Lowered 4wds?

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Jrgunn5150

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Yep, bigger tires is more lift. Every inch of tire equals a half inch of lift... According to basic math. I'm not an engineer, but since we looked into lifting our Trailblazer before buying a lift kit, they do sell 5&6" lift kits for them. .

Link me one. Just one.

Further, every inch of tire equals half an inch in ground clearance. Lifting your vehicle 3", and putting a 1" taller tire on it, does not give you 3.5" of lift. you've still changed the geometry by 3", regardless of the tire size you choose to run.

And yes, raising the axle centerline in such a manner would result in a dramatic drop, it's why the Trailblazer was designed that way in the first place. It was the first SUV to not have to have a rollover warning sticker. So you are definitely on the right track in theory.

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Ground clearance is same goal for lift. Point of a lift is for ground clearance.. not trying to argue, but am glad you see the theory.
But on links, there's a bunch of Trailblazer and Envoy sites.. but if your talking just straight suspension, then yeah the 3" spacer kit is it. But on lift as in how high you can get the body in the sky, 3" spacers, body lift, hubcentric wheel spacers and larger tires. Somebody in one of the forums was getting lift spindles made, don't know if they ever did or not... Don't care either, not into 4wd.
 

90W7

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Here's my 4x4 I lowered 5/8. It's been driven daily for over 10 years this low without any problems with the drivetrain.
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Sweet truck. How I haven't noticed this around town is beyond me.

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vaporlock

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You could always have one shipped to you. :) They're not super common here, but they can be found. Only problem is the light duty 5 speed isn't a very strong transmission. Finding a good used replacement is tough even here, and finding someone capable of a quality rebuild can be tricky, too. It's a difficult transmission to rebuild, unnecessarily complex and requires specialty tools.

http://houston.craigslist.org/cto/5380827906.html

Richard

Haha :), yeah I know but shipping (about $2500), taxes (25% of purchase price) and custom fee (22% on top of purchase price and taxes) will make it a VERY expencive truck, and then it needs to be lowered and everything else that comes with a 20 year old truck. I want a 96-98 in good condition so something like this would be it: http://houston.craigslist.org/cto/5389799303.html Grand total would land around $16.000... (already lowered but is auto)
Actually finding someone to rebuilding a trans is the easy part for me, I know a guy that's been building and rebuilding transmissions for over 50 years, he has been building and rebuilding them for another friends race cars for years.
 

vaporlock

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Here's my 4x4 I lowered 5/8. It's been driven daily for over 10 years this low without any problems with the drivetrain.
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Oh lawd! It looks amazing, exactly what I want! :)
 

Jrgunn5150

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Haha :), yeah I know but shipping (about $2500), taxes (25% of purchase price) and custom fee (22% on top of purchase price and taxes) will make it a VERY expencive truck, and then it needs to be lowered and everything else that comes with a 20 year old truck. I want a 96-98 in good condition so something like this would be it: http://houston.craigslist.org/cto/5389799303.html Grand total would land around $16.000... (already lowered but is auto)
Actually finding someone to rebuilding a trans is the easy part for me, I know a guy that's been building and rebuilding transmissions for over 50 years, he has been building and rebuilding them for another friends race cars for years.


Good grief! So, is there a market for trucks there? I mean, is yours fairly valuable simply because of the high cost of importing one?
 

vaporlock

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Good grief! So, is there a market for trucks there? I mean, is yours fairly valuable simply because of the high cost of importing one?

Yes, these trucks and SUVs are fairly common here. The interest in US cars and trucks is huge here, especially older once like 50's-60's and alot of people that have thoes vehicles drive trucks/SUVs like GMT400's as daily drivers or work trucks. They are easy and pretty cheap to fix if something happends unlike newer vehicles that you pretty much have to take to a shop. Also insurance gets cheaper the older the vehicle is and since both Tahoes and Suburbans can be registrered as a "B-truck/light truck" rather than a car, insurance gets even cheaper (pick-ups are automaticly registrered as "light trucks"). All three models can also be registrered as a "C-truck/Heavy truck" which is basically the same as a Semi-truck making both insurance and taxes even cheaper, but then the driver must have a C-licens, the regular drivers licens is called B-licens (cars, SUVs and pick-ups up to 3500kg/7700 lbs).

Trucks and SUVs in the same condition as mine are around $6000 - $9000 (mine would be closer to $9000), trucks with rust holes or that needs work mechanically around $2500 - $4000, both gasoline and diesel. I don't think it has that much to do with import costs, people that really want one but can't find the one they want will import it. I think it's more about demand.
 
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You cant just post pics and not a link to a build thread or at least how you did it

Haha, I don't have a build thread anywhere. It's been a slow work in progress since 2004 when I bought it.

I'll go through all the parts and the brands I used to achieve the drop as it is today.

The first time I lowered it I used the Belltech 3/4 lowering kit #3908 (I'm not sure they make it anymore) then I decranked the keys, added Belltech lowering leafs and new shocks all around for a 5/8" drop. I had to roll the front fenders to clear the tire. Since then I've bought a flip kit, a stock set of hangers and stock leaf springs to get the towing capacity back while leaving it at a 8" drop but i haven't got around to install it. Anyway here are the parts I used w/ most of the part #'s.

Tires: 265/50r20 (30.5" tall)
Wheels: Machined Aluminum GMC 20x8.5 # 88967409

Front:
Belltech 3" lowering torsion bar keys #3920 decranked ALL the way down.
Belltech poly bump stops.
Belltech street performance shocks Part # 2104HA (I had to cut down the spacers and get new bolts to make them fit properly)
Hellwig #7575 Sway bar

Rear:
Belltech 4" hangers and shackles. # 6503
Belltech poly bump stops
Belltech Shock extenders #6652
Bilstein shocks # 24-021715
Belltech driveline alignment kit (can't find part #)
Belltech 4" lowering leafs # 5950
Hellwig #7555 sway bar


For the few parts I can't find a part # for I'm sure you could call Belltech, tell them what your wanting to achieve and they will hook you up with everything you need. They are very helpful.

If you can manage to notch the frame the first time around I'd go with the 6" flip kit and a 2" drop shackle instead of the lowering leafs w/ hangers and shackles. With the lowering leafs you lose 25% of the load capacity. By all means it still rides great right now but I can't haul much in the bed without it bottoming out.



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