Beamer's Build - 2003 Chevrolet Trailblazer

[Beamer]

As she sits today August 2014.



Tires:
265/75/16 Yokohama Geolander AT/S tires
(A little grinding on the upper ball joints and
they fit without wheel spacers)

Suspension:
Front:
2" Rough Country front lift
Moog 81114 Coil Springs
Bilstein HD Yellow body struts
Flipped UCA's
Non-QD sway bar links from Mike Barton
Sway bar still connected
(36.5" to fender thru center of wheel)
Rear:
Z71 Rear Springs
2" Smaxx rear spacer
Skyjacker N8030 shocks
Sway bar still connected
(37.75" to fender thru center of wheel)

Exterior:
Front Bumper Guard, added 2" bumper receiver
1 piece 1/4" steel rad & skid plate

Engine:
Mobil 1 Fully Synthetic Engine and diff oils
Denso Iridium spark plugs ITV16 5338

Interior:
Removed rear head rests
Removable rear seats
Frame to carry 4'x8' sheet goods inside
Weather Tech floor mats

Electrical:
6 beam headlight mod

Recovery Equipment:
30' recovery strap

[Beamer]

Mods made in the past week:

Flipped UCA's
new Z71 rear springs
removed 2" SMAXX rear spacers
new Skyjacker N8030 shocks
1" UHMW on top of front struts

New front non-QD swaybar links from Mike ordered.

[Beamer]

Worry of loose springs at full droop, so I decided to remove the 3/4" Rough Country rear spacer and add the 2" Smaxx spacers back in. Now need to get those Moog springs in the front to get closer to level.

[Beamer]

To get the 265/75/16's on without wheel spacers...

A "little grinding" was necessary on the upper ball joints, I used a flapdisc instead of a traditional grinding wheel to keep the heat down so it did not cook the bearing.




New 265/75/16 Yokohama Geolander AT/S tires on!
Front


Rear


New rear height


No other modifications were needed!
First time off road with new larger tires.


I did buy an additional stock rim and mounted another new 265/75/16 tire to use as my spare and plan to rotate this onto the vehicle as I do normal tire rotations.

This larger spare tire did require me to cut the tire stop on the drivers side off flat.




The spare does barely clear the trailer wire harness


and just clears the panhardbar.

[edit: I recently cut the steel part even with the rubber in the panhard bar end bushings on the front sides and shimmed the bar forward with washers and now have 1/2" of clearance to the spare tire.]

Under side views.




Drivers side view.

[Beamer]

Mike's non-QD front swaybar links.

[Beamer]

New Bilstein front struts, Moog81114 springs and removed the 1" of UHMW.

Drivers side old strut assembly removed.


Old strut assemblies with 1" of UHMW spacers next to new springs and struts.


$45 at the local 4Wheel Parts shop and they swapped everthing for me, no wrestling with the loaner coil spring compressors this time.


Passenger side installed.


Drivers side installed.


After driving for a few days, she is sitting at 36.5" to front fender


And 37.75" at the rear fender.


Drivers front.


I really like the new stance and resulting 1" of rake. The ride is stiffer, but complements the stiffness of the Z71 rear springs. For me this seems to be the sweet spot for maximizing ground clearance without putting on wheel spacers, body lift and larger tires.