Converting a k-5 4x4 to a 2wd

[MrGoodpliers]

I was looking at just the trailing arm crossmember because of its fore/aft adjustability. I was thinking that there aren't any 4wd/2wd specific conversion parts and the track bar and shock mounts would have to be fabbed. Or does anyone offer conversion parts for this?

[skorpioskorpio]

Well, when I ordered my stuff from Porterbuilt I was told orders were running 7 weeks, took 8 months and a lot of phone calls, for the most part messages were never answered, required luck of the draw. I ordered the whole deal, mild drop front, outboard coilover rear, all new tubular crossovers, with the intention that Delmo who is their guy in LA would do the setup. By the time I actually got everything, he was too backloged to do it, and eventually told me he didn't know if or when he would ever be able to do it.

As I said rear suspension was totally wrong, and when I look at what they did send me, I'm not sure they even sent that complete enough to work even if it was a 2wd frame. Anyway, so they resent the rear, and the bolt in notch is really too wide for the frame rail which makes me wonder if the overall width will be correct. Usable upper shock mounts never showed up (probably a couple dozen calls on that alone, always to be sent out "this week"). Core support cross member doesn't fit (frame horns are a half inch taller than the crossmember)and seems randomly drilled. As stated sent cross member for inboard shocks and trailing arms for outboard shocks. Front cross member is well made but does not take into account the flaring of the frame in that area and requires it to sandwich the frame between pieces that from the factory aren't flat. Trans mount is pretty light duty compared to everything else.

So now it's sitting on a fabrication table, there is going to be lots of rework needed. At least 2 of the tubular cross members will need to be refabed. I reduced the frame to rails assuming this would all just go together, which it's now looking to not be the case.

Now had I had it to do over again, I would have got a Scotts front which is pretty much a bolt on assembly, OR just bought one of No Limits complete ready to go frames, OR treat the frone and back seperately and commited to fabbing more or mix and matching parts from the 3 vendors. The prize of the Porterbuilt stuff is the trailing arm cross member and the trailing arms them selves. What this is going to cost me in the end I could have bought a full frame for the same amount from No Limit or a couple other vendors. Live and learn.

Oh and to top it off, no directions of any sort, and the little reference there was, their forum, has been taken down. So it's now kind of a random collection of parts that I hope turns into a chassis.

[MrGoodpliers]

Wow, thanks for the heads-up. Since mine will be a mild build with no intensions of bagging/laying frame, I'll stick with ECE and factory 2wd parts.

[Wasted Income]

Originally Posted by skorpioskorpio

outboard coilover rear

Sonofa....that wasn't an option when I ordered my stuff either...ended up spending a lot of quality time with my welder, level, tape measure to make my own setup.

Originally Posted by skorpioskorpio

OR just bought one of No Limits complete ready to go frames,

You'd swear we were working on Mopars here or something...nothing seems to fit right, even after a $$$$ cash outlay. My No Limit front needed some love with my plasma in order for the suspension to be able to sweep it's full travel without binding/interference. I also had to get REAL creative with the steering shaft and butchered my stock column to make it work. Some parts were also omitted from my "kit".
In the end, I got my stuff, and a front suspension that seems to work pretty well, but damn....building stuff is frustrating sometimes.

[PBFAB.COM]

Originally Posted by Wasted Income

Perhaps PB does now have a decent solution, but at the time I ordered my stuff ( about a year and a half ago) they had ZERO blazer specific parts. I had to rework C-10 parts to work for me, build my own c-notch, etc.

Wasted Income.... you are correct. At the time we didn't make a rear kit that would do what you wanted it to do on the 4WD blazer. We discussed this and made some recommendations for the parts that we did have that would be compatible... you pulled the trigger and we got you what we could, and for the most part I thought it worked out well for you.

Originally Posted by skorpioskorpio

Well, when I ordered my stuff from Porterbuilt I was told orders were running 7 weeks, took 8 months and a lot of phone calls, for the most part messages were never answered, required luck of the draw. I ordered the whole deal, mild drop front, outboard coilover rear, all new tubular crossovers, with the intention that Delmo who is their guy in LA would do the setup. By the time I actually got everything, he was too backloged to do it, and eventually told me he didn't know if or when he would ever be able to do it.

As I said rear suspension was totally wrong, and when I look at what they did send me, I'm not sure they even sent that complete enough to work even if it was a 2wd frame. Anyway, so they resent the rear, and the bolt in notch is really too wide for the frame rail which makes me wonder if the overall width will be correct. Usable upper shock mounts never showed up (probably a couple dozen calls on that alone, always to be sent out "this week"). Core support cross member doesn't fit (frame horns are a half inch taller than the crossmember)and seems randomly drilled. As stated sent cross member for inboard shocks and trailing arms for outboard shocks. Front cross member is well made but does not take into account the flaring of the frame in that area and requires it to sandwich the frame between pieces that from the factory aren't flat. Trans mount is pretty light duty compared to everything else.

