received them yesterday Aug 22.
It took 22 days to get it all figured out. |
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Wear pads are very complicated high tech items that require complex use of a measuring tape which requires elementary school level math to read.
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I am going to get back on this tonight. I was sidetracked by a little weather event.
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Huh? I figured you finished it up while it was raining. Can't wait to see how it turns out.
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Where are the finished picture's as I am sure you are ready to go. With all this rain it should be good n sloppy. Have any bridges been washed out the would impede our trip up. ( Tim lost your number in a new phone transfer.You have room for me in your ride )
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Its not finished yet, but I am working on it. I refuse to give up. The weather has put me behind schedule so the pictures will have to wait.....sorry.
Its is going to be some wet, muddy racing! I'm not sure about the route up there. Rt 322, 147, 225 is how I go. |
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I bet the trees will be jumping into the trail more with the slicker slop. I better wear my gooloshs.
I have the whole back seat empty,James. You and John can fight over shotgun. |
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I just got back from work, machining some bushings, leaf spring center bolts, and some angle blocks. The front mounts are in, the rear mounts are in and the springs are bolted in and sitting on the axle. So I need to correct pinion angle and weld a couple gussets in.
I ended up not using the original front mount and making one out of 1/4 plate. The original mount couldn't go foreward enough without hitting the body mount. And I wanted to keep it up as far as possable, making one was the only way. For the rear hanger I used the front mount from the 95 donor truck and cut most of the top legs off, and welded it to a 1/4 plate to space it out to match the front. The shackle flip is incorporated into the set up at 30 deg. The right rear is a little lower cause the spring pac is weaker and sags. 2.5" lift looks good, driveshaft spline travel looks good, shocks are verticle, my plumb bob marks are within 1/8". I am gonna put some limit straps on so the shocks dont get ripped off. Still have a lot to do.....I dont have a driver seat yet! Gotta get some rest. |
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Sounds good! I was thinking you'd end up making the front mount. Little tight there.
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7-11 has great passenger seat I'm sure Jeff wont mind :dig:
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Let's see how these work tomorrow. only need to go a lousy 7-miles...real lousy
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Good work,they held up just fine:
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Re: 64" springs in a 72 Blazer
I chose the 88-98 64" springs cause that's what was available. As long as they are 64" long and 2.5" wide I don't see why they wouldn't work. The spring center pin is in the center too. (32x32).
The front spring hanger on the Blazer was too big. I couldn't get it far enough forward without hitting the body mount. On a LWB truck you might not have this problem. So I made a front hanger. The stock original rear hanger couldn't be used for a shackle reversal. So i got the front hanger off the parts truck to use in the rear position. It had to be spaced out 1/4". The shackle flip gives more travel and in some cases more lift. I had a 2.5 to 3" lift already and didn't want anymore, so I moved the hanger around till I got it where I wanted it. 25-30 degrees back with all the weight on it. Lift blocks promote wheel hop. I hate lift blocks. I would rather use springs or a shackle flip than blocks. Hope this helps a little Kurt.:chevy: |
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