My last post was about top mount strut spacers and corrosion between aluminum and
steel hardware, Due to everyone on TS that replied my friend got that problem solved.
He returned the kit he had bought on ebay and purchased another one this one is hard anodized has zinc plated hex head grad 8 bolts and used grease on the threads to help with the problem of corrosion between the two different metals, But now the lift has caused two new problems.
#1 when he goes over a small speed bump the upper ball joint knuckle hits the strut spring the instructions stated to grind off the excess casting from the ball joint knuckle in the area that faces the spring, Which he did, But it still hits and makes a lot of noise.
#2 He also received a set of Pro Comp add-a-leafs for the rear with the kit, Now that they are installed the truck has a vibration, Which I think is from the change in pinion angle. Other then trashing this kit, Does anyone have an idea how to correct the problems? The truck looks sweet setting 3” higher then stock and level.
Thank you for any input.
1- How in the hell is the upper knuckle hitting the spring on compression. It should swing out and up, not down and in? Sounds like something is wrong with that.....
2- Unless you shimmed the axle to account for proper pinion angle and dropped the carrier bearing, you have induced the driveline vibration yourself. Without fixing those things, you're stuck with the vibration. Both fixes can be done for less than 5 bucks usually.....
The knock on the strut springs happens when the tires are moving down not up, You know when you go over a speed bump the tire moves up at the start of the bump and down as you pass over it, ( da ) He tried dropping the center carrier bearing didn't help,
The instructions and advertisement both stated no extra parts required ( Shims ) If He installed shims with the add-a-leafs the U-bolts would be to short and the instructions didn't say anything about pinion angle, It just said to install the kit, Align the front and enjoy. I know the company has sold more then one of these kits, You would think by now they would have worked the bugs out.
Last edited by zero8tundra; 10-07-2009 at 02:13 PM.
Since your friend has a Tacoma, you may be better off posting in the Tacoma section of TS, or even in the Suspention & Axle section. Expect this thread to move shortly to one of those.
__________________
Beer please! CBTMA (Member and Founding Father: Est. August 15, 2008)
Clicky>>> What The Heck is CBTMA
Unknown - "The biological purpose of pain is to prevent the recurrence of stupidity."
Sorry I guess I posted in the wrong place, I have a Tundra and the problem is on a Tacoma, My friend said he bought them on ebay, I'll have to ask him the sellers name.
and post it in the correct area. But if you think about it Tundra and Tacoma are about the same Tundra is just bigger at least as fare as Suspension.
Although I have an 08 Tundra I have been posting about my friends Tacoma and the
3" strut spacer lift he installed this week. If his worked out ok I was going to buy
the same type of lift for my truck, It looked nice and the ride was like stock.
I have been in a lot of lifted trucks and most ride so hard you think you'll brake
your back, But anyway he just called me and said he didn't see a deep dip in the road fast enough to slow down ( he said he was going about 30 mph ) after he came out of the deep dip the front end started shaking real bad and before he could stop the left front
ball joint broke and his right wheel turned full right and he hit a wall. His air bag went off
and screwed up the steering wheel, He said the left wheel and tire got forced up into the
wheel well and the right side wheel tire, Fender, Bumper and hood got screwed up.
I feel sorry for him, But that made my mind up, I wouldn't install one of the above strut
spacer lifts on my truck even if it was given to me. I'll go with Toytech, The ride may
be a little stiff, But I haven't heard anything really bad about them.
P.S. To answer question above, He didn't get a chance to call Pro Comp before this happened. And I really don't want to say who manufactured the lift in case it may not be there fault.
Last edited by zero8tundra; 10-13-2009 at 10:40 AM.
This whole thread sounds shady and extremely coincidental......why would you get in trouble for posting a crappy lift? Usually in ball joint problems are caused by improper installation. Given his amount of problems already, I would have to say that is probably a large factor. Depending on what year tacoma it is, there was a recall on lower ball joints, but most have been repaired, thus leading me to be skeptical about this incident.
Your correct, It might be the installers fault. That's why I don't want to bad mouth the Manufacture.
It was the upper ball joint that came apart. He said he heard it hit the spring real hard as he went through the deep then all hell broke lose.
Some people should definitely not be working on vehicles. In his case it could have been fatal. Next time, if the installer is unsure, just ask someone. I have put all kinds of lifts on toyota vehicles from custom SAS to simple bolt on coilovers to spacer kits. The upper ball joint hitting the spring should have been a warning alarm. the fact that it failed is even more shocking. If you can, get some pictures to show what this guy did wrong so that we can show others what not to do. It could potentially save someones life....
Did the spacer go in the strut? In other words, is it directly contacting the spring? If not and it is installed on top of the strut that is the problem. The spacer moved the "droop stop" (does the same thing as the bump stop except on the other end of the travel-it is located inside the strut) down too low and when he hit that bump he exceeded the range of motion of the ball joint, causing it to break. This is a common and well documented problem on first gen tundras and the taco has the same issue. The new tundra has more range of motion built into the ball joint and adding a spacer on top of the strut will not exceed it's limits.
He got the truck home, And started taking it apart, It look like it maybe the Manufacture and the installers fault.
The instructions said that any excess casting should be ground off from the upper ball joint Knuckle the faces the Strut spring, It said some Knuckles had more then others because the are raw castings from Toyota ( If the truck was left stock there would never be a problem. ) But as the truck is raised the excess moves in closer to the spring and with a 3" lift it hits the spring and causes the knocking noise. Anyway the instruction said to grind the excess off, Which my friend did, But I think he may have ground to much and got the knuckle so hot it got annealed ( soft ) and when he went over the deep at about 30 mph The knuckle just failed. He is lucky insurance is going to pay. And he gave up on all lifts.
I know a lot of people are going to blame him. But he did call the Manufacture before he started and was told as long as he followed the instructions he should be fine, He even call back after he heard the knock
and the Manufacture just told him to grind a little more off the knuckle, and be careful not to grind the rubber grease boot or hit the ball joint with the grinder.
After more investigation, It seems that this problem with the 3” lift top mount
strut spacer has been around for years, On both the early model Tacoma and Tundra
and on the new model Tacoma.. The Manufacture agreed to pay for the ball joints and ball joint knuckles and offered to replace the spacers with 2 1/2’ lift strut spacers, That he says will keep the Ball joint knuckle away from any spring contact. and will not require and modification, The Manufacture also offered to send my friend a set of tapered lift blocks
for the rear that should get ride of the vibration., He also offered my friend a full refund
on the first kit.. My buddy asked him about adding limit straps, The guy said on a Tacoma
or Tundra was kind of a waste of time. other wise he would be selling them. He said the problem with both the Tacoma and Tundra have to be kept tight which is fine when the straps are new, But even the best straps stretch about 1/2” for a 12” in length of the limit strap when new, And so fare no Company has offered a way to adjust the strap after it becomes lose. Any way my friend like a dummy is going to try the 2 1/2” after he gets the truck back from the body shop. I have always learned by my mistakes, But my friend has a hard head. What really bothers me is this Manufacture is on ebay and has over a 1600 good feed backs. ( Are people give the feed back to soon, And now after a few months can't change it? )
After 3" lift knock & vibration Help
Linear Mode
