A question for those with suspension lifts...

Those with suspension lifts, does your truck feel solid? I mean, when you go over bumps and washboards, does your front end feel solid? Or do you hear some noises and rattling around? I've been through my front end twice now, but whenever I go over washboards I can hear some noises up front, like something is not tight. I'm about to go through the truck a third time, and just thought I would get some insight. Especially on gravel roads with bumps, I can hear some noise up front that just doesn't sound right.

 

your rocking the stage 3 icon set up (NICE!) so you've got race like parts on there. your truck is bound to make noise. that just goes with putting on after market parts. my truck makes all kinds of noise from the front end out back to the rear springs...

 

Thank you, I'll try that. Gonna work on the truck this weekend and re-tighten everything up.

 

make sure when u r lubing up joints that u use a teflon lubricant. ive herd bad stories of ppl using wd-40 and other sorts of sprays and greases
!just my opinion; ive never cn first hand damage

 

always use a teflon based lube for the uni balls on the UCA, otherwise you'll destory the teflon lining

 

make sure your skid bolts are tight too

 

I agree, those new c/o's provide a firmer ride so your suspension doesn't crush at every little bump, this also causes a bit more 'hit' to your ride on small bumps and thus makes more noise.

After putting the SAWa on mine, when I go over big cracks in pavement I feel it more now and it makes my change and whatnot rattle a bit more in the tray but on rough dirt roads it becomes much smoother than stock because the shocks are valved to deal with larger hits, not the small cracks on pavement; basically the valve stays ridgid over minute bumps and the only ways to help that are to air-down your tires a bit or get a revalve. One road I hit alot was 25mph max with the stock susp and now it feels the same at 40mph with the SAWs.

This is within reason though, if it sounds really bad just make sure everything is tight, bushings are still good, and lube/clean if necessary. Any unecessary play in suspension components = extra noise and wear.

 

also, icon CO's use a flutter stack for better offroad performance but they make it a much firmer ride going slow and on pavement

 

Well I ensured everything is nice and tight on my suspension. I'm thinking that the noise that I hear and feel through the floor board is the steering shaft rattling around in the engine bay. I can really only hear/feel this noise on the drivers side. The passenger side seems rock solid, so this just helps to assure me that it is the steering shaft.

Does anybody else hear/feel this noise? When I hit bumps in the road or when I'm on a washboard dirt road, its really noticeable. I really hear this rattling around kinda sound. Oh boy this is gonna drive me nuts until I fix it.

 

I have heard of this problem before, not sure if its the same problem but it was to do with their brakes rattling.

 

Canadianboy, I think your on to something with the steering shaft rattle.
I traded a 2003 yukon for my tacoma last fall. The yukon had the same problem. When turning and hitting small bumps you can feel/hear slight knocking sound in the steering column. The yukon had a TSB which lubricated the intermediate shaft which is the part that has the spline. (Like on a drive shaft.) The TSB basically packed the spline with grease. I guess there was too much play. I haven't looked at the tacomas steering parts but I swear it feels and sounds just like the yukon problem. I notice it most when I am driving through the pasture.

 

This damn noise is driving me nuts. I'm going to completely un-install my drivers side suspension - uca and coilover - inspect and reinstall them. I'm not totally sure its the steering shaft anymore. When I go over bumps I can hear this noise on the drivers side, but it sounds a bit lower then the shaft. The passenger side is rock solid, no noise what so ever. I'm thinking I may not have tightened the uni-ball on the uca enough, thats the only thing I can think of.

 

Ever figure out what that noise was? I might be in your shoes right now. I've checked everything but I'm starting to wonder if the lower ball joints are bad. Maybe I stretched them out a bit under some hard impacts. I only hear a shutter when I hit speed bumps or rough roads.

 

No I have'nt torn the suspension apart yet. I was thinking of just taking everything out on the drivers side, cleaning it and then re-installing again to see if the noise goes away. Everytime I hit a bump I hear this noise now, its driving me nuts.

 

Since I got my shocks used I'm almost wondering if its not the bushings in the lower shock mount where it bolts to the control arm. I can definitely tell something makes a clunk when I hit a bump and I have a feeling it might be shock related although i could have messed up my toyota ball joints at some point. That's definitely possible.

 

Well I finally figured out where the noise was coming from. The bolt on the top of the uni-ball was not tightened down enough, and every time I hit a bump the uniball would separate slightly and make that annoying noise. No damage or anything to the uniball

I tightened it down today and took it for a drive = no more noise! Finally! I'm so happy, that noise was driving me nuts.

Only thing that is kinda bugging me now - the nut on the very bottom of the uniball that holds the tie rod to the uca is slightly stripped. My truck is all back together now, but it bugs me that now I have this nut on my truck that is partially stripped and will be a pain in the ass to remove, if I ever need to remove it. Part of me just wants to rip it all apart again and get that nut off and put a new one on, but I know that nut will be really hard to get off.