2020 Chevy Blazer LT AWD Suspension Deep Dive

The original 1969 Chevrolet K5 Blazer had a mission: take sales away from the already-established Ford Bronco. The Blazer’s claim to fame was that it was a shortened full-size pickup with a removable roof, a concept that made it cheaper to produce, more spacious and better-equipped. The Bronco it was up against was the iconic original, a more compact utilitarian machine that was built to take on the Jeep CJ-5.

After a few years the Blazer concept took off, and in 1972 it began to consistently outsell the Bronco by about two to one. Ford responded in 1978 with a Bronco that essentially copied the concept: a shortened F-150-based utility with a similar type of removable roof. The two slugged it out as cross-town rivals until both were discontinued in 1996 (the K5 Blazer was officially known as the two-door Tahoe its last two years)

We’re only a few months away from having both nameplates back on the road, but their resurrected successors have taken strikingly different paths. Nothing is official yet, but it seems the Bronco is trying to occupy a space between the Toyota 4Runner and the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. Indications are that it’s a body-on frame vehicle with link-coil rear suspension and independent front suspension like the 4Runner, but with a removable roof (and maybe even removable doors) like the Wrangler.

As for the Blazer, it has been back on the road for a year. It’s now a front-drive-based midsize crossover that’s trying to appeal to a wide audience by emphasizing comfort, convenience and style. Even if the two are no longer fighting for the same buyers, the impending reveal of the new Bronco has us thinking about its old nemesis. Seems as a good time as any, then, to eyeball the suspension hardware that underpins the latest 2020 Chevy Blazer.

Even from here it is plain to see that the Blazer’s front end rides on struts (yellow arrow), which is exactly what we’d expect to see underneath a crossover with a transverse-mounted engine. Two-wheel-drive Blazers are front-wheel-drive machines, and all-wheel drive is an option.

The strut assembly bolts to a cast-aluminum steering knuckle (yellow), which in turn connects to an L-shaped lower control arm (green) that is a weldment built from two steel stampings.

Because this L-shaped arm points to the back, its forward bushing handles the bulk of the cornering loads because it is in line with the lower ball joint (yellow). The rearward offset of the rear bushing, not to mention its shape and size, indicates that it is built to take the edge off of the rearward component of road impacts (green), with the forward bushing acting as a pivot. As for the vertical component, it goes straight up into the spring and damper that comprise the strut assembly.

The forward bushing is small and firm so the cornering feels steady, and it bolts to the chassis with a dog bone. The gap to the flange at its rear edge (yellow) shows that it can pulse back a little in response to a pothole strike, but it mainly acts as a pivot in such cases so the huge rear bushing can absorb a much larger portion.

The extruded-aluminum housing of the high-volume rear bushing is solidly bolted to the front subframe. The arm itself terminates in a solid steel shaft (yellow) that has been slipped into the bushing. There’s no bolt holding it in there, so I can only imagine that it is a press fit. A slip fit is very unlikely because that might allow motion between the two, and that could lead to squeaks.

The hulking mass of the engine and transmission (yellow) is visible in front of the drive axle, and that’s why this Blazer is a “rear steer” machine. That term doesn’t mean rear-wheel steering in this context, it means the steering rack (green) is mounted behind the drive axle and, more to the point, the steering axis.

We could see the entire stabilizer bar if not for that one piece of inner fender trim. But there’s enough here to get the idea. The final bend as we lose sight of it (yellow) is headed to a pivot bushing that’s behind the steering rack. But the important bit is the stabilizer link (green), which connects directly to the strut housing. This direct-acting linkage gives the bar a 1-to-1 motion ratio with regard to upward wheel movement.

The Blazer’s front brakes feature twin-piston (yellow) sliding calipers. But I’m not quite sure why they decided to encase the brake hose in the same sort of plastic cord minder stuff (green) I have under my desk. Looks? Abrasion protection?

It’s no surprise that the rotors (yellow) are ventilated, but I do appreciate the extra-long studs with a threadless area (green) at the end. This makes it easier (for me) to get the wheels up onto the studs without resting them on the threads. You need longer lug bolts to go with them, so this approach does include a weight penalty seeing as how there are 24 of these on the vehicle.

The rear suspension is quite tidy and compact, if only because the rotor manages to block the details. It’s certainly not a strut, and the upper connections do not appear to constitute a wishbone. It must be a multilink, but we’ll have to get in closer to see what kind.