Is this a suspension issue? 500 Miles on new suspension and it's ROUGH.

Noted, will make sure I avoid that then.

 

I've had a diff drop on for the last 15 years with zero problems... just saying.
OP... have you retorqued since getting the work done?

 

Are you talking suspension components, specifically? Nope.

I’m going to pick it up here in a little bit. Just had the tires rebalance and rotated. The shop that perform the suspension work is interested in inspecting it. They will not charge me for an alignment, or to re-torque and adjust things as needed. is there something specific you think may have resulted from not being torqued again?

Thanks for any insight!

 

Nothing specific... just throwing it out there as something to check. Come to think of it my suspension upgrade seemed rough at first but after things settled and got broke in the ride is awesome both on and offroad.

 

I had to do some digging bc things just weren't adding up. You indicated you only replaced shocks, but indicated you also had an AAL installed in another thread. My best guess is you're getting some driveline vibes, and a small shim to correct those angles "could" potentially be your fix. If thats not it, I think you may be feeling the unfortunate effects of a suspension that is way too stiff for your current setup. Eibach coils are 742 lb springs iirc, AND you're preloading them with your 5100's on the 2nd perch. Its gonna look great, but there's absolutely no doubt that its going to ride really stiff without any added weight up front. Driveline angles could be just fine, maybe barely off enough for some 'almost noticable' vibes, that an extremely stiff suspension could amplify. I know others have done it, but my unprofessional and virtually worthless opinion would be to NOT run eibach springs on any perch above the 1st. It may work technically, but thats alot of spring weight to be riding on with no bumper/skids/sliders/winch/extra battery/etc to call for the needed added spring rate.

 

Good info there.

Along that line, tossing 150lb to 200lb in the bed and see how it feels might not be a bad idea either? The stock leafs are jittery when the truck is empty for some reason.

 

If you changed the ride height at all absolutely get an alignment.

If those springs are really 740 lb/in., that is insane. I definitely would not be preloading them with a raised spring seat without a ton of weight. The stock coils are somewhere in the 700 range, but the shocks suck. Now that you have decent shocks, you don't need so much spring rate to help them dampen. With my ARB skids and hidden winch on 6112's, my 600 lb/in springs are plenty.

 

And just to be 100% nothing shady is going on, when you get an opportunity (driving at an appropriate speed in a straight line at a time you can feel it shaking/vibing), throw the truck in 4HI and see if it goes away in 4wd. Wouldn't want to assume that your shop, or any other nice shop out there would operate on shady business practices, but lets rule out something free and easy, just to be certain the ECGS bushing was installed. Lets also rule out some honest mistake didn't happen (them getting into the job, tearing the seal, addressing the seal, and possibly a different tech coming in afterwards to put things back together, with the actual bushing never getting installed). Sounds crazy, but mistakes happen. I started doing my own oil changes many years ago when I had a jiffy lube tech made an honest mistake. Drove in the bay, tech below drained pan, tech at hood refilled, got called away by manager, another tech hopped in to help out, filled an additional 4-5 qts, and sent me on my way. It was an honest mistake, and neither tech had ill intentions; sometimes, a job gets started, someone else comes in to finish, and steps get missed along the way.

 

Reading thru this I was thinking it might be a driveline vibration. As last resort you might want to find a shop that has an NVH analyzer. Driveline is usually a much higher frequency that say wheel/tire. In my experience most driveline vibrations are similar in frequency to going over the rumble strips on the shoulder of the road. Sometimes it’s almost audible as well.

 

Thanks to everyone for trying to navigate through this clusterfuck.

Another update..

so yep, I do have the OME AAL in the rear. Again, never had a single issue prior to this. I know weirder things have happened.

I thought I’d share another detail, something I didn’t mention because I don’t know if it’s related.

So, just dropped it off at the off road shop that did the work. They will check it out tomorrow.

After picking it up, I did notice a faint burn smell. Almost like.. burning rubber, a hot smell nonetheless.

I couldn’t find it, it disappeared quick. As mentioned earlier, I did do the ECGS bushing at the same time. The seal ripped, oil made a mess. So I’ve just assumed that’s what I’m smelling.

Why am I bringing this up? Well, the balance and rotate didn’t help, as to be expected I guess. What I have noticed is that shudder / rough feeling happened on the smooth highway as well. Most noticeable around 60. I seem to notice it a bit more when I’m going uphill. So, perhaps that burning smell was a vacuum hose? Perhaps the shudder is the result of air not circulating the way it needs?

