My traction control will spazz out, accompanied by a clunk and screech

Hi yall,

To start off I'd like to apologize for my lack of knowledge in advance but here it goes...
I have a third gen tacoma DCSB and on 8/24 I decided it was time I get a proper lift under it. I chose bilstein 6112's for the front, bilstein 5160 shocks for the rear, Icon AAL spring pack for the rears, and replaced my UCAs with the icon UCAs. I had trimming and CMC done. (285/70/17s)


Now for the noise of doom; sometimes on pavement or dirt when I take a steep uphill and initiating a turn my traction control will spazz out, accompanied by an ear aching clunk and screech (The sound seems to originate from the front suspension). Initally I attributed it to the obvious rubbing on my LCAs and lack of space between my tire and UCA's. I was advised by a local 4x4 shop to install spacers to try to fix the issue which were installed on 11/8 (1.5in synergy). Post install I have no more rubbing on my LCAs and can now fit my hand between UCAs and tire yet I'll still have my traction control spazz out along with that horrid sound. Ideas?

 

Looks like your sway bar is rubbing the shock absorber. Maybe get the sway bar spacer to prevent rubbing.

 

Any recommendation on who to go to for spacers? And how would you feel about just removing it overall?

 

If you remove the sway bar, then the truck will wallow in corners.

Wheel spacers are a band-aide. You need to find the cause of the problem, then cure it.

Think about it......why would spacers prevent the "....traction control spazzing out"?

Traction control comes on when loss of traction is detected. Can spacers prevent loss of traction?

 

Very good point. However if its the rubbing of the sway bar on my shock absorber as Tacomike stated then wouldn't the solution be removal or spacers to prevent contact, that prevents the trac and sound? Or is that not my issue. Again sorry I'm a noob here.

 

A proper lift install won't have the sway bar rubbing on the shock.

Spacers go between the wheel and the wheel hub. Nothing to do with the sway bar.

Who installed your lift? Take it back to them for corrections or go to a good shop to sort out the issues

 

As an also noob: How are we determining that the sway bar is rubbing the shock from these photos? I'm looking at the graphics on the shock body and don't see any marring (maybe I'm not looking in the right place?) and there seems to be a gap between the two.

I have an Ironman Pro Cell kit on order which has massive shocks... so I'd like to familiarize myself with this sort of thing. I know that kit includes sway bar spacers.

 

I'd try removing the sway bar and see if that solves the problem. If it doesn't then feel free to put it back on without spacers. If the sway bar is rubbing on the shock, you should see evidence of the contact... scratches, gouges, etc...

 

Sounds like your traction control/ hill assist, not your lift. probably just a coincidence it happened after the work

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/grinding-noise-when-starting-uphill.669953/

Mine does it on occasion. I just grab the handbrake for a second to keep it from rolling backwards starting on a steep hill (like you might with a stick)

 

I'll try the removal this weekend and let ya know how it goes. I'll also take a closer look later tonight to see if I can find any evidence of contact.

 

Initial spacer of wheel hub was to prevent LCA contact/rubbing which I had evidence of and to give my tire more space from my UCAs. I went to a well known shop local so I'll take it back to them before I leave town this weekend.

 

I don't have the multi-terrain select/crawl control equipped

 

Is the traction light coming on when it freaks out? If so, it's probably the abs/vsc system trying to correct for what it thinks it's your truck exceeding the limit of control. How tight is the front wheel speed sensor cable with the front wheels off the ground? Also, your lift is really jacked up to the max height. This will limit down travel to like 1". The sway bar, rubbing or not, has nothing to do with your traction control freaking out.

 

I don't look under my truck much, just during services (pavement princess) -- is that upper ball joint supposed to look like that?

 

Looks like he has aftermarket uniball UCA's to me. Looks normal for what it is.

As for the OP your traction control "spazzing out" just sounds like your traction control initiating, happens to all 3rd gens with traction control. Like others have said if you start on a steep hill an the truck starts to slightly roll back when you are taking your foot off the brake it will "spazz out" as you put it to keep the truck from rolling back, this is normal but I agree it doesn't sound all that great but nothing to worry about. Same thing will happen in dirt if you start to roll back or the tires break traction. Only way to get it to not do this is to completely disable the traction control by pressing and holding the traction control button until the "TRAC OFF" lights come on in the gauge cluster.

For the clunking try removing the sway bar, mine would make a clunk sound from time to time. I finally removed it and no more clunking. If you want to keep your sway bar you may need to get spacers for it to accommodate the lift.

 

Tomorrow I'll be getting under it and I'll check cables and look for rubbing. Lift is jacked up because I'm mounting a bumper soon. As for what lights come on, I'll have to try to replicate the issue tomorrow and note exactly which lights come on so I can give you a better write up.