Bad steering wheel shake and vibrations after lift install

After understanding driveline angles and working angles a little better; I'm going to remove the carrier bearing drop today, take it for a test drive to see if that helps any. Get a digital protractor to measure and determine what size shims are needed.
https://www.headstrongoffroad.com/store/p120/Axle_Shim_KIT.html

If removing the carrier bearing drop doesn't help, should I keep it parked and wait for the shims or is it fine to drive 10-20 miles round trip to re-balance wheels and fix alignment in the meantime? Could someone share Camber and Toe ranges I should be looking for as well?

Good reads on driveline angles:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/driveline-angle-corrections-when-lifted-the-light-fix.511111/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ved-step-by-step.244535/page-49#post-23988923

@gotoman1969 Thanks! I originally ordered Fox 2.5 kit from @HeadStrong Off-Road but they ended up being out of stock. Had a nice conversation with Marie and decided on the Elka's. @Xer0 SiN the SCS Ray 10's were well worth waiting a few months to come back in stock And thank you everyone else for the quick replies and tips. Fingers crossed the few solutions above will do it. I'll report back with results.

 

Sick ass truck. Keep us posted hope it gets resolved

 

Update: Removing the OME carrier bearing spacers felt like it might have helped a little, but not much of a noticeable difference. Ordered a 3 deg leaf shim kit from Headstrong for now. Need to get a digital protractor and take measurements...and proper alignment + check wheel balancing.

 

Yeah, keep us updated. Great truck!

 

Dude, if yours is darting to the right too, like mine did... It could very well be the tires.

I went thru all kind of alignments at Toyota by a guy who's been there many years. In fact he put in an opposing alignment adjustment to correct the darting to the right and it still did it.. Numerous times trying to have them balanced etc etc. They were perplexed at Toyota and didn't know what else to do.

In the end it was the tires. I bought mine at Discount, I had the manager ride with me, to show him how bad the vibrations were and had bad the darting was (which was really dangerous to be honest).
They switched the tires out to K02s , which ended up having two bad out of them, but after replacing the two bad, everything was smooth as could be.

Sometimes the carcass is bad and no matter what you try and do to correct via balancing aligning etc, won't help.

I'm not saying some of the other stuff couldn't be off as well, but before I would've started down the road of deconstructing your truck, I'd start with the with the tires.

 

@Guerrilla Thanks man! I emailed Tirebuyer.com this morning and going to call them this afternoon to see what documentation or process required to possibly start a case or return. Also going to head to Mavis tomorrow for a rebalance and see what they think about the tires been defective or tough to balance.

Did some more searching and did come across Coopers and other tire brands being "out of round" and defective from the start. Also some just being tough to balance, combined with inexperienced techs doing the balancing. So I'm going to see what Mavis can do and what they say...if we determine they aren't defective, I'll find a shop who could do a better job balancing.

 

For sure. Shims should be added and I agree about removing carrier bearing spacer, that helps the rear angle and hurts the front angle. Shims only help. You may need head spacers for your center pins.

 

Thanks @Pilsner - I purchased the Headstrong axle shim kit this morning. Are the center pins in this kit what you're referring to?

https://www.headstrongoffroad.com/store/p120/Axle_Shim_KIT.html

 

Yeah, those include the head spacers. Once you get past about 2*, the pins don't have much meat left in the centering hole in the axle. You will be good.

 

They may do whats called "road force balancing", if they have the machine... That's typically the next step on a hard to balance tire.
But if the tire or tires are bad it won't solve the problem.

 

Tagged to follow info

 

Have a good update going into the holiday weekend. I was recommended a local shop (Van Meter Auto, Mantua, NJ) by two people that has a road force balancer and has been around quite a while. Explained to them what was going on, they heard me out made some recommendations and had at it. Also told them I felt like I heard a clunk coming from the drivers CV. Apparently I separated the one of the CV U-joints when I pulled it for the ECGS bushing

Work completed:
Replaced drivers side CV
Road force and static balance wheels
Cleaned up leftover weight adhesive, even asked if I preferred black or silver wheel weights
Alignment (new numbers attached)

The tech doing the work kept in touch on and off for the 2 days they had it. Even came out when I was picking up to explain everything he did, including the road force balance numbers and alignment numbers. Honestly a big reminder that I should try to shop local, this shop couldn't have been more helpful and professional. Earned my business moving forward for sure.

Only got up to 55 MPH on the way home, but steering wheel vibrations are gone, floor vibrations gone, truck is aligned, and no more clunks. Huge weight lifted off my shoulders.

To do this weekend:
Grease all driveshaft u-joint zerks
Measure driveshaft and pinion angles
Drive some more to check for any driveshaft or other vibes

Side note:
Attempted to have Mavis re-balance them before I found this shop. Ended up with worse steering shake than before and they left weight adhesive from the previous shit balance job on every wheel. Ended up on the phone with a regional manager who was awesome. Refunded me for the balance and was one of the people who recommended this local shop...He worked for the owner of the shop for years before. He ended up calling the owner to make sure they took care of me.

Thank you everyone for the help

 

Good to hear you got your problem solved.

 

Sounds like a great shop.

Now the real fun begins

 

Shop is literally down the street from me. Keith, the owner, is very good at his craft and is very well known around here. I actually have an appointment to get my newly lifted Tacoma aligned this Tuesday. I have a much less aggressive lift, but a lift nonetheless. He has done 4 or 5 balances and 3 alignments for me and my family. I am SUPER picky with my alignments as I used to work for Snap On and Hunter and trained techs on alignments. I have had several bad experiences with "alignment techs" Not with Van meter though. I could tell he AND his alignment techs understood alignment angles and the story they tell. You lucked out OP. I know Keith and I'll mention that you mentioned his shop. I'm sure he'll appreciate it.

 

That's great to hear @TacoSupremo19, please do mention it to Keith! After that level of service, it makes sense they have 500+ google reviews and 5 stars. Maybe I'll see you around sometime. I hit up Chompky's for coffee often.