Blower Blazer Build

[Maverick]

No kidding. We finally went for a little ride on New Years Eve, but pretty much had to stay on the roads. Plowed and not-plowed, that's where the only snow is right now. There was, however, enough to stick a subaru.

And the blazer, almost. That's another story.

Didn't even bother going up last weekend, got the same amount at the cabin as at my house in Draper.What did you break?

 

[Corban_White]

A-arm and rod end. Supprised at how bad it tweaked the arm. It even twisted the cast piece in the end. Snow wasn't too bad (pretty sugary) but nowhere near deep enough. Hitting the ground every time I carved.

[video=youtube;HY3o2jjKXH8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY3o2jjKXH8[/video]

 

[Maverick]

Bummer about the parts. Jealous of the snow. Where were you at? Need to get my sleds licensed so that I can go to the snow since it's not coming to me.

 

[Corban_White]

Soapstone area. Drove up wolf creek pass and parked at the Soapstone turnoff. Wolf creek is still passable in a car all the way to Duchesne. Really nothing to be jealous of, I was riding in fear the whole time. (hence the slow carefulness in the vid) I hit the rock just after I shut the camera off, just ahead of where I was, out in the open, under 8" of snow. I was going less than 10mph and it still threw me off and did the damage. We may have to make a trip to ID. Or farther.

 

[Maverick]

Good times tonight. Got 6" new snow. More on the way.

I was able to go a little faster blowing the snow than I thought, so very happy! Cleared the road pretty quickly. Got into some trouble clearing the driveway at the top of the road...gravity took over and pulled me into a tree. I need to attack that driveway at a different angle.

So glad my son could pull me out. And in so doing got stuck...so then I pulled him out.

 

[Bart]

Glad you finally got to use it and will again shortly. Sounds like it lived up to your expectations.

 

[Maverick]

Glad you finally got to use it and will again shortly. Sounds like it lived up to your expectations.

Thanks! Pretty much lived up to expectations, which is pretty great, and exceeded in some cases. We'll see with some deeper powder.

So excited for the incoming storms I kept checking the weather forecasts today. All storms still on track...
A Winter Storm Warning for heavy snow and strong winds remains in
effect from noon Wednesday to 3 PM MST Friday.

* Affected area: the Wasatch and western Uinta Mountains.

* Snow accumulations: 2 to 3 ft through Friday afternoon with
locally greater amounts possible.

* Timing: snow will develop across the area Wednesday
afternoon... becoming heavy Wednesday evening. A continued moist
westerly flow will allow periods of heavy snow to continue
Thursday into Friday.

* Winds: strong westerly winds will develop Wednesday... with gusts
in excess of 80 mph along exposed ridgelines. Strong winds will
continue at times Thursday into Friday.

* Impacts: very heavy snowfall and strong winds will impact the
mountains of northern Utah... making travel very difficult. White
out conditions can be expected at times Wednesday through Friday
due to a combination of high snowfall rates and areas of blowing
and drifting snow. Avalanche danger will also increase due to
these winter storm conditions.

Lovin' the blazer performance in the snow with chained up 35's and rear locker. Amazing. However...the power windows are super slow! Beyond slow!

However, all is not perfect: It needs better lighting...Forward, I need to mount some lights on the blower, the plow lights just reflect off the plume. Rearward, the reverse light doesn't correspond to being in reverse. Haven't looked to see why or if it's adjustable. Seems like it is bright enough for the micro second that it is on when I shift.

Brett

 

[Maverick]

Epic snow weekend! The storms arrived on schedule, in the mountains anyway (which was fine with me). Guessing around 6-8" fell on Weds. Went up Friday with my son and his friend and my parents. My friend had done the side road so when we got to the cabin we 4-wheeled through the driveway and unloaded. Fired up the blazer and blower then I blew a little and then discovered the auger shear pin tab welds were broken.

Called my friend, he could get to it the next morning. Stayed over night and headed over Saturday morning in a freakin' blizzard, could hardly see. It had started snowing in the early morning hours and didn't let up. His welder wasn't big enough so we tried to get ahold of another guy, no answer so I drove over to his shop but he was out plowing too. Driving around was nasty, by this time there was about 10-12" of new, plus the stuff that was blowing and drifting.I went back to the cabin and rigged it with a chain, but so that the shear pin could still shear. Sorry, no pics of that fine set up, but it worked really well!

I cleared everything out as good as I could and then got a call from the guy with the bigger welder. Went over there, welded it up, and then went for a ride on the snowmobiles with my cousin. Still not deep enough to go overland, but the unplowed roads were awesome!