So now it's sitting on a fabrication table, there is going to be lots of rework needed. At least 2 of the tubular cross members will need to be refabed. I reduced the frame to rails assuming this would all just go together, which it's now looking to not be the case.

Now had I had it to do over again, I would have got a Scotts front which is pretty much a bolt on assembly, OR just bought one of No Limits complete ready to go frames, OR treat the frone and back seperately and commited to fabbing more or mix and matching parts from the 3 vendors. The prize of the Porterbuilt stuff is the trailing arm cross member and the trailing arms them selves. What this is going to cost me in the end I could have bought a full frame for the same amount from No Limit or a couple other vendors. Live and learn.

Oh and to top it off, no directions of any sort, and the little reference there was, their forum, has been taken down. So it's now kind of a random collection of parts that I hope turns into a chassis.

Ken-

In the end, you are the customer... and you obviously aren't 100% satisfied. So we need to address this.

However, the part that surprises me most is the fact that this is the FIRST time we have heard about you not being satisfied. We get a PM from a forum member (not a phone call or an email from YOU) asking if I have seen this thread. I make my way over here and am actually pretty surprised at what I am reading.

The reason I am so surprised is because we were perfectly clear up front, in our multiple conversations that we did not make a "kit" for a Stage 2 rear conversion on a 4WD blazer frame. We discussed working together with YOU and your builder to send what we had and fine tune and dial it in as necessary.

Yes, there was a delay on your parts, and yes, we did send some of the incorrect parts out for the rear (notches). However it was rectified, and each time we spoke or emailed it was never a "rush" as you were waiting to get in over at your builder. As mentioned, this is the FIRST time we are hearing about your level of dissatisfaction.

In regards to the front kit, it is not a 100% bolt-in, as the 4WD blazer frame does not have the same mounting hole provisions for the 2WD cross-member. There is the need to measure and drill. However it does fit... Not overly complicated, but all this was discussed. We even discussed how you wanted your wheels to sit (in regards to trac width). And our solution was to send out a standard length set of arms for a baseline and then we would build you what you needed to get it just how you wanted it.

I would agree that your build is very unique and very specific. In our conversations you even made the comment several times that none of the "other companies" would even talk to you about it. We discussed what we had available and what we were willing to do to help complete it and dial it in while working together. You signed off and pulled the trigger.

You were NEVER told it was a direct fit kit, but were told that we would work with you and your builder to dial it in. We spent hours and hours discussing things on the phone... over and over and over. And now here we are, reading about you *****ing about us on line when it is completely off base.

If we were any other company we would tell you to take a hike. However, we don't treat our customers that way. The original offer still stands to work together and dial in some of the components to help you reach your end goal.

Do me a favor and give us a call so we can help provide you with everything we originally discussed.

Nate

[Special-Ed]

Originally Posted by Porterbuilt Street Rods

Wasted Income.... you are correct. At the time we didn't make a rear kit that would do what you wanted it to do on the 4WD blazer. We discussed this and made some recommendations for the parts that we did have that would be compatible... you pulled the trigger and we got you what we could, and for the most part I thought it worked out well for you.



Ken-

In the end, you are the customer... and you obviously aren't 100% satisfied. So we need to address this.

However, the part that surprises me most is the fact that this is the FIRST time we have heard about you not being satisfied. We get a PM from a forum member (not a phone call or an email from YOU) asking if I have seen this thread. I make my way over here and am actually pretty surprised at what I am reading.



If we were any other company we would tell you to take a hike. However, we don't treat our customers that way. The original offer still stands to work together and dial in some of the components to help you reach your end goal.

Do me a favor and give us a call so we can help provide you with everything we originally discussed.

Nate

and this is why portbuilt will be going into my ride....

regardless how much engineering goes into this... it still requires tweeking... its all custom even though they are suposed to be the same

[Wasted Income]

Originally Posted by Porterbuilt Street Rods

Wasted Income.... you are correct. At the time we didn't make a rear kit that would do what you wanted it to do on the 4WD blazer. We discussed this and made some recommendations for the parts that we did have that would be compatible... you pulled the trigger and we got you what we could, and for the most part I thought it worked out well for you.

I'm just salty that there's a bunch of badass stuff available now, that wasn't available then....

My core gripe is that at the time, you guys weren't a one-stop shop for all your 4x4 to 2wd conversion needs, like it appears you are now. I would have preferred to buy everything from you...the quality of the stuff I did get was incredible, and I had a hard time cutting it up

I would also like to say that when I saw you guys selling the inner frame stiffeners a couple weeks back, i wanted to bash my head on my desk. That is something that I'd absolutely have bought, especially since I didn't have time to do it myself with my tight timeline for getting the truck on the road, and it's too late now. I know...i know...1st world problems, cry me a river.

I guess C-10 suspension are like electronics. As soon as it arrives at your doorstep, it's already obsolete/out of date. lol. Overall that's not a bad thing for guys wanting to build badass trucks.

[PBFAB.COM]

Originally Posted by Wasted Income

I'm just salty that there's a bunch of badass stuff available now, that wasn't available then....

