I had not done anything but continue to use the Trailblazer as a daily and was finally due for a set of tires after 50k miles. After doing some price quoting and finding this site, I was immediately hyped to do a lift. I planned on trying to buy a new truck at the end of the year, but priorities changed and I only have 117k on it now, so no reason to move on just yet. The lift has brought much needed interest into the TBlaze again. I can't leave stuff alone for too long, too much of a car guy for that.
I picked up a 2.5" lift from Mark a few weeks ago and got it all installed in one night. I ordered a set of his spacers as well, which were great quality and did not require stud trimming for my lug nuts.
Skyjacker N8030 followed in the rear. As others, I used a box full of Grade 8 7/16" washers, 11 per shock. I ordered directly through Skyjacker and got the 'scratch and dents' for a discounted price, $74 to my door. The link was provided by another member, as it didn't seem readily available unless you knew to look for it. I could not find anything wrong with them, they looked perfect. Here is the link:
http://skyjacker.com/ and search for #N8030D.
I followed up with a set of 265/70-17 Grabber AT2s and immediately found a bad lower ball joint and had some rubbing issues. I was able to trim out the small portions that was clipping, but will know more once the lower control arms are replaced and aligned correctly.
This led to either replacing the ball joints themselves or the whole lower control arm. I figured for the price and frustration, replacing the whole lower arm would be easier. I've dealt with press in joints before, and cursed them to no end. After pulling the arms, I found that the bushings were worn mildly on the passenger side, but the driver side was way gone, movable by hand with minimal force. This explained some of the inner tire wear that was forming on my old set. Passenger side went smoothly, only one stubborn frame bolt, but was removed with a 2ft breaker. The driver side, I was not so fortunate. The front bolt had disintegrated and rusted to the body nut, snapping off right in the middle of the control arm mount. We attempted to drill it out, but hardened bolts aren't fun to deal with and the breaker on our compressor gave up, negating much needed tools. We then debated on trying to break the body bolt loose, and to our surprise, it was not welded on! After busting a little rust loose, we were able to take a punch and knock it out. The bolts have keys on the bottom of them to keep them from spinning in the frame, but are not completely attached. Hopefully this bit of info will help someone that might find themselves in a similar situation. We ended up replacing the bolt with a 5/8" grade 8 bolt and thick washers. Not ideal, but it's the strongest we could source without ordering a GM replacement.
Also added a much needed trans cooler.
Alignment coming this week. Hoping to get a bit of actual trail time in very soon, we have many good ones near our lakes area, about 30 minutes out.
Here's a few shots testing articulation and rubbing before replacing control arms.