Hey Guys Another Noob

[Hussker]

Hey Everyone, My name is Josh I live in west Michigan and just sold My Mazda Rx8 for something I can use year round in Michigan. I bought my TrailBlazer not knowing a whole lot about them but fell in love with her on the first drive. She is completely stock so I am looking to start modding it and making it into something I can trail around but still use as a daily. I'm planning on small first and then go bigger. I'm planning on Brush guard then suspension and tires, then hopefully lighting. Anyways I have been looking at some Forums and I love the WAAG center brush guard like JamesDowing has on his Trailblazer. I have tried numerous sites including the manufactures website and cannot find that model guard. Suggestions would be awesome, but I will take a "welcome to the Forum" as well. Thanks again guys.

[djthumper]

I don't think you will find the WAAG new any longer. You may find some others out there but it may be limited to stock on hand since our platform has not been built in years.

Welcome to the site.

[SmokeyMcBlazer]

Welcome aboard

[jonbo2002]

Welcome, where in west MI.?

[mikekey]

Welcome, pretty sure Larry is correct about the WAAG.

[navigator]

welcome

[Hussker]

Thank you for letting me know, I will keep looking around the internet hopefully one pops up. Jonbo2002, I live south east of Grand Rapids in the Caledonia area. Lots of offroad trails so I am excited to get out there. Would it be appropriate to post a thread to see if anybody is selling one? Thanks again guys.

[jonbo2002]

you can try posting but I haven't heard of anyone selling one. I kinda know the area my family is from Grand Rapids. I live just north of Jackson.

[Hussker]

Okay thank you, I know area okay my sister goes to Spring Arbor down there. Where do you tend to go off roading at in Michigan?

[jonbo2002]

We have a small piece of property in Frederic, inbetween Gaylord and Greyling. but other then the offroad park there is nothing by me that I have found yet.

[Trail X]

Coulda sold the waag guard to you - if you were about 4 years earlier!

Welcome to the site. You might be able to find another brand that is similar to the waag, but I'm not sure. The best features were that it didn't severely reduce ground clearance, and that it had upper mounting points in addition to the lowers. I'd say order a MDB bumper, but I think he's running a huge back-order right now.

[mikekey]

Yeah, but Mike said he can get the kits out easily enough. If you can weld!

[Hussker]

Ha guess I bought my TB a little late. I will keep looking around for other guards that have the same style. I will look into MDB, I do work at a shop where I can weld. Thank you to everyone for the "welcomes" I can tell the TrailBlazer community is pretty friendly. I look forward for many years or going off road. JamesDowing, I have read your thread on your suspension and tire setup, I love your set up and the look you have on your Trailblazer, with copying you I plan to try to make a same sort of setup. Any advise would be awesome although I know there are no free rides in this world so I will keep trying to do some more research and keep reading different threads.

[mikekey]

Since no one asked, do you plan on doing a lot of offroading and lifting. The reason 90% of us avoid brush/bull bars is they ruin approach angle. Plenty of discussion about this. Something to consider.

[Hussker]

Well I plan to keep it a daily driver, that being said I do want to be able to go off road and hit some trails with it. I don't want some huge rock climber or anything but a little bigger and better ground clearance would be nice. I do want off road lighting so I was hoping for a brush guard, also I like the looks with it on, (I know looks don't always mean practical) I don't think I will have problem with a style like old WAAG.

[ErikSS]

Hey. I'm a west Michigan native. I grew up in Grand Haven and had a house in Muskegon. LOVED it there. But, money pulled me down by Chicago. As far as your build I have a few things you could think about. Building in phases is usually the most expensive way to go. If you look at the build threads and think about your mission... Make a plan because you could save a ton of money. I daily drive mine. I live a little under 20 miles from my work. I love how it handles the road. Even lifted they make great daily drivers.

[Hussker]

Thanks Erik, I am just now starting to save up some money. I definitely want a suspension lift and bigger tires (31's or 33's not sure yet) while I am saving up money I will keep researching what kind of setup I would like. Also I love the West Michigan area, I've been around the grand haven area a lot, Beautiful area! Thanks for the advice on the build, Noted to try to do all at the same time. How big did you go you setup?

[ErikSS]

Almost as far as I could. Feel free to check out my build thread. There is a link after each of my posts. Lifted TBSS Build or something like that.

[Hussker]

Dang The SS looks great as an offroad machine. Lot better than the ones i've seen around with with the 20"s.

[ErikSS]

Dang The SS looks great as an offroad machine. Lot better than the ones i've seen around with with the 20"s.

Thanks. I ran around with the 20's for a few years before starting my build. I did not spend HOURS looking at build threads, I didn't spend days. I spent WEEKS looking at the build threads. While our builds are pretty different now, I paid close attention to HARDTRAILZ. I also like Regulator, Moots, v7guy and a bunch of others. It was after I asked myself this question "which group do I want to end up in?" that my build started to make sense too me.