Left my parents at the cabin and took the kids home. Drove back to town in a blizzard, I-80 was covered with snow and all but deserted, apparently they were no longer letting the folks from the Sundance Film Festival in Park City on the freeway (GOOD!). Caught up with the tail end of that crowd halfway down the canyon, all of them camped out at 20mph, afraid to pass any of the big rigs. Holy Hannah!

Got a text from my dad the next morning asking how deep of snow my truck could drive through. It had snowed another 10"! 22" total from that storm (Sat AM to Sun AM), plus the drifted/blown snow!

Went back up and they didn't even have the main roads plowed to my road. Chained up the truck and did a full throttle assault up the hill, made the corner, blasted up my road, dropped into my driveway, engine roaring and draggin' axle all the way. Fired up the blazer and spent the next 3 hours clearing the driveway, road, another driveway and another side road down at the bottom.

Broke 5 shear pins! Heavy, wet snow. Finally ran out of gas, took 7.5 gallons to fill it up. Also used 3/8 of a tank on the blazer (11 gallons?). Got some pics, no video yet.

(when I hit save changes, everything gets smooshed together in one big paragraph)

 

[Bart]

Looks like all that work was worth it. Congrats.

 

[Maverick]

Looks like all that work was worth it. Congrats.

Thanks Bart! Fun to spend time with Matt and Josh building it, fun to drive it and operate the blower.

The bonus is that the blazer is just FUN in the snow!

How is your project coming?

 

[Bart]

I've got the front axle narrowed, but have been waiting for Matt's shop to open up. I should be able to start the front suspension next week.

 

[Rot Box]

Awesome!

 

[Wicked Monkey]

I remember Yosemite Sam mudflaps, do they still make those???

Brett

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=310383100464&index=3&nav=SEARCH&nid=24349692895

 

[Maverick]

Quick follow up:

The rig works great, as does the blower. We didn't get the usual amount of snow this winter, but the system worked great during and after the snow that we did get, including a recent 16" dumping. It also rocks as a recovery rig and has been pressed into service more than once.

Since it is a success, it will go back up on the mountain next fall for sure, and we're going to have to find something else for my 16yo to drive.

Thanks all for the help!

 

[Maverick]

We pulled the blower off yesterday and wrapped it for winter. Brought the blazer down to the valley. 15yo turned 16 yesterday and we went and got his license this morning. He's pretty excited to be driving and to have something to drive. Funny thing though, he didn't know the ignition key didn't work in the doors, so he got locked out at the gym this afternoon.

 

[Bart]

So he liked the Blazer over the Relic Run Ford truck?

 

[Maverick]

So he liked the Blazer over the Relic Run Ford truck?

I know, hard to believe, right?

He kind of likes the Rainbow too, but his mom sure doesn't. Otherwise he'd probably be happy driving it this winter.

 

[Maverick]

The blazer will be heading up to the mountain soon. Need to fix a couple things, it's developed some "funny sounds" over the summer. The steering has a "thunk", as does one of the rear springs. Also, the axle end of the drag link (from steering arm to pitman arm) needs to be replaced.

I was thinking of getting a ported steering box and adding hydraulic steering, I figure that will take a lot of stress off the steering box AND frame.

The displaced 16yo? He has talked his mom into letting him keep/drive the Rainbow Warrior, but may also buy the old plow jeep (his Aunt's '91 4cyl YJ 3", 33's, 4:1, lockrite rear). Hmmm, maybe we can put the 33's on the Rainbow and find some 32's for the YJ.

 

[Bart]

Is he bummed about losing the Blazer? Not a bad 2 rigs to fall back on.

 

[Maverick]

Is he bummed about losing the Blazer? Not a bad 2 rigs to fall back on.

He managed to transition to the YJ without too much trauma. Added a front locker and posilok and did the Rubicon. Then added some longer shackles.

The blazer had a rather boring winter, though it got very stuck on one occasion. It pretty much sat from March to last week. I started it a few times, and did some work on the blower.

Sitting apparently caused the brakes to rust to the drums or something. We went up to grab the toys last Tuesday night, due to the threat from the Rockport 5 fire. The blazer didn't want to move for Matt. I traded him places and rocked it a little. BANG and it was free. He pulled it out of the garage and started moving it out of the way so I could pull the trailer down and put the blower on the trailer.

I told him to take it out of 4x so it wouldn't stress the front axle. He was having a hard time backing up though, so he put it back in 4lo. Then he noticed the driver side back tire sticking out 12 inches or so. Oh Snap! There went the plan for him to drive the blazer down.