Check Your U-Bolts

Looking for the person that shared with me the torque specs for the suspension components. Please PM them to me again would ya! lol thanks!

 

Checked mine last night.

3 were in the spec or tighter > 52 ft.lbs.
5 were lower than the spec < 52 ft.lbs.
5 required anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 turn to bring into the spec.

 

Really glad I saw this thread. I've been expierencing odd vibrations throughout the truck/steering and a loose feeling (squirmy?) rear end.

I just checked the rear leaf spring U Bolt Nuts on my 2017 TRD Sport 4WD Auto transmission with 4900 miles on the odometer and ALL 8 u bolt nuts were loose! None of them were at 52 ft lbs, I got 1/2 to 3/4 turn out of every single nut to hit 52ft lbs. I then put them all at 60ft lbs using a X pattern.

Haven't driven it yet to see if anything has changed but I'm in shock all 8 nuts were loose.

 

Pretty common - though in my case I was able to get several turns out of some of them. my dealer told me.... no lie... that if they were a little looser it should have softened my suspension vs. hardened impacts. ha... my hard hits from the rear ceased. I do notice they tend to loosen a bit over time so I get under there now every 2-3k miles (more if I've been offroad or driving on rougher fire roads)

 

Wow, that's quite crazy. Now that I think about it mine was probably closer to 1 1/4 turn on each to reach 52 ft lbs.

I noticed my driver axle to be quite loose in the trans too, new thread coming...

 

Good info here. It seems that a couple of mine were under torqued from the factory, though not grossly.

 

If you mean the driverside CV driveshaft into the front differential, it's the needle bearing...normal.
ECGS bushing is the only fix.

 

That's exactly what I was referring to, Dealer says it's normal and not the cause of my steering wheel/cab vibrations.

 

Same here. I found my U-bolts loose and torqued them. The rear feels much better this morning and the clunk on and off the gas seems to be way better.

 

So is this an issue on 2017's or was it just with the 2016's?

 

My two week old 2017, built in May in TX, were loose. It took about two full revs to torque. All eight were pretty freaking loose.

I have almost 700mi on it. So, it could just be the springs settling in?

 

2005-present...
I will concede, new leaf springs do require re-torquing; usually at 500 miles. But with the amount of looseness and low mileage being reported, I think it's prudent to check earlier and periodically thereafter.
Costs 5 minutes of my time.

 

Thanks guys, guess I'll be checking these this weekend.

 

I checked mine, and about 6-7 of the bolts were under the recommended 52 lbs. I tightened them up and the ride and handling is definitely better.

 

I put the Wheelers AAL, their instal instructions say to torque 75-80 lbs. I don't know if the torque is higher because the AAL but I put mine at 75.

 

is it a 14mm or 19mm nut on the 18's?

 

I agree. Mine have stayed at the set torque (70ft-lb) since the retorquing. The retorquing was a minor PITA, but checking takes no time at all.

 

Thanks to this thread I realized my tacos bolts were under torquered. Tightened it to 52ft lbs and it’s been great so far .

 

Both nuts on one of the u-bolts on each side were torqued to spec. The other u-bolt on each side required the nuts to be tightened further. If I had to guess, after torqueing the nuts on the second u-bolt on each side, the factory worker did not go back to check the torque on the nuts of the first u-bolt installed.

 

I just checked them on the ‘18 Taco. 1 out of 8 was only torqued to 52 ft lbs. The rest of them took like a full turn. Ya’ll sold me on self maintenance.