Mailman was good!

[jedthrocornpone]

No work today, sun seemed to be trying to come out so off to the boneyard I go.

Found a 99 Bravada and I took the P/S axle and tube (bye-bye slide collar )
Found a aluminum Skid plate in a pile thought I was doing good until I got home too old doesn't line up (going to see if its "customize-able"
so they got $50 (seemed like a deal to me)

I get home and I see a box on my doorstep, thought it might be the Bodylift, poly pucks, and gap guards from gocntry (thanks again) NOPE. It was a box from ORW with Bilstiens in it

I go to the mailbox and there is a "you weren't here to sign for a box slip" so I look down the street and there's the mailman, so after a strange encounter with him I had a big box from gocntry

So I set out to install the shocks I had issues with the Bravada shocks in the bone yard (the front clip was gone on that side so there was no inner or outer fender) so I was expecting a rough time. but after about an hour all four were installed and I was rolling down the road TOTALLY IMPRESSED with the new ride quality.

not all good news though my sway bar end links were tight but loose. they were down to where they had run out of threads but, the center set of bushings would spin freely. not sure what to do about that for now. And I checked on 33x10.5r15's and they are on national backorder, guy said 6-8 weeks he mentioned a LOT of BFG's are that way right now.

I went inside, cleaned up, got online and finally pulled the trigger on a Scangauge II and I added in a Energy Suspension sway bar kit!

I've all but blown my budget so nothing else for a while but I'm silly excited about all this stuff.

[HenryJ]

Sounds like a productive day. What yard did you hit? The Pick-n-pull in Eugene is fun. Came close to getting kicked out of there when we accidentally strolled into the bull pen.
The older transfercase skid is a "no go". No amount of fab work will be practical to use it.

Sounds like your plate is full.

What are your reasons to eliminate the axle disconnect?

[jedthrocornpone]

I'm sold that we are "saving" a bunch by having 1 side disconnected, seems minimal.

I've never been a fan of the slide collar system and the parts were there. in the bone yard it seemed to be sign. and yea it was the u-pick yard there just off HWY 99 south of beltline.

they skid was cheap so I could probibly get more for clean scap aluminum if I can't find a new home for it.

It did seem that the front was disengaging when it wanted to on my last trip into the snow seems like when I would try to feather or "Modulate" the throttle to attempt to get more traction I got a couple of somewhat harsh noises from the front-end. I have no Idea if it was the slide collar/vaccum system or not.

the axle and tube were like 35-40 dollars and with that I can elimnate the bogus transfer case vacvum switch(right?) witch was like $40-$45 around here so it seems like a win win

I read on txzr2(I think) about takeing off one of the C-clips/ snap ring to prevent binding or something like that.

So my plan is when I do the body lift/ TBcrank-bsw/ fender trim I'll do the axle tube and shaft. I'm going to need an alignment anyway so its a great time to change it out. it will be more accsable to either plug the TC vaccum switch with a brass plug/short bolt/ or a older switch (seems like its just the newer ones that are failing)

[HenryJ]

It does seem "minimal" But every little bit helps. If you spend more time locked than not , then the Bravada shaft makes sense to me. If you are having problems with the axle disconnect, then eliminating it is an option. Your problems sound like they could be resolved by checking for vacuum leaks and , or lubing a sticky cable.
Personally, I don't see the axle disconnect being a big problem. I have almost 200k miles on the old '86 now and it is essentially the same axle.
I don't fault you for grabbing one while there. I would suggest setting it aside until the need presents itself.
That disconnected axle keeps the front driveshaft from turning all the time and reduces the wear and tear on the front differential. We don't have the option to add selectable hubs. The disconnect is as close as we get.
Keep in mind that those guys on TXZR2 rock crawl those Blazers and all of them have broken their modified front axles at least once.
Another thing is the Bravada AWD transfercase contains a viscous activated clutch. This allows slippage between the front and rear drives. Our transfercase has no give.

With no need to disconnect the front axle after the swap there is no need to remove the tcase switch. Just pull the vacuum lines and plug the supply line. If it is the switch and actuator that worry you, maybe a Posi-loc is what you want?
If you are going that far then a manual transfercase is in your future.
Sure seems like lots of work for no harder than I wheel my truck. WAIT! I do wheel it with the best of them and usually do a pretty good job of keeping up.

KISS.

Shield it, add belly clearance, drive smart and enjoy the trip.

[gocntry]

I look down the street and there's the mailman, so after a strange encounter with him I had a big box from gocntry

Sounded Like Your Mailman May Be A Bit "Out There" Glad The Box Made It To You In One Piece And It Didn't Take As Long As I Thought Either.

[jedthrocornpone]

UPS man dropped me off a scan gauge and a sway bar poly kit. super cool!