I know I know.. I’m throwing everything at the wall, but it just doesn’t add up. The shop that did the tires earlier is a full service shop, but I’m sure didn’t check for anything.

So, here’s to hoping to a better tomorrow.

 

To clarify, you did not get new tires when you got the suspension work.

You may need a carrier bearing drop, the FK29 from ARB is cheap. Just do one side at a time and do your best to keep it exactly aligned as it was.

I had a hell of a time after a shop did my suspension work and all I can say is I feel for you. Local TW helped me so much to get to a point where I’m pretty happy with my truck now but for a while it felt like I paid someone to ruin it.

For me, rear block was put on backwards amongst other issues. Can an AAL be installed backwards?

 

Can't say for 100% certainty, but I'd be willing to bet the burnt smell is just gear oil burning off somewhere. That stuff stinks like crazy. I think all in all, we should throw the idea of "didn't have problems before" out the window, not bc its not important or relevant, but because its not a fair comparison. When you swapped your front eibach shocks for 5100's, reusing the eibach coils, you changed something in your suspension geometry, even if just a miniscule amount. Swapping Eibach for Eibach, wouldn't be any difference. Swapping Eibach for 5100's, they're slightly different, and yield different lift results. I'm not implying that you did anything wrong, or made a bad swap or part choice, I'm just pointing out that they are slightly different in a few ways. I can't remember reading, did you say you DID get an alignment after the swap? Can't say that it'll fix your issues, but it needs to be done regardless if you haven't already, as well as getting a retorque on all suspension components. If you have a torque wrench, this is something you can easily do yourself without a lift or too much mechanical inclination. Until thats done, lets explore some other things, because we really don't have enough consistency or info to build a solid case on one particular part yet. Are you on a stock ECU tune? Do you ONLY notice this shudder with throttle applied? Ever experiencing it while braking? Give us all the info you can; you're not gonna bore us.

 

Absolutely, and makes sense.

Okay, few things.

- Alignment was done
- No new tires, current tires still have 80% left on them. Nitro ridge Grapplers
- Burning smell I’m sure is related to the gear oil, but hey… you never know
- That shudder I’m describing, well.. it’s like I feel it in center of the truck, but my sense of where it’s coming from can be off I’m sure.
- I’ve noticed the shudder going straight, up, or downhill. Just a tad more when going uphill.
- No tune, or other engine mods at all
- No slipping, grinding, or other noises that would make me think tranny or something
- Fun fact, burning smell does not happen when sitting still. Only after driving about 20 min, so I thought perhaps a belt coincidentally started having issues and I’m assuming my recently changed suspension is to blame.

Guy at the shop is going to overhaul everything he did, I’m sure he’s an honest guy, the shop keeps apologizing… but I feel like I should be apologizing, bringing it back to them.

Incredibly tempted to pay the diag at Toyota and have them tell me I need a new everything… just to get some compressive assessing lol.

 

Mine does the same thing, eibach shocks leveled. I'm positive that it is a combination of shitty shocks, alignment slightly off and possibly shitty rear diff.

 

Well thats good, the shop I went to was 1. telling me their mistake was me being wrong and 2. treated me like an inconvenience and that my issues were "it happens to these trucks" which just makes me think that they're cool with ruining people's things

 

The more you describe this problem the more it sounds like a drive line/prop shaft issue.
Does it change any in 4wd?
Has the tech verified prop shaft cancellation angles? I would check that, front and rear prop shafts. The U joints.....take the shafts off and verify no binding or wear. Check that center bearing while its out.

 

Good idea. I did turn 4WH on, it made no difference.

 

One thing is no matter what perch your on it does not compress the coils, big misunderstanding as people are confused about this. Not opening up for a debate, if your concerned about this then do your research and you will know the truth. I have been on 5100s on two exact same trucks and no matter the settings the ride is the same. Also 5100s are designed and its recommended to use the stock coils. I run mine now on the 5th perch from the 4th and I think it rides maybe a tad better. I think you have a driveline angle issue. Sometimes adding a rear diff drop makes it worse or makes the front vibrate and vise versa when adding a carrier bearing. I run both, vibration free on some 285s with an ECGS bushing. Seems like you upset some angles with the front settings and those heavy coils. My guess is swap your coils.

 

This is the exact results when owners screw with the OEM engineered systems!! (expected, but I have spoken the Truth)