Bad steering wheel shake and vibrations after lift install

2016 SR5 DCLB, 35,000 miles. No issues before lift, below is everything I installed so far. Before alignment I immediately had bad vibrations on the floor (kind of a continuous clunk) and shake/vibs in the steering wheel. They were pretty bad about 5-10mph, worse up to 40-45 mph, didn't go any faster and only drove to and from the shop for alignment, 12 miles total. To the best of my knowledge, we installed everything correctly and torqued to spec.

Elka 2.5" Extended Travel Coilover Kit with RR, 650 lb Coil
Elka 2.5" IFP Rear Shocks
OME Dakar HD leaf pack, OME U-Bolts
OME Driveshaft Spacer
Extended rear brake lines
Dirt King UCAs
ECGS bushing
Front/rear diff fluid change
transfer case fluid change
285/70/17's
Brakes flushed
Alignment was done today (8/30/20)

Did quite a bit of research tonight and haven't found an exact answer, but could be the following - Lower ball joints, drive shaft angle, CV issues?

 

Looks good

Check out
Needle bearing replacement from ECGS

Shims for leaf pack

Diff drop (pretty split if it helps on here most start with the ecgs bushing)

Other guys should be here shortly to get you situated. Check out the suspension sub forum too should be helpful

Edit: somehow I missed you already had the bushing my bad

 

Vibration in the floor most likely points to driveshaft vibes, which is most likely pinion angle related. With the Dakar HD pack you could try to add a 3 degree shim to the pack (in the proper orientation- narrow edge forward) and that should help. For now, it may seem counterintuitive but try removing the driveshaft spacer and see if that helps.

For your steering wheel vibes I’d have the wheel balance double checked. Poor application of stick on weights means you could have wheels out of balance. It’s happened before and is a relatively easy fix since you can take them back to where they were mounted and have them check.

 

Did you also get those tires when you got the lift as well?

I second what GHOST SHIP on the wheels/tires, except I've had some that wouldn't balance or stay balance, so it wasn't an "easy fix".
I actually had a set of St's like yours OP that were horrible, wouldn't balance and if I let go of the wheel my truck would dart to the right.

 

The front don't look quite right to me, off the bat. What did they say at the alignment shop?

 

@Dirk Diggler @GHOST SHIP thanks, I’m going to order the leaf pack shims tonight. May remove the carrier spacers and see if it’s better.

@GHOST SHIP @Guerrilla The truck is darting to the right as soon as I let go of the wheel as well. Had it aligned at Firestone (life time alignments). Could deff be a balancing issue, especially hearing that you had similar issues.

I actually had the tires mounted and balanced 2 months ago and they sat in the garage. A few weights fell off two of them - I put those two wheels on the rear and had planned to go back to Mavvis for re-balancing.

 

@CaptainBart45 They didn't say anything other than reviewing they flushed the brakes and did the alignment. They were a little backed up and this was 30 min after closing, so I didn't head back.

Alignment specs:
Front
Total Toe: 0.11
Steer Ahead 0.01
LEFT FRONT
Camber: 0.4
Caster: 1.6
Toe: 0.07

RIGHT FRONT
Camber: 1.0
Caster: 1.6
Toe: 0.05

Rear
Total Toe: 0.14
Thrust Angle: 0.26
LEFT REAR
Camber: -0.1
Toe: 0.33

RIGHT REAR
Camber: -0.3
Toe: -0.20

 

Caster is way too low.

 

@gotoman1969 should caster be in the 2-4 range?

 

Yes. With the DK ucas you should be able to get 3-4 degrees pretty easy. Personally I run 4. Have the alignment guys set caster, then camber then toe in that order. It freaks a lot of the big box alignment guys when you say set caster 1-1.5 degrees out of spec.

 

Castor 1.4 - 2.9 deg is what my alignment sheet reads as specified range. Is this incorrect?

 

Yes. That is factory specs. Many of us run higher castor once lifted. It makes for a much tighter and responsive steering with larger tires. I’ve run as much as 4.5 degrees.

 

That range is for stock suspension

 

Those are factory specs. Than can be used stock or lifted. But when lifted if at the lower range the truck will tend to wander or feel light in the front end. Imo at minimum on a lifted truck you’d want 2.9. Most of us replace the factory uca to be able to run higher castor. On a lifted truck many times wo aftermarket ucas you can’t get castor into spec or near the higher end of factory specs.

 

The higher castor also helps with clearance of the front cab mount with larger tires.

 

OP keep us posted as to what you find. Good luck. Truck looks good by the way. Nice suspension choices too.

 

That makes sense, mine is lifted approximately 1.8" and the alignment tech did not take into account my lift. Castor is only 1.8 deg. The shop originally told me oh yea we align 4WDs all the time.

Thanks guys and I apologize for side tracking the Ops thread.

 

Bad U joint maybe?

 

looks good man. wheels and tires just make that badboy pop! hopefully you get that issue sorted out. try looking into driveline shims, it supposed to alleviate driveline vibration.

 

OP after reading your post the first thing I looked for was a 3-degree axle shim. GHOST SHIP beat me to it. Your driveline angle has changed, you need to add a shim to minimize or eliminate driveline vibration. They are roughly $30, I would start there before anything else.