Bent axle housing?

So...I recently bought a 2004 Tacoma Prerunner ext cab AT (sight unseen), with Toyota installed new frame (stickers still on it). I finally got it on the road and took it in for alignment and it seems the rear axle is bent. The truck runs and drives semi OK, but the Rear-end thrust angle is .61 degrees with -1.11 toe out the right and .12 toe in on the left as the best I could manage.

I'm worried that this will eat bearings on the right side, so I'm looking at FAST options to get back on the road. I'd like to fix this before Monday. At the moment I'm searching ebay and Craigslist for axle housings near Northwest Arkansas. So far no luck.

Any thoughts?

Mark

 

Junkyard is going to be your best bet.

Search here:


http://www.car-part.com/

 

IMHO... I think you might be jumping to a wrong conclusion. This is what I am thinking. There are too many moving/rubber parts involved to go right to the axle housing is bent becasue the thrust and toes reading are out of spec. The rear axle moves in a small arc as it articulates up and down and in doing this the length of the leaf springs changes, thats why there are shackles on the rear of the spring. If there is any binding in the springs or the truck doesnt settle the same everytime this reading is going to change. as an example. if the left side spring is higher/compressed more than the right then the toe on the left is going to be toed out due to the differences in the spring length. This is where the alignment guy should check ride height front and rear, did he do this... I dont know.

 

Good input.

I measured the height, and fore/aft to the wheel arch. Not the most accurate, but showed the rear wheel almost .75 inches to the rear on the right,. The left side rear wheel well is about .5 inches lower than the right side. That kinda matches the Firestone printout.

I'm new to solid axles, and trucks so immediately thought of the axle. I've been wrong before, and hope that I'm wrong on this as well.

What else can I check? I also got a slip plate on the way home to adjust the axle a half inch, figuring it might work...might not.

Mark

 

How are the leaf spring bushings on both sides? Do the spring perches seem centered on the leaf spring center pin on both sides?

 

The pins were in the holes on the perches

As I said, I'm new to solid axles, so to me I didn't notice anything amiss. What about bushings on the spring ends? Is that ever an issue?

 

The bushings break down and wear out over time. If they get bad enough they can be completely gone

 

OK, just cam back in from garage, and the bad news is that the springs look new, and were likely changed with the frame. I looked at the perches and they looked the same on both sides, which is weather-worn but nothing other than light surface rust. A new visual inspection of the axle housing (to the naked eye) didn't look bent (my left eye vision isn't so good though).

Is it possible that Toyota goofed by installing a tweaked (non-square) bed and cab? I know for a fact, that that the previous owner's frame BROKE, so my brain is trying to come up with possible scenarios to come up with possible solutions.

In my brain I'm picturing a tweaked cab and bed installed loosely on a frame, and without bothering to check if they are squared, the mechanic just tightened everything down, and over time (a few months) that shifted the frame itself?

The thrust plate I picked up at O'reillys is able to take the left rear back a bit, which will add some positive out of the right side (.12), and it will level it a half an inch. That still leaves the rear at (0/-1.0). The fact that the toe numbers are L (+.12) and R (-1.11) bothers me though. Seems that they should match -/+, or at least close.

Mark

 

Well...just finished diagnosing the housing......and it's bent... I pulled it apart and stood it on end o a known level polished floor. it's off by quite a bit from level. I Just wanted to let people know that driving a bent axle for less than 500 miles led to destruction of the spacer next to the bearing (worn almost in half). For reference, that side had 1.12 degrees toe out.

Now I'm looking for either a hub-to-hub drop-in Code B04A e-locker with 4.56 or a housing that's known straight.

Mark

 

Locking her up eh?

 

Since it's a prerunner, the gear ratio doesn't matter THAT much. You could get away with a 4.10 I'm sure.

Junk yards are going to be your best bet, and I can almost guarantee you're not going to find one in time for monday. If you do, you're one lucky SOB and you should start playing the lottery, too. Start calling around. car-part.com is a good place to start, but call around to the local yards too, as not everyone posts on that site.

There's a for sale/WTB section here too that you might try, too

 

I found more than a few 4.10, and some near me in Joplin MO. Can I swap the third-member out with the one I have?

Mark

 

Yeah, you should, you could also just take the gear set. but then you'd need to get that aligned properly. 3rd member swap would be easier tho. But you do run the risk of your 4.56 3rd being damaged from whatever bent the axle too. Likely not, but you never know...

 

Plan on getting a few spare axles since I own two Tacomas now. If the old one vibrates I'll swap it out. That's a smaller issue that bearing and retainer destruction. Baby steps are how I plan to get through this. At least I'm really good at axle rebuilding. I've done five now between two trucks. Under three hours for the last one from dive into garage until drive out.

 

Figured I'd follow up and post that it WAS the axle housing. Old alignment showed +.12 left and -1.11 toe out the right. . New alignment is currently at +.45 left -.29 right. It looks like I can get about .15 more shift from slop, which will give me +.30 left and -.15 on the right. After pulling the axle slop out counterclockwise, I figure it'll be good enough for a truck. I could put in a slip plate and get it down closer to zero but don't feel it's work the effort at this point.

Mark

 

What a task and great job on that fix man, I have read here of frames that were assembled incorrectly at the factory and shipped to the dealers for install. So that's really good to hear that you're not dealing with that kinda thing.

 

Here is a link to my bent axle housing adventure and how I fixed it:

 

Must be nice to have a shop like that! I like the homemade jig made from jack stands btw.

Mark

 

I did it all after work. I wish I had a full machine shop at home!

 

So honestly, do you think that someone can do this without specialty tools? I've got the old housing to practice with, and I have more than enough hand tools. I dont have the test shaft (of course)

Mark