Congrats on doing it yourself. Flaring is an exact art, you must have some very good mechanical talent!

It was actually quite simple. It took about 10 flares to get used to how the tool is supposed to perform... but now I can do it in about 3 minutes.

I answered my last question... the flare in the front started leaking. I took it back apart.. straightened out the line going into the flare nut.. re flared it and it has been leak free for the past 3 days.

Thanks again for all of your help. I wouldn't have even attempted it if it wasnt for this specific thread.

Last question... the truck slightly vibrates in the left front area while driving down the road. No clunking ect.. just vibration. Would a wheel hub act this way?

Others are much more knowledable on suspension here than me. On the Blazer/ Bravada- when the front hub/bearing or half axle is goin it will produce a a high wihning noise that increases in pitch with speed.

The vibration you describe sounds more like ball joints (huge failure item on your vehicle) or tie rods. The ball joints and tie rods require lube via a zerk fitting, and almost nobody lubes them and they fail. To truly lube the front of a Blazer you need to take the front tires off, remove the oil filter wind cover (6 bolts, looks hard, very easy and have an optional side zerk filler for two of the 13 front end lube points.

To conclude, look at tire balance, ball joints or tie rods as most likely problems causing the front end to shake.

Yea its like a humming sound that gets louder the faster you are traveling. I will check all of these spots. If its the wheel bearing... I'll just wait until it gets worse.. so I know for sure. Thanks for all the responses.. Huge help

Can you post a list of all the lube points? I lube all the ball joints with the zerk grease fittings, but don't know of other ball joints other than the ones on the front wheels and steering linkages, a total of 10 by my count.

I have about 86K on my 1998 Bravada (purchased new in September 1998 ) which is stock except for urethane bushings on the anti-sway bar and a transmission fluid cooler. Other than routine maintenance items like hoses, belt, and so forth, I've replaced these parts:

(1) transfer case control module @ 60K (October 2003)

(2) alternator @ 67K (July 2005)

(3) water pump @ 68K (December 2005)

(4) AC compressor/accumulator @ 72K (April 2007) --I also replaced the orifice tube with a valve which provides better cooling at idle, especially in very hot weather

(5) rear shocks @ 70K (December 2008 ) --I replaced rears with Bilsteins; the oem decarbon shocks in front were still good.

One of the tie rod ends also died and several of the ball joints have excessive play. I got the replacement Moog parts, but haven't installed them yet. Some of them look like they'll be a bear to install. Any hints about replacing the ball joints would be appreciated.

Everything is still working well. The only problem is a little play (sort or a dead spot) in the steering wheel. I suspect this is due to worn joints in the tie rods and hope replacing those will fix it.

I've been using Mobil 1 synthetic motor oil, ATF, gear/axle oil, and (red) grease.