2003 Xtreme wheels 235/55-16
Tilt steering column I got off eBay
My p/s pump was leaking so I pick up a pump from the salvage yard. Can you tell which was my original pump :)
Along with the P/S pump I also got a wiper motor with a delay feature from the salvage yard. As you can see from the pic, the original wiper is on top while the new delay wiper is already bolted in
Another piece from the salvage yard, came out of a 93 Cavalier. It feels good getting rid of the school bus steering wheel with a smaller diameter Chevy wheel
Steering column removal, pretty simple and straight forward
I had to used my original ignition switch because the switch that came with the column was causing the ignition key to bind. Even though they wire up the same, they are mounted differently.
New column, steering wheel and instrument cluster from a 91 S10/Blazer
Used 3" drop leafs, a diamond in the rough :)
Oct 2006
Drop leafs taken apart, sanded, primed and painted
A comparison pic between the original and drop leaf
Nov 2006
Just in case I get a vibration problem after I'm completely done dropping the truck I decided to check my pinion angle on stock suspension. I check on the pinion flange and on the driveshaft. Both measured about 5* degress.
Stock suspension on the left, 2/3 drop on the right. Both on 215/75-15 tires.
My current tires are 215/75-15 equals 27.7" diameter
Stock tires 205/75-15 equals 26.1" diameter
Xtreme tires 235/55-16 equals 26.2" diamter
What does all this tells me? It tells me with my current tire size I couldn't drop the front any lower. If I wish to proceed with dropping the truck I will have to install my extreme wheels and tires. The ideal 15" tire would be 215/65-15
I also measured my frame to ground clearance in the front and back. The rear measured 10" ground clearance and the front 9-3/4"
OEM spindle on the left, drop spindle on the right
After installing the drop spindles I had a clearance issue with the left spindle the upper control arm, they were rubbing. Nothing a grinder couldn't resolve.
Nov 2006
Two weeks later I finally installed my xTreme wheels
Sure enough after installing my Xtreme wheels, the inside of the LF tire was rubbing the lower control arm on max right turns. Took out my grinder in hopes of solving the problem. It still rubs but not as nuch.
For those who want to install these wheels you will need to enlarge the hub portion of the wheel. The S10 front hubs and rear axle flanges are too big for the xTreme wheels to slide over. This time I used my air grinder to enlarge the hole.
Alignment specification
Dec 2006
1" wheel spacers
Left front wheel before and after the spacer
Left rear wheel before and after the spacer
Jan 2007
I completed a 5/6 drop. I didn't do my homework well because I have serious tire rubbing issues. The tires I have (235/55-16) are way too big for a 5" drop. I have other issues pretaining to this 5/6 drop which I'm contemplating to keep or not. BTW, I had to remove the front and rear wheel spacers.
Besides the tire size, this is one of the reasons why I'm having so much tire clearance issues. 16x8 rims with a -6.4mm back space.
Due to the tire clearance issue I had to remove my inner fender covers. Unfortunately I hit a dip in the road and took out the housing for my blower motor.
A couple days later I installed a different blower motor housing
When I installed my Belltech coils and blocks, I also changed all four ball joints and two upper control arm bushings.
Finally I installed my 33mm sway bar. As you can imagine it needed a little modifying in order to work with a 5/6 drop. The stock end link tubes were too long.
When installed with the stock end links, the sway bar will hit the frame when the tires are on the ground
Cutting the tube in half is the simpliest solution to this problem. Install one half of the tube below the control arm the the other half in the stock location. Doing this will allow you to use all the same hardware
Feb 2007
In hopes of increasing my drive shaft end play I installed a pair of axle set-back plates from JTR and Stealth Conversion. These plates are designed to puch your axle reward by 3/8 inch. It was a simple straight forward install
Removing the block, lower shock mount and installing the plates
When installing these plates it will give you another 3/8 inch drop in the back. Due to having limited axle to frame clearance after my 5/6 drop I couldn't afford another 3/8" in the back. So I removed the lower retaining plate on the drop leafs and cut off the excess bolt that remained. The axle set-back plates and the leaf spring lower retaining plate were almost the same thickness. So removing one and adding the other keep my rear drop pretty much the same.
Feb 2007, installed air shocks in the rear. I'm a home owner so there might be times I'll need to haul a load from Home Depot/Lowes. These shocks I got from AutoZone
March 2007, I installed BellTech Nitro Active shocks. I must honestly say these shocks made a noticeable difference. With the the BT shocks, my big ass tires don't bottom out in the fender well as easily as before. As you can see the OEM and BT shocks bodies are the same size, the difference is in the rod length.
All cleaned and no where to go
