Rear End Lift Questions

Ok Everybody Here is my Situation.

Truck 2005 Taco TRD sport 4.0

Equipment installed

Front
2.75 Ready Lift
Bilstein 5100 set at 0"


Rear
Toytec 2" AAL
Ready Lift 1" block
Bilstein 5100
PRE-TSB (Toyota wont help me out (64k on truck -- Just bought it)

When I bought the truck before lifting it the truck sat .5" higher in back.
When you would look at the leaf's 70% of the leaf was sitting on the overload. one of the rear shocks was blown. (Think the previous owner was towing alot.. Should have seen that before I bought the truck but I didn't)

So here is what I did.

I installed the Readylift kit up front with new 5100's and 1" blocks in the rear. The truck was far from level (front sat 1.2" higher at least)

So I elected to go get 2" AAL from Toytec (they are right down the street from me )

Now the truck sits good (about 1.5" higher in back which looks fantastic compared to sagging butt..)

I don't plan to 4x4 alot. If I do i very rarely get wheels of the ground.


Here are my concerns.

1.) I have a very small driveline vib at low rpm starts then I can't feel anything, well at least to 80mph (haven't gone faster yet)

2.) U joint wear? Should I worry? Should I shim? Can I shim with blocks??

3.) Shock length. Rides fine over potholes, bumps etc. If i hit a speed bump hard I can feel the shocks max out. Do I extend them? If I do, do i extend break lines?

4.) Safety for mild driving and towing a light trailer with maybe a 4wheeler and camping supplies 3 times a year, and 4x4 maybe 10 times per year, should I worry about the blocks breaking?

5.) do the AAL settle at all after a break in period if so how many inches?

My thoughts.

Truck rides great in the front. A bit stiff in the rear (pre TSB, and AAL, 5100's can do that I am guessing)

If you look at the shot of the leaf you can see the wear.


My other major issue...

The transmission...
6speed stick.

I have issues every now and then of it popping out of gear in 1st.

I changed the fluid and it was overfilled by quite a bit, now it very rarely happens, but the trans is noisy ( I can hear it in the cab ) The plug had quite a bit of metal bits stuck to it (because its a magnet) More so than the diff or transfer case. Can I run a thicker gear lube to quiet it up? or should I be preparing for the worst? I have put 4k on it and it hasn't changed condition at all.



Thanks for the help! P.S. This is my first post!

 

As for the rear bottoming out, mine was doing that too. I had OME rear shocks and the tsb pack leafs. I swapped my leaf packs out with the 3" All Pro ones and now its fine. I highly doubt its the shocks. It's probably the leafs.

 

Why don't you drop the front spacer and just put the 5100's at 2.5? I just don't like blocks at all.

 

Good idea. Ditch the spacer, set billys at 2.5" and get rid of the rear blocks. Then shim if necessary to get rid of the vibs

 

Taking out the front spacer and setting the bilstein's at 2.5 and removing the rear block is an option. ( The readylift kit jumped my truck up 3" though and rides great) Plus I had to get the thing aligned 3 times before it tracked correctly. If I pull the spacer, and set the coil's at 2.5 it would lower the front a tad and the rear would come down a tad. The ride would be better but it wouldn't be as high... That is a great thought though.... Plus the alignment shop would hate me if I came back....

 

Most people hate the ride that the spacers produce. You might find that taking them out and using the billys for lift will ride a bit better. You will only lose 1/4" up front. You could always buy a bit larger tire next time.

 

Does anybody know if it is possible to run the blocks with a shim? or is that a bad idea? I really like how tall the truck is now with the spacers and the blocks+AAL in the rear I am just concerned that this could lead to a failure. Take a look at the pics, the rear springs did sag before I did the lift, thats why i went with both the AAL and the blocks.. I am trying to stay cheap for awhile... Anybody have any thoughts on the trans issue? Also are the blocks + AAL a really bad Idea?

 

All Right!!!

Truck is all fixed up, here is what I did.

I took out the 1" blocks and replace with 3* shims from toytech, Rear of truck dropped down about .75". Truck sits about .5" higher in back and rides fantastic.

I then changed out the gear lube to a 75-90 and added a couple doses of friction modifier for LSD's. Tranny shifts way better, no noise, and doesn't slip out of gear... Who would have thought...

Anyways Looks good. I have a couple of 1" blocks and some U bolts laying around now, the blocks are perfect but the u bolts I wouldn't re-use. Anybody want them all for 25 bucks?

 

Cool. Did the vibes go away?

 

I would say they have gone away about 85%. Visually I can see that the shims placed the drive line in almost the exact same position it used to be.
I can feel the vibes until 1600 RPM only in first gear just when starting. It could also be axle wrap, or clutch, either way its very very small, only i have notice it.


So my setup is now as follows

2005 TRD Sport Access Cab (Red)

Intake
Custom Catback
Billy 5100 Front
Billy 5100 Extended Rear
Front Readylift Spacer 3"
Rear Toytec AAL 2"
Rear 3* Shims

Repainted Frame Black (had some surface rust)
Changed Tranny Oil GL5 -> Added 2 doeses of LSD additive SMOOTH SHIFTING!!!!!!
Re-clutched Rear Diff running Royal Purple stronger springs.
Iridum Plugs

Added 6 Disc Player
TRD Seat Covers
TRD Shift Knob / Pedals

Black Nose Bra, Not full mask until winter.

Re greased u-joints, leaf packs.

16" Wheels w 265 75 R 16 Tires (so i didn't have to trim fender wells)


Upcoming,

Quick disconnects for swaybar
Add Rear swaybar w quick disconnects
Headers
Amsoil custom passive filter setup
Ubolt flip
LSD for front diff
some sort of tonneu cover


I love my Toys....


Post Complete!

 

Awesome!

 

I switched from 3 degree to the 2.5 and my low speed vibs are gone. I also have the 2" aal in the rear.