Blazer Spindle swap, which tie rods?

[cronanzone]

Im doing the Blazer spindle swap and the C5/6 brake upgrade. Replacing some steering parts while I'm in it.

For the guys that have done this swap, can u advise what tie rods are needed w the Blazer spindles? Same as stock G spindles?

Car also has a coil over kit and new UCAs n LCAs going on it too and it will be lowered ~2" - are bump steer kits worth it or needed? If so which ones fit?

TIA

 

[1KWIKSIX]

I did the blazer brake upgrade (no C5/C6 brakes though) plus HydroBoost at the same time and I used my stock G Body tie rods, etc with no issues.
QA-1 coil overs, so car is lowered several inches too. UMI tubular upper & lower control arms as well with 1/2" taller upper ball joints.
Bump steer is tricky to set up and you should use a bump steer gauge to adjust Ackerman. I'd be hesitant to play with this and would take it to a professional who has the proper equipment.
Here's a couple of interesting articles worth reading.

http://www.longacreracing.com/products.aspx?itemid=1710&pagetitle=Bump-Steer-Gauges

http://www.longacreracing.com/products.aspx?itemid=1710&pagetitle=Bump-Steer-Gauges

 

[cronanzone]

I did the blazer brake upgrade (no C5/C6 brakes though) plus HydroBoost at the same time and I used my stock G Body tie rods, etc with no issues.
QA-1 coil overs, so car is lowered several inches too. UMI tubular upper & lower control arms as well with 1/2" taller upper ball joints.
Bump steer is tricky to set up and you should use a bump steer gauge to adjust Ackerman. I'd be hesitant to play with this and would take it to a professional who has the proper equipment.
Here's a couple of interesting articles worth reading.

http://www.longacreracing.com/products.aspx?itemid=1710&pagetitle=Bump-Steer-Gauges

http://www.longacreracing.com/products.aspx?itemid=1710&pagetitle=Bump-Steer-Gauges

Thanks for reply. My setup will be just like yours.
I'll prolly just order the Tie rods for a G then. That bump steer setup does seem somewhat complicated. Im not going more than 2" drop so as long as that isn't a prob w stock tie rods I'm good.

I bought Detroit axle hubs for the blazer..they were crazy cheap but seem to be decent quality. I saw several on the forum have used the same brand w no issues. They offer cheap steering parts too that look to be decent quality at first glance, any feeback on this brand appreciated if you know

Thanks!

 

[earlbrown]

Bump steer is tricky to set up and you should use a bump steer gauge to adjust Ackerman. I'd be hesitant to play with this and would take it to a professional who has the proper equipment.

How can you use a bump steer gauge to adjust the Ackerman angle? Not only is it fixed on a cast spindle but it's 'set' with the wheels pointed straight ahead.

Granted, I've never compared the track length of a Blazer and a G-body, but I have a feeling they're close enough. And now that I think about it, I bet the 2 door Blazers and the 4 door Blazers have the same spindle castings. So there has to be some error in there somewhere if that's the case.

 

[Turbo6inKY]

How can you use a bump steer gauge to adjust the Ackerman angle? Not only is it fixed on a cast spindle but it's 'set' with the wheels pointed straight ahead.

You already know this, but you can't. And you don't want to anyway. Ackerman is so hard to change that Herb Adams doesn't even mention it in his chassis engineering book. At least, it's not in the index and I didn't find it skimming the front suspension chapter. By the time you've optimized the rest of the car enough to care, you're pulling enough lateral-g that the inside front tire has so little load on it that you don't care about the Ackerman. Just let it scrub.

The only people that need to care about adjusting Ackerman are people running so much aero that the inside tires still have a considerable load on them in a turn at speed. Think F1 or IndyCar.

 

[earlbrown]

I still think there so much SWAG in there, you only have to be close to be good enough. Except, of course, for the top level Nth degree stuff like you mentioned.

About the only time I hear about the Ackerman angle being talked about seriously is in the T-Bucket world. That's parking lot speed stuff where the wheels are at full lock. With exposed skinnies, having the Akerman way off with homebuilt slingshots, it'll be obvious and kinda obnoxious.


The proof will be if the 2door and 4door Blazers use the same spindle. (or the GNs and early S10's). With different track lengths they'd have to require different part numbers to be correct. I have a feeling they aren't.

I'm also wondering if the spindles are dead nuts correct for any of the applications they were installed on. Engineers might have made compromises for packaging.


And for those that don't know what the Ackerman angle is, it's pointing the spindle arm angle to the center of the rear diff. The longer the car, the more shallow the angle.

 

[Turbo6inKY]

I'm also wondering if the spindles are dead nuts correct for any of the applications they were installed on. Engineers might have made compromises for packaging.

You can tweak the ackerman to a degree by changing the distance and working angles between the pitman arm and idler arm. Without measuring them, I'd wager that's how GM compensated for any differences in width between the Blazer/S10 and the G-body.

The control arms and ball joint all cross all the way up to something crazy, like 1996 or 1998. With that, the spindles have to be damn close.