The Scooter

[sockalaminski]

I thought I'd share my S10 Blazer build with everyone here. I bought this little gem in April of 2009. It had 52k miles and the back seats had never been sat in.




I used it as is for a couple years, then bought some 31" mud terrains, added a 2" lift via torsion crank and shackles and treated it like a 4x4 until 2012. Then one day 2/3 of the way up the mountain, I blew out the front diff and had to come down in 2wd.

This is the least amount of damage incurred on the trip down.



Other damages included ripping the front suspension away from the frame and a couple of underside dents.

Since this was my hobby at the time, it went under a semi-fast paced repair process.




I picked up some Jeep Cherokee axles and went to work. New heavy duty spring perches...



and radius arms with Johnny Joints.



I used a Blue Torch Fabs cross link steering bracket for the Dana 30 and 1/4" x 1 1/2" DOM for the steering linkage.



The 15" wheels wouldn't clear the upgrades so a new set of 255/85-16 Mud terrains with new wheels were added.

[sockalaminski]

I also added a leaf to the rear and had the springs re-arched for a difference of 8" the moved the springs to the top of the axle for a total lift of 14". New drive shafts, exhaust, XJ steering shaft and who knows what else......

Between December 2012 and April 2013 I ended up with this.








I now have more than 25K trouble free miles on the upgrades other than a set of rear shocks and couldn't be happier with the results. Before I bought this, I always considered the S10 series a toy truck. Now I consider it a TOY.

This is what it looks like today...

[special-K]

No comments? This is a cool rig! Even started out with Omaha Orange fleet color. I always though about doing a tougher straight axle S10 Blazer. This gives inspiration. Nice job

[sockalaminski]

Thanks. Been running it hard for years now and the only thing I've had to repair other than general maintenance items was the track bar mount. I had it welded to the frame and it tore out due to the thin metal the frame was made of. I boxed the frame at the steering box and track bar mount with 1/4" plate and have had zero issues since. I always considered the S10 series of trucks to be toys and weak until I actually owned one. These trucks are tough even in stock form and I am now an S10 fan.

[sockalaminski]

A few more pics of some of the fab work.

[doo142]

Nice fab work and very capable trail rig !! Good job, enjoy it!!!

['63GENIII]

Nice work! Way to turn a sows ear into a silk purse! Cool fab work.

Must have been a bit of a white knuckle ride coming down that hill in 2wd?

[sockalaminski]

Originally Posted by '63GENIII

Must have been a bit of a white knuckle ride coming down that hill in 2wd?

Yup. Kinda scary at times since I had to gain so much speed to get through some of the obstacles. Coming down did most of the damage that day.

[Deer_hunter_088]

Holy crap thats awesome!!!!!!!!!!!

[special-K]

I know that feeling. I'm a go at it easy style 4-wheeler. I let the truck scratch it's way along and keep it smooth. What happened to me one day in my old '69 Power Wagon one day was, I had it down in this big sediment pond on a construction site havin' me some mudderboggin' fun just tearin' it up. You know, rooster tails, gobs of mud landing on the hood and top, and mud that wanted to suck you in. The sides made for some great hill climbing. I was climbing up when "BOOM!! wop wop wop bang bang bang and the truck was taking off on me backwards. Those trucks had the intermediate shaft between transmission and transfer case and I managed to wring it in two. So nothing, just like popping it into neutral all at once on a 45 degree+ hill. I hit the brakes but it already had enough momentum that it just slid back, wheels locked, just as fast as no brakes, back down into the soup. I walked to a friend's huse and spent the night. Next morning it was dig out enough to get under the truck and yank that shaft out. What a sloppy mess. The tube on those shafts is only long enough for both ends to butt inside...maybe 3", and that thing was peeled around like a sardine can into two pieces. I fixed it back up with some grinding, new pipe, and welding. Boy did that thing vibrate something fierce. I had the machine shop balance it but still nothing like before, so I ordered up a new one

Note: Ok, maybe back then I wasn't such a take it easy wheeler. That's what learned me!

[sockalaminski]

Originally Posted by special-K

Note: Ok, maybe back then I wasn't such a take it easy wheeler. That's what learned me!

That's a great story. I've never been a go it easy wheller. In fact, had some Jeep buddies invite me to go crawling with them. This thing isn't a crawler, I designed it to go fast and hard. Well, I broke both front u-joints that night "crawling" over an obstacle that i should have hit at 25-30 mph. That was the last time I went crawling. We have a trail that usually take 3-4 hours to run that I do in an hour and 20 minutes. I'll post up a couple short videos. I'm usually alone so I don't get much video.

[sockalaminski]

A trip to Bumble Bee AZ after a couple of days of rain.

https://youtu.be/lxWpcwuKB9Q

Headed to Chevelon Lake, with the kayaks strapped on. This was steeper than it looked on the video angle.

https://youtu.be/Xv-g9MsdHkY

Rough road on the way to Crown King AZ,

https://youtu.be/FjoW7mPx1Xw

[andrewmp6]

Looks great,But coming from a jeep guy you might wanna plate the C's and sleeve the dana 30 if you wanna use it rough.

[sockalaminski]

Originally Posted by andrewmp6

Looks great,But coming from a jeep guy you might wanna plate the C's and sleeve the dana 30 if you wanna use it rough.

Haha, ya I'm surprised it's held up as long as it has. I've straightened the inner C on the driver side twice, but other than that, no other damage and it's been there for 4 years. There's not room for gussets due to the spring location and I can't see putting any more effort into strengthening the D30. I have a chevy D44 I plan on swapping the tubes and narrowing that should be more than strong enough. It already has the correct gear ratio I need too. Right now, it has the Jeep 3.55:1 and it needs 4.11s. I can currently hit speeds of 45-50 MPH in 4low andwhile that's nice, it bogs too much on take off in normal street driving and gives me hell when pulling the trailer.

[sockalaminski]

Here's the latest escapade,
My son thought it would be a good idea to go wheeling in his 2wd S10 pickup on the Indian reservation and got stuck in the mud. As he was walking out, the res cops stopped him and said they were going to keep his truck. He talked them into waiting 20 minutes for me to get there to pull him out and he could just get the ticket for trespassing. I showed up in the Scooter, told the cops Merry Christmas and they gave me the go ahead to go in and pull him out. It took about 40 minutes "driving backwards" but we got out.

[rusty76]

Cool ride