Noise after spacer lift

Hey guys, I put a 3 inch spacer on my 2007 tacoma. After doing so I’m experiencing some clunking noise hitting any little bump in the road. The steering feels fine and it doesn’t bang around or jerk, ride quality actually feels the same as factory. I’m not here to hear how bad spacer lifts are, it’s 2wd and I only keep it on road. Just want any ideas on what the noise might be. It goes to the shop on the 20th. I’m thinking the LCA might be hitting the skid plate. Any ideas are appreciated. Thanks guys!

 

Meant to add that it’s only happening on the driver side as far as I can tell.

 

Ball joints may be unhappy, especially if original. How close does the upper arms come to the coil?

 

My quess is that the problem is the spacer lift. If you think the LCA is hitting the skid, why don’t you just jack the truck up and find out?
Before mod=no noise
After mod=noise
Mod=noise

 

See if your sway bar is hitting your coil. There's sway bar relocating kits that are like $20-30 dollars. Personally, I took mine off. Could also be ball joints if they're old and worn.

 

If you loosened your LCA hardware, make sure it's torqued adequately. I think the proper torque is close to 100 ft*lbs. Do this with the weight of the vehicle on the suspension. Putting the truck on ramps is a good way to do this. Your lower strut mounts should be done the same. If you tightened everything with the wheels hanging in the air, mark you alignment tabs, loosen everything and retighten. You can do this one fastener at a time.
Lastly, if you're getting the clunk at full droop, over bumps, check to see if your upper control arm is hitting your coil spring on each side. You can do this by simply jacking up the front of the truck until the wheels are off the ground and looking/feeling in there.

 

it’s close but I don’t see them hitting. It could be ball joints.

 

How’s it ride with them off taking corners and such?

 

I definitely don’t think a spacer is causing the problem, I believe it would have happened with any other lift. thanks.

 

Thanks man but the noise is coming when the suspension is compressed. I should’ve mentioned that.

 

Well considering I bought Rough Country Struts, taking off the sway bar allowed the suspension to actually flex a little as they are stiffer than concrete with the sway bar on. So, ride quality was improved and took only a day or two to get used to. I will say that your sway bar is a safety device on your truck so it's at your own risk of legality issues if you take it off however I've done high speed swerves on the interstate and had no issues with it because my struts are just so stiff.

Another thing as well is that since you did a 3 inch lift, when your suspension is on the rebound side of compression, your UCA could also be contacting your strut if its a big enough bump. With a 3 in. lift you should be looking at new UCAs fitted for a lift kit. It not only helps with suspension geometry, allows you to get a factory alignment, but could be contacting your strut like I mentioned. I personally went with Freedom Factory uppers and have no complaints. Lots of people on here would bash me for my set up but I'm on quite the budget and I've had no issues. Good luck

 

after 2” need to look at after market UCAs and lowers. possible diff drop to help cv angles also