6” BDS Reg Cab install (wtf is going on)

Ok. So I installed a 6” BDS lift last weekend and I didn’t want to post this here but it was basically somewhat of a nightmare. But I want to know why- and I will find out and I don’t care what the answer ends up being whether it was my fault or not.

issue is passenger side cv angle is MUCH worse than driver side. Looking at it now I’m noticing that the body of the inner cv axle housing is sitting much higher on passenger side than the driver side (causing more aggressive cv angle on passenger side)

My coilovers were also preloaded 3” on both sides making the truck sit super tall. I removed them from the truck and took them down and had 1” of preload taken out of each coilover. Helping the CV angles but they still could use probly another .5-1” in preloaded taken out of them.

moving forward to the main problem. When installing the front crossmember the driver side mounting holes aligned and I was able to send the mount bolt through. This was not the case for the passenger side. When swinging the passenger side up to mount to the frame, the bend in the BDS crossmember made contact with part of the frame and wouldn’t allow the crossmember to swing up high enough between frames mounting. Which was the old LCA mounting point. Anyways— in order to get the crossmember to swing up high enough I opted to shave of .5” or so off of MY frame in order to get them to mount flush together. I did this, and they were able to mount.

mind you this was on the passenger’s side, and looking and comparing each cv axle, you can tell the passenger side sits higher. So now what I think, and can assume— is that because I shaved away part of my frame to allow the crossmember to swing up higher, that means the rest of the mounting would go up higher with it. So my big question is why did the drivers side mount up ok but the passenger side did not? Is the crossmember maybe not uniform? Let me add pics to give some kind of representation. The turquoise represents where the inner cv axle housing sits in relation to the bottom of a side plate on the front crossmember. Whereas the maroon color represents the spots where on the passenger side I had to shave away on my frame. There’s a pic of the drivers side too but it’s just for reference.

 

Are the crossmember mounting bolts the same distance apart on each side (same amount of drop-down)? (I guess they would have to be if you got the bolt through...). Having to trim the frame might just be because of differences in tolerances between the Toyota frame and BDS' kit.

I would be looking at where the differential housing is mounted within the frame if the housing is crooked... Maybe one of the mounting brackets was made wrong/installed wrong? (can you get pics?)

Also just FYI, it's common for the passenger side coilover to need about ¼ inch less preload than the driver side... If both are set the same, then this will cause the passenger side to sit about ½ inch higher than the driver side (not sure if that might be part of your issue).

 

I’m gona do a little more investigating today. Horizontal distance I’m assuming is ok but vertical drop I’ll have to check. I was thinking maybe there’s more material on the BDS crossmember above the mounting hole or something. But then again idk. And ya I thought maybe it was like just a slight tolerance issue so I didn’t think. Anything of it.

and there is slightly less preload on my passenger side coilover.

and ya I have pics of diff mounting here I’ll toss them up

 

This shows the slight difference in how low the cv’s sit on pass/driver sides. In person it’s a bit more evident but I tried to use a reference point to give and idea with the turquoise marking thing on the phone. And then the maroon/red color shows where the BDS bracket got super close to the frame and needed shaving of my frame on passenger side. Drive side is pictured too but it didn’t need any cutting. One other thing and I don’t think I have this pictured but there’s a part of the frame in the very center that the BDS bracket came very close to I’ll get a pic of that later but idk if it’s super necessary

 

Visually you can see a slight tilt in the the way the diff is sitting.

I do remember there being significant clearance issues for the driver side diff support. And now what I’m noticing is that it’s sitting all caddy wompus, but it’s hard to tell from the picture. If you pay attention to the bushing it’s smashed on the left side. I remember it being a pain in the ass to get it to fit. I even stripped a bolt going into my differential and had to helicoil it to get it fit lol (gd damit)

 

Yeah I do see the housing looks crooked in your last pics. Unfortunately nothing is really jumping out at me in your pics as to why.
What is even more odd here is that it appears you got all four of the mounting bolts in place, assuming the bolt at the front of the passenger side mount also is in (I can't see that one in your pics but you didn't mention anything about it not lining up)... If one of the mounts were out of position/not made right/bent/whatever, normally would cause at least one of the other three remaining mounts to not line up either. So yeah I'm at a loss on this one.

In this picture it kindof looks like the housing (tube) is bent, but I can't tell for sure if maybe that's just severe lens distortion on your camera?


You had a Rough Country kit on there before, correct?
I assume everything was straight and in good order with the RC?

Edit:
I just found something that looks off here...
This mount is positioned different on yours (offset points upward) vs. in the BDS install instructions (offset points downward):



It looks like maybe the mount tabs were welded on upside-down, and is why the misalignment (putting the pass diff mount bracket up higher than it should be).
That's a definite defect for sure if the differential bracket that is bolted into it wasn't also revised (doesn't appear obvious that it was in your pics).

 

I’ll get back to ya I’m at work right now but there’s a lot more to this. I spoke to Will at BDS earlier and we’re gonna spend some time tomorrow on it.

 

And ya everything was ok (or at least uniform side to side) with the RC lift. Cv angles weren’t ideal tho. I did have the preload reduced on the coilovers so that’s cool to have that adjustability

 

See edit above
Looks like your crossmember might be defective.

 

Oh shiza. Good eye bro ya you might be into somethin. Maybe some other dude that sees this that has a 6” lift can chime in and maybe let us scope their crossmember

 

Dumb question here.
Have you had it out for a test run?
Is everything settled to where it should be?

I see covers on the rear tires.
If that pic was taken right after lowering the jack....things probably haven't settled.

 

4x4junkie it does kinda look like the differential housing is bent in the picture. It didn’t stand out to me like that in person though and I did have the lens zoomed out for some of the pics so it may just be that. I’ll look at those tabs when I get home more too, and I’ll share that with BDS if it appears evident in person that they’re upside down.

 

Not a dumb question..

I haven’t driven it far just reversed 30-40ft and drove forward a little. I also put it in 4lo to crawl up onto and off of a trailer.

 

Assuming those are new coilovers and not too high of a spring rate for your truck, then they should settle quite a bit

 

They still have some settling to do yes. I had an inch of preload taken out yesterday which helped with angles a little bit. But CV angles are not uniform on each side which is what we’re trying to figure out