3rd Gen Maxtrac Spindles

Hey guys!

Sooooo can anyone send me a pic of their drive shaft after the 4" spindle kit? More specifically the front part that slides into the transmission (dust cap looking part)?

I have a 1.25" drive shaft spacer I added after moving up to the 6.5" lift since it looked like it was coming out after installation.

Now, after sitting back at 4", I believe the spacer has the drive shaft pushed too far in and feel that's causing my vibrations between 40-60mph. Just need to know if I have to remove it if ya'lls isn't sitting so far in and if so get some factory bolts/nuts.

See pics below to understand what I mean!


Pic below is the carrier bearing, looks to be uneven and tilted forward slightly bc of the DS spacer

Below is the drive shaft spacer at the rear diff.

 

You think I could run 285/75R17 (33.83") on just the 4" spindles up front or would I need the CMC? Tires are going to be mounted on 4Runner TRD Pro wheels (17x7, 4.5" BS, +4mm offset).

 

Has anyone ran the Fox 2.5 Extended Travel IFP coilovers with these? I'm thinking of pulling the trigger on some 4" Maxtracs, my current setup is with those coilovers.

Also, I have about 2.5" of lift with them. So with the Maxtracs I can take all the preload off the spring and allow the spindle to do all of the lift which would make for a super soft ride correct?

 

You can leave your current suspension setup as is. With spindles, you can stack lifts. The spindles will add 4 inches to your current lift

 

I’m looking to get a lift without preloading the coilover. 4 inches is even a little too much than what I’d like, but I’m looking to remove any preload from my springs.

 

I’m currently running a 4 inch spindle lift in the front. I want the front to go up 2 more inches and I’m thinking of bilstein 5100 for the front to lift it 2 inches.

Do I need to run aftermarket UCA’s for this 6 inch lift in the front?

Do I need to run bilsteins all around if I just want to run it in the front?

 

1. No

2. No

 

Hey, what are y'all running in the rear with these spindles? I originally went with a single 1.5" AAL + 1.5" block but I'm trying to remove the block, and get a better unloaded ride. There really aren't any 3-4" lift springs as far as I can tell that ride nice with unloaded bed. Right now I think I might do the ICON RXT rear springs + 2" block. I don't know how to get away from adding a block without having a shitty stiff rear ride.

 

Still have?

 

Decided not to sell my truck so I won’t be taking off my lift

 

How did you get this fixed(Driveshaft angles with 4" spindle)? Did you remove the Driveshaft Spacer?

 

Yeah I removed it. Still having vibrations though, but I need to replace a couple parts that I believe are worn out and could resolve that. My inner tie rods and lower ucs ball joints.

 

I've been reading up on this for quite some time and I can't help but wonder why this lift seems to be dramatically less popular for the 3rd gens than it is for the 2nd gens. Granted 2nd gens have been around longer, the 2nd gen maxtrac spindle lift has almost 700 pages and we have just under 40. Is there a tangible reason as to why they have been less popular that I should know about? I can't see what that would be, it's just the disparity seems odd.

 

I hear ya about the ball joints. No fun when those fail. My truck is at 126k miles so I feel I should get them replaced soon. What's the recommended intervals to have them changed for preventative reasons? My 1st gen tacoma I know those fail a lot. My old 1st gen was stolen last year and the thieves must've fucked up the truck when the stock ball joint failed. Better them than me.

Do you still have vibes from 5-15 mph? My truck is being worked on and had shitty block/spacer lift (hated the ride) going with spindles and add a leafs in the rear and 5100s all around. Hope this helps my ride quality. But yeah those vibes bug me. I know cuz of the driveline angle so I'll see how they are once I put on a cb drop kit. I just want to take care of them damn vibes and not have premature u joint issues(had my lift on my truck for a month then the rear u joint started chirping like a bird)

 

I don't know. That's a good question. Maybe cuz the 2nd gen has been around so long and the first 400 pages or so(of this spindle thread) are before the 3rd gen was released. I can tell you when I look on YouTube and type "spindle lift tacoma" I see a lot more 3rd gen videos of them then 2nd gen. And the 3rd gens look nice with the spindles on

 

I hear ya! I'll be sure to check those videos out

 

Anyone here with the 6.5" lit and aftermarket UCAs have their alignment specs?

I have the truck at a shop to get it aligned as I replaced my uppers with SCP light racing and they're asking me what I want the specs at. I don't know much about alignment specs, what's good/what's bad or if I should just stick to factory specs.??? Any help would be great!

 

Did you get it done already? What specs did you go with on your alignment? I'm curious cuz your truck is high up there. This is my alignment sheet but I have only spindle lift up front while my front shocks/springs at 0 setting and stock uca



From research I gathered since your spindle lift brings you at stock symmetry, and then you added more lift to the front, that camber and toe should be somewhere near 0. While caster should be 2.5-3.5 degrees. Feedback is welcome

 

@xrs thanks for sharing that man!

I still have the truck at the shop. Dropped it off yesterday but they were super busy and got to it late in the evening so the were continuing this morning. They called a while ago asking what I wanted it at bc I "didn't provide them the specs from Maxtrac". I looked around for a bit before calling back and just told them to put it back to/close to factory specs as possible and we'll go from there.

I've been looking at these forums and have found the sweet spot to be about 2.5 - 3.5 or more, 0 camber, 0 toe. Still doing more research as they're working on the truck so I have numbers to go back with once I go see how it drives.

My truck has the same setup as yours (maxtrac spindles, 5100's stock coil set at 0) but I was having rubbing issues with my tires so I added new SPC control arms and 1.5" strut spacers and 1.5" blocks in attempt to clear the rub..and level the rear with the front. I shouldn't have issues with alignment but they stress me the hell out when I talk to the guy also the rep at 4wheelparts. They talk as if I messed up the whole suspension and there's no way it can be aligned now..... before this I was up at 6.5" lift from maxtrac so bigger spacers/blocks with stock UCA's and was aligned no issues. Idiots.

Sorry to rant here but man I'm pulling my hairs out lol. Your alignment sheet will help a lot with where I should be at. Once I get the specs I will be sure to post up here and share.

 

No problem man I'm here to learn with you too. Since the maxtrac spindles put you at stock symmetry, any lift added past the 4" of spindle would be like lifting the truck off stock. So 6.5 inches of lift with the 4" spindle is actually 2.5" inches of lift plus the spindle(since the spindle puts you at stock suspension geometry). But since you have aftermarket uca's(which I think you did a great job getting, I should get some too) and the additional lift your caster should be at 2.5-3 5 degrees. Those parts guys(don't listen to them) your setup is fine. Plus you have aftermarket uca's which helps a lot. The spacers you added aren't even that big so I don't know why they would say all that. Either way there shouldn't be and issue to align it with or without the spacer lift on top of the spindles.