Broke something. Shit.

Torque the lower control arms. after my suspension swap i was getting a lot of creaking and popping. the LCA's were actually twisting some in the mounts. the LCA bolts just needed to be torque'd down more.

or.. the bushings themselves might be shot.. or going out.

 

Pass the popcorn. I'm in for this nevermind. found some

 

Aight ya got my interest

 

X2

Keep it outta the cabbage

 

I think I may have found the culprit. I suspect my Tacoma is coming out of the closet....it wants to be a fucking Prerunner.




Got home, looked underneath, was about to start cranking down bolts, when I noticed the fucking left axle leaking at the differential. Had my 'assistant' spin the wheel left and right while I layed underneath, hoping she wouldn't put it in drive and take advantage of my 7-figure life insurance policy, and tried to source the noise. Feels like it's coming from the diff/driveshaft. Fuck me. I pretty much gave up at that point; I checked out the tire - no signs of rubbing anywhere; none of the bolts looked like they had backed out, nothing else was loose, tie rod was solid, none of the boots have tears. I don't use 4x4 on a regular basis, but recently changed out the front and rear diff fluid with Amsoil 75w90 anyway. When I was on that shit road, I had it in 4-high for about 15 minutes, doing around 70 (km/h) - a little fast, but definitely not abuse, and that sandy mud shit shouldn't have been enough to pull the fucking driveshaft out of the diff.

Anyways...what the fuck do I do now.

 

I think the gap is about the same on the passenger side; I'm more concerned that the axle has been pulled out or something, damaged the seal, and is now binding inside the diff somehow. I'm about 90% certain the axle is the problem here.

 

Just went and checked. Certainty is now 100% that the problem is the axle/diff. Still does it in 4x4. Went out on my paved street, cranked the steering wheel all the way left, and slowly drove forward. It drives like my front left wheel is egg-shaped - the front left of the truck is bouncing up and down, and I can feel it binding, creaking and groaning. Does the same with the wheel cranked all the way right. What's the deal here???

 

I always thought that you never engage 4wd on dry pavement and cut your wheels any bc you driveshaft and everything will be in a bind and your truck will start hopping and that's when stuff breaks

 

Sorry, I should have clarified. I know how 4x4 works; I only had it on in the dirt along my road. Tried turning side to side while crawling, still had the noise/binding. Turned it off, then tried on the pavement in 2wd, which is when I got the freaky bobbing.

 

No popcorn, but I brought a sammich...

 

No worries; thanks for the ideas - at least the process of elimination seems to be working. As much as I hate to do it, I think I'll bring it to a local mechanic tomorrow. I'm sick of working on this thing all the time.

 

If its something inside the diff it shouldn't make that noise when you are stopped and just turning the wheel like the video shows.

 

Who installed your suspension?

 

Me! Shop did the alignment after. Had been fine for the past 3 weeks since the install, until last night. A local mechanical guru is going to take a look tomorrow; if he can't get it sorted, I'm bringing it to Toyota to fix.