Help on post- Billie 5100 lift rolling vibration

Hello All,
I was hoping I could once again tap into the collective knowledge of this fine group.
Dealing with a 2015 4X4 TRD Sport DCSB 6 sp manual 55k miles
I installed four Billstein 5100s (second clip front) with new coils from Toytech, AALs and a diff drop kit shortly after Thanksgiving (with some help and advice from this fine group). Then I drove it around the neighborhood (less than 2 miles) after completeing and it seemed fine. The next drive was to the closest dealership (2 miles) for an alignment and, while there, a tire rotation (5k miles on my Falken AT3s) and oil change.
No problems with alignment to spec, but upon leaving I noticed a rolling rumble that seemed to come from the pasanger front. 6 miles later and back to the dealership, they blamed the noise on the tire rotation...which I can believe. So here I am 300 miles later and the vibration seems to be getting worse and sounding less and less like tire noise.

-I removed the diff drop to see if that had any effect...it did not. I have re-installed it.
-I am prepared to order a carrier bearing shim kit but wanted check with you all (or y'all, depending on region) A quick glance at the drive shaft angles and nothing looks too bad. It seems like if it was neccesary Billsteinlifts would have suggested it?

Additional info:
-Noise/vibration is rotational and occurs more frequently with increased speed.
-Engageing 4wd eliminates the noise/vibration.
-At some point during the front suspension install, a friend helping me may have pulled the drive shaft out of the passenger side and immediately pushed it back in. He was vague...all i heard was "oh, it's easy to move now". I was immediately concerned as all info I had read said to be careful not to do this.

So the questions are: What's going on? Is it something my friend did with the axle? Or could it truely be because of the tire rotation as the dealership suggested? What am I in for?

 

Sounds like it could be a needle bearing issue.

 

You say 4wd eliminates the noise, definitely sounds like a bearing.

 

You lifted your truck ,and now you have the never ending vibration problem,Tacomas hate being lifted.You now will have too install East Coast Gear front diff. bushing on your truck,and you will have too try and fix your rear driveline angles which were thrown out of wack by lifting the truck.Good luck.

 

Agree with this.

Fix for the issue:

https://eastcoastgearsupply.com/i-8536125-toyota-8-clamshell-bushing-eliminates-needle-bearing.html

Get the removal tool as well.

 

Exactly this

 

wonder what would have happened if he lowered it?

Id say vibes are worth it. Looks way better OP!

 

Thank you all for the diagnosis and suggestions. I’ll try air pressure tomorrow but expect the needle bearings. Unfortunately current near zero temps have me pretty unmotivated to tear the front end apart again. Am I doing any damage to anything other than the bearings by driving it? I may get a price from a local shop on pulling the spacers to see if that helps (Billsteinlifts.com said this configuration truck needed extra spacers be level). What I would give for a heated garage and a lift!!

 

I believe the spacer they are referring to is a 1/4 spacer on the drivers side to compensate for "taco lean"

 

I had the same problem on my 2013 sbdc 4wd off road with manual transmission. I installed 5100's at 1.75 position,no rear lift. I had immediate vibrations on test drive to alignment shop. Engaging 4wd eliminated it. I still had same vibration after alignment. I lowered it back to zero lift the next day. Vibration instantly gone never to return.There are now 48k miles on the truck. I also thought the front half shafts had a much steeper angle after lift. They just didn't look right from a design/operation standpoint. I had the expected lift height so inverted spring seats were not the issue. Although the alignment numbers (Hunter Aligner) were in spec after lift, the front wheels had visible positive camber and the steering wheel return was sluggish on crowned roads.

 

Just because they are in spec does not always mean that it's going to be correct. I had an alllignment shop do mine after my ome 888s and they did it to "spec" and the truck drove like shit and rubbed real bad with my 285s. Took it to a 4wd shop and they realigned. Truck drives like a stock struck and the wheels don't hit my cab mounts during regular driving. I would have a shop that's familiar with lifted tacomas take a look at your alignment.

 

OP - how far from Albany are you? I'm an hour south and could loan out the ECGS bearing puller if you end up going this route. I'm actually heading up in 2 weeks for Monster Jam if you want to borrow it.

Also, if you go too long your CV shaft will take some wear from the bearing and may need to me changed out too. How long is too long? No idea, but I went something like 60k+ before I changed my bearing to the ECGS solution and the CV wasn't horrible, I changed it anyway though because I could feel a slight groove on it.

Rear vibes I seem to have taken care of for the most part by dropping the carrier bearing on the 2 piece drive shaft with spacers.

 

I had used a pair of 1/2" spacers to compensate for the short bed V6 nose-heavy design in addition to the 1/4" shim for the driver side lean.

I'm in Schenectady, about 20 min from Albany. It sounds like I may be interested in borrowing the tool but thinking I may not get to the fix until this cold snap breaks, so maybe Easter...

 

That's cool. Let me know. I think I have the install tool too if I remember correctly.