88GMCtruck
I'm all 8-Luggy!
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I think either way you go you could easily end up spending just as much as the other. I do however see potential savings going with the Chevy axle via purchasing the 90 blazer. You'll have a lot of small parts as you say, and can sell off unused items to help re-coop the costs.
Touching on some of the points covered in this thread:
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Mostly just playing devil's advocate.
Personally, I wanted to keep mine all GM just because I'm that way and so few people seem to anyway. If I were to do another SAS, I would choose to still go with an all GM setup. Another goal of mine was to use as many factory parts as possible to keep costs low and make replacements easy to find. Both my drivelines, tierod and draglink hardware, springs, shackles, mounts, t-case and crossmember are off the shelf or easily modified off the shelf parts.
There are pros and cons to each. In either case, your going to gain a considerable amount of strength and articulation over what you have.
FWIW if you decide you go with the ford axle, I have a set of chevy outers (minus hubs) that is fitted with 18mm wheel studs to match the rear. I held on to them incase someone could use them.
Touching on some of the points covered in this thread:
No. I have no issues with my driveshaft. I'm running a stock 90 suburban shaft with the stops ground out. No travel issues or binding issues. And easily replaceable from a junkyard if damaged. I'm running 8" of lift.
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Using the rear forward hanger from a 73-91 with the shackle works excellent on the inside of the GMT400 frame. Big $$$ saver.
Is a legitimate consideration. basically you have 2 options: use the passenger side shifter and cover the hole from your stock one (need to re-carpet), or make a cable/linkage for the stock driver's shifter. Here is mine, not the most elegant but it works as it should.
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The passenger drop case sticks down, yes. It really isn't much in the grand scheme of things. On such a short wheelbased truck, your more likely to get hung up on the axles than ever hit the crossmember. My crossmember is a hybrid of a 77 K15 and my stock one for width.
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TH350/700R4/4L60E are 27 spline. TH400/4L80E/SM465/NV3500/NV4500 are 32 spline. unless the blazer or truck were 3/4ton or a manual, my money is on the t-case being 27 spline and compatible with what you have now.
...... Must be some voodoo magic I have going on here with my 52" springs..... My axle is centered in the wheelwell, in approximately the same location as the IFS was. The axle geometry is mimicing a stock 73-91 truck (just with longer springs). I did not have to cut my bumper either. It does rub under hard compression on the rear of the wheelwell, although that was fixed with some manipulating.
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This is a good point as well, although with a good R&P set, good axles, etc, a low pinion setup will hold up just fine.
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Mostly just playing devil's advocate.
Personally, I wanted to keep mine all GM just because I'm that way and so few people seem to anyway. If I were to do another SAS, I would choose to still go with an all GM setup. Another goal of mine was to use as many factory parts as possible to keep costs low and make replacements easy to find. Both my drivelines, tierod and draglink hardware, springs, shackles, mounts, t-case and crossmember are off the shelf or easily modified off the shelf parts.
There are pros and cons to each. In either case, your going to gain a considerable amount of strength and articulation over what you have.
FWIW if you decide you go with the ford axle, I have a set of chevy outers (minus hubs) that is fitted with 18mm wheel studs to match the rear. I held on to them incase someone could use them.
