Hey guys, wanted to post up and document my mall cruiser build. Actually, I'm going for a decent overland rig that I can take the family to some awesome camping spots in. We also use it a lot on our little orchard so having some capability to get into the "back 40" when it's wet is handy.
It started life as an 03 Trailblazer and daily for my wife. After 180k miles, a couple hail storms, and actual use as a utility vehicle, it has a few dings and scratches. But it's mechanically in good shape (for now) and with the miles, isn't worth much so I figured it would be a good platform. I'm a roadracing guy and this is my first time out in any form on an offroad build.
It started life like looking like this:
After a Lift Meister 3in lift and 1.5in wheel spacers, it looks like this. In addition to the lift and spacers, I put on z51 rear springs which really pushed the rear up into the air. It's a lot of spring for the unloaded weight but should be nice with a rear full of gear. In the rear between the springs and the spacers, the stock length shocks are pretty much at full extension so some longer shocks will be coming soon. I'm also going to build a new set of control arms and panhard rods to true everything back up.
Finally, I got some new shoes on it. For this round, I went with the Goodyear 255/75/17 Duratrac tires. This based on way too much reading and over-analyzing every facet of information from tire weight to number of plys to siping and the like. In this tire, I felt like traded some toughness especially on the sidewalls for a lighter wheel and better onroad traction for inclimate weather. The only real test I've had has been in the form of a recent ice storm and they performed exceptionally. The little off-roading I've done, they have performed well around the property.
Finally a little testing on a 3ish foot mound of dirt.
And a little more (pulling out guys in 4x4 trucks and mud tires with undersides cleaner than the cabs).
Next up is to get some real traction on it. With two open diffs, it really is pretty pathetic. I thought about just picking up an 8.6 swap with a G80 or perhaps an open 8.6 with a lunch box but I like the idea of ability to manually enable and disable the locker so a full locker might be the way to go. I've searched about trying to look for the stock width and found numbers ranging from 66in to 68.5in widths flange to flange. I'm going to look around to see if I can find a 9 inch or something bigger with gear ratios that will be compatible with the front.
Also on the list is to fab up some sliders and some armor and start thinking about bumpers.
