Let's talk about rear ends... Not those kind!

[canadian]

Over the years there have been discussions about swapping out rear ends from a newer style S10/Blazer in order to get the better 8.5" with disc brakes. There are several options out there, but I don't think there has been a definitive "these will work" post. I was looking at some old posts discussion suspensions here:

http://www.syty.net/forums/showthread.php?t=9732

IIRC, Gary Shanock said that he did a straight swap of an xtreme rear end into his white Typhoon and it was a bolt in. I don't know if it was a Blazer or Pick Up. Those are usually few and far between in junk yards.

So the question is, do we know which models will fit. I'm not looking for the measurements from wheel center to wheel center either. I'd like to make a list of year/make/model that someone can spot in a junk yard and be confident that when they pull that rear end it will bolt in to a SyTy. We are going to concentrate on 98+ models since they typically have disc brakes.

So, there are a few options out there:

ZR2 rear - will not fit - too wide
98+ 4x4 Blazer - fit unknown
98+ 4x4 S10 Pick Up - bolt in according to above thread
Xtreme Pick Up - fit unknown
Xtreme Blazer - fit unknown

If you have experience swapping any of these, please post and confirm compatibility.

 

[THEMADTYPH00N]

Re: Let's talk about rear ends... Not those kind!

I have a 8.5 that came out of a 1998 4X4 NON-ZR2 Blazer with a 4.3 & a 5 speed. Im not totally up on everything the 8.5's came in (because I think these could have come in a 2WD truck) but I think the 4.3 w/the 5 speed trans is the thing to look for and the only combination these rear ends would have been in. Either way the only thing that matters to you is that it 59" wide from flange to flange.

EDIT: I should add that mine came with drum brakes on it but it has the identical brake flanges that our stock rear ends have. This allowed me to bolt on LS1 brakes with out any modification at all.