My core gripe is that at the time, you guys weren't a one-stop shop for all your 4x4 to 2wd conversion needs, like it appears you are now. I would have preferred to buy everything from you...the quality of the stuff I did get was incredible, and I had a hard time cutting it up

I would also like to say that when I saw you guys selling the inner frame stiffeners a couple weeks back, i wanted to bash my head on my desk. That is something that I'd absolutely have bought, especially since I didn't have time to do it myself with my tight timeline for getting the truck on the road, and it's too late now. I know...i know...1st world problems, cry me a river.

I guess C-10 suspension are like electronics. As soon as it arrives at your doorstep, it's already obsolete/out of date. lol. Overall that's not a bad thing for guys wanting to build badass trucks.

I get it. And I did not intend to seem like I was coming down on you at all. If it seemed that way, I apologize.

I was just a little irritated by a previous post. Good news is that I think we are all holding hands again and might even spoon later.

One of our main goals is to provide our customers with a product that matches all of their expectations. This often requires extra effort and always requires good communication... both things that we do a pretty decent job at, but not always perfect.

In regards to the inner frame stiffener... don't feel too bad, it DOESN'T fit a blazer!

Nate

[Wasted Income]

Originally Posted by Porterbuilt Street Rods

In regards to the inner frame stiffener... don't feel too bad, it DOESN'T fit a blazer!

Nate

Thats never stopped me from using your parts before

Also, I'm usually the big spoon.

[skorpioskorpio]

Originally Posted by Porterbuilt Street Rods

Wasted Income.... you are correct. At the time we didn't make a rear kit that would do what you wanted it to do on the 4WD blazer. We discussed this and made some recommendations for the parts that we did have that would be compatible... you pulled the trigger and we got you what we could, and for the most part I thought it worked out well for you.



Ken-

In the end, you are the customer... and you obviously aren't 100% satisfied. So we need to address this.

However, the part that surprises me most is the fact that this is the FIRST time we have heard about you not being satisfied. We get a PM from a forum member (not a phone call or an email from YOU) asking if I have seen this thread. I make my way over here and am actually pretty surprised at what I am reading.

The reason I am so surprised is because we were perfectly clear up front, in our multiple conversations that we did not make a "kit" for a Stage 2 rear conversion on a 4WD blazer frame. We discussed working together with YOU and your builder to send what we had and fine tune and dial it in as necessary.

Yes, there was a delay on your parts, and yes, we did send some of the incorrect parts out for the rear (notches). However it was rectified, and each time we spoke or emailed it was never a "rush" as you were waiting to get in over at your builder. As mentioned, this is the FIRST time we are hearing about your level of dissatisfaction.

In regards to the front kit, it is not a 100% bolt-in, as the 4WD blazer frame does not have the same mounting hole provisions for the 2WD cross-member. There is the need to measure and drill. However it does fit... Not overly complicated, but all this was discussed. We even discussed how you wanted your wheels to sit (in regards to trac width). And our solution was to send out a standard length set of arms for a baseline and then we would build you what you needed to get it just how you wanted it.

I would agree that your build is very unique and very specific. In our conversations you even made the comment several times that none of the "other companies" would even talk to you about it. We discussed what we had available and what we were willing to do to help complete it and dial it in while working together. You signed off and pulled the trigger.

You were NEVER told it was a direct fit kit, but were told that we would work with you and your builder to dial it in. We spent hours and hours discussing things on the phone... over and over and over. And now here we are, reading about you *****ing about us on line when it is completely off base.

If we were any other company we would tell you to take a hike. However, we don't treat our customers that way. The original offer still stands to work together and dial in some of the components to help you reach your end goal.

Do me a favor and give us a call so we can help provide you with everything we originally discussed.

Nate

Well first off I've never talked to you Nate, so I do appolgise for the conditions of our first corospondance, I've only ever talked to Dave. If made right I will whole heartedly endorse you till the cows come home, I intended for my build thread to show that you guys were capable of more than frame draggers. The OP specifically asked about doing exactly what I'm trying to do, I shared my experiences. Are my statements off base? I don't think so, but I'm also not going to turn this into an itemized pubic argument it does neither of us any good, and I never said you weren't likable guys, you are, well Dave is, like I said I've never talked to you, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

If all becomes right with the world I will share that as well, and belive me I would like nothing better than to be a proud braggy happy Porterbuilt customer.

I've given my new fabricator your number Nate, you've met him before, he should be calling you.

[notsolo]

Dealing with a straight 4 X4 frame, Here is what I did on mine 5" X 5" 3/8 steel plate under the frame and a 2 1/2" X 2 1/2" X 5" steel angle outside the frame.

[jjzepplin]

Originally Posted by notsolo

Dealing with a straight 4 X4 frame, Here is what I did on mine 5" X 5" 3/8 steel plate under the frame and a 2 1/2" X 2 1/2" X 5" steel angle outside the frame.

I thought about doing it this way too but was worried about frame twist under loads. I am going to use my truck as a truck and cruiser. Will also be launching the boat.