Lift question/CV damage

So today I went to talk to a suspension specialist about shocks. My thinking going in was more or less the Headstrong Offroad Fox Level 4 kit with medium Dakars. Final goal is about 2" lift.

He seemed really skeptical of the Fox shocks. Felt they were overkill.

He also said that with basically any lift Tacomas start having problems with the CV (not related to the driver's side needle bearing, which I have already addressed).

Have folks had a lot of CV issues after lifts in the 1-2 inch range?

 

Edited the title. I did a horrible job on the first run.

 

I read the lift threads quite frequently and i think out of the hundreds of lifted truck ands thousands of posts i only saw 1or2 people mention cv boots shredding. Which was addressed with a aftermarket cv boot kit (taller spines) and or uca. I also remember both being just over 2” like 2 and a bit etc.

 

He means the CV axle bushing, the 3rd gens especially have a vibration that is corrected by removing a neadle bearing and installing a solid spacer on the drivers axle output on the front diff. Very normal.

I installed it on my 2016 after my lift and many on this forum have as well.

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

The CV axle angles are only a concern on spacer lifts of 3" or more. I don't usually see issues with 1-2" lifts.

There is upgraded axle boots for lifted tacomas, but I would only install them after the problem arises with the factory boots.

https://www.offroadsolutions.com/products/high-angle-inner-cv-boot/

 

Mine has been lifted 3 inches in the front now for almost 3 years, zero issues and I did the ECGS Clamshell Bushing at the time of the lift.

 

I havent heard of any CV issues other than boot problems

 

Damn 55.00 for 1 boot? I love red but ouch.

 

maybe he's referring to the inner cv boot. It's easy to check, get a piece of paper if it fits between the two closest ribs with no resistance, then your good.

 

He said that he's not talking about the needle bearing in his original post found in third paragraph in parenthesis.

Constant velocity axles angles are a concern any time you lift a truck, period, not just 3". You are less likely to run into problems with a 1" lift, but that is not to say you shouldn't have a healthy concern for your cv axle angles, especially when off roading, without any type of angle corrections.

 

Hi All. Sorry for the silence. I developed a pretty bad headache after posting this yesterday. Called my doctor and had the following conversation:

Doctor: "Hello, this is Dr. X"

Me: "Hi, I am your patient Y. I have a pretty bad headache"

Doctor: "Do you own a Tacoma? I am wondering if it is suspension related"

 

Correct. I had the ECGS clamshell bushing put in and he (the specialist) was aware of the bushing (his shop is probably only a 20-25 minute drive from ECGS and he said he had put in "many" of them) and I told him ECGS had already put it in for me.

I think he was worried about failure even then.

You mention angle corrections....what can be done? A diff drop?

 

ive got nearly 30K on my 3" lift.......0 issues so far.

running a diff drop, sway-bar drop, and still on the factory needle bearing.


i figure if i do ever tear a boot, ill replace it with the high angle boots, and swap out the needle bearing for the bushing just for piece of mind......but so far everythings running well

 

Pretty sure there is a pretty wide range of tolerance for the joints in he cv axles.

The thing that confuses me is why there is more room for larger angles away from stock in the front drive shaft and not so much in the rear. I'm assuming it's because the rear drive shaft has constant power so the working angles of the u joints are a little more important, where as the front drive shaft only has power in 4WD, and rarely are you going over 10 mph in 4WD (unless on icy roads? Not sure, I live in Hawaii so I don't know what below 60 degrees is lol)

Theoretically a diff drop would help with CV angles but would created larger angles in the front drive shaft, which seems like a bad thing.

The rule of thumb has always been doing a diff drop once you go over 2" on the 3rd gen Tacoma.

 

Not at all. do some people do them? yes but its certainly not the rule of thumb

You can literally drive any speed you want in 4wd. I drive as high as 60 mph in 4wd

 

You are awesome

 

From my experience I installed 887 coils on bilsteins but also added a 1/4" top plate spacer on the passanger side and a 1/2" spacer on driver side to even it out with the taco lean. Before the lift had time to settle my cv angles were really bad. Meaning the ribs on the inner boots were touching and causes wear and eventually blown boots. I added a 1" toytec dif drop (comes with spacers to get your skid plate back on) 2 weeks later the suspension settled and the boot ribs have seperated. Between this and the ecgs i hope it alleviates any cv issues in the future. I sit at 3" up front now. Alot of people say the dif drops dont do shit. But, it helped in my case. I think.. theres also a thread on here for a boot slide mod if you really need to stretch the boot out

 

That's what I'm thinking of doing - 1/2 spacer on driver side, 1/4 on the passenger side. Before settling, how high was it? You have the "BRO LEAN" going for a minute?

 

Lol it was pretty damn high. Level with hd dakars.
BUT i torqued to spec my uca and lca while it was on stands. I went back and losened everything, put the wheels on the ground, bounced it then re-torqued. I think that made a difference. I ended up with 3" front and back almost 1" rake. No vibes or touching cv boots

 

3 and 2 readylift my CV passengers side came apart today making right hand turn

 

Another angle