Noise after installing 3rd gen coils/spacer

Got my truck back from having 3rd gen trdOR coils/struts installed on all 4 corners. I also had them install lightly used UCA's, and brand new factory toyota LCA's. At the same time they did front rotors and pads. They also did ECGS bearing and 1/4" spacers on the front coils.

I had a little bit of what sounded like suspension and brake pad popping/noise... I sent it back and gave them new factory caliper pins and also factory springs for the upper and lower caliper/pads. They checked over the suspension at the same time and said everything was tight...

The brake sound seems to have gone away about 90%. The suspension popping/noise however is still there... Is this normal with the spacers? It doesnt sound good... its like a creaking/popping sound when braking and turning under pressure.

Any other ideas? Photo coming shortly of strut hat.

 

Mine still “pops” or “cracks” and you can really hear it on slow turns. Replaced LCAs, brakes, shocks and coils, and calipers and brakes. I think it’s the alignment tabs at least for mine. Just wanted to comment those 3 shock mount bolts look really short!!!

 

Yea, I’m hoping to god they are threaded all the way through, which I’m sure they are or else my mechanic wouldn’t have sent it out the door.

Interesting yours pop too. Maybe I take out the shims. Would this cure the issue?

 

Definitely need some longer mounting bolts you should preferable have 2-3 threads showing above the nut.

 

Geez, are these bolts shorter than usual? All info I’ve seen say you don’t need longer bolts if you use the 1/4” spacers(what I used). I too however was shocked when I looked and saw that there wasn’t any thread showing at all.

 

Shorter nuts would be an easier alternative.

 

My 3rd gen bolts have more thread showing at the top than that with 1/4” spacers. I’ll have to go get a pic.

Does the popping sound happen in specific situations? If it happens especially turning in reverse then I’d chalk that up to the LCAs.

 

Those nuts are however threaded all the way through, right?

It does happen turning slow and in reverse and forward.

What do you mean by, chalking it up to the lower control arms.... what part is making the noise and any?

 

They look as threaded as they can be, especially if they are tight to hand feel. Your pic is while it’s on the ground right? Not up on a lift or anything.

I think your popping sound is the LCA bolts. My truck did that on stock suspension, and still does it in reverse. You can verify your LCA bolts are torqued to I think it’s 100ft lbs and that solves some people’s issue but didn’t work for me. I just live with it and hope it will go away whenever I eventually replace the LCAs way down the road. I’ve thought it also might be alignment techs overtorqing things leading to the noise too since some people replace LCAs and still get some noise.

 

Here is a pic of Toyota shocks on my 4Runner, same concept, mine are seated a little better than yours but I have about 1 bolt thread above the top of the nut’s threads.



I’ll double check my Tacoma too just in case there is some variance. My truck is further from my house though lol.

I’ve put a few thousand miles at least on my truck since it’s install, checked the nuts once at 500-1000 miles and retightened and haven’t had any issues since. Loctite wouldn’t be a bad idea.

 

Damnit I’m bummed I’ll potentially have to pay to pull these coils out to fix this issue. Ontop of that, bought new LCA’a and am still having an issue . I’ll check the torque on the Lca bolts. I should have bought new cam bolts for them huh?

Yes the photo is of the truck sitting on the ground.

My question was, is the whole inner area of that nut threaded? As it’s a taller nut than usual.

 

I am wondering if the spacer didn’t clearance the strut hat/cap properly, but they just threw it on anyway..... anyone run across that? I got the shims here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/For-03-18-...5-Front-Lean-Spacer-Leveling-Kit/223016666061

 

The link you have is a 1/2” spacer not a 1/4”. Is that what you bought?

1/2” do require longer studs.

 

No, if you read into it it’s a 1/2” lift they are selling. The spacers are 1/4”... I am 100% positive.

 

Yeah seems like 1/4”. Even a product review says such. I used wheelers off-road poly spacers so maybe that’s why my threads engage more, maybe slight variance in thickness between products. Wouldn’t take much to make the difference.

 

Do you need the spacers? My truck had 1/2" spacers that gave it an extra 3/4 to 1" and I removed them and it rides a lot better. I still have the pop when I back up and turn at slow speeds so that is probably LCA related. You could try removing the spacers and then your top hat studs would be long enough as well.

 

I like the spacers because now my truck is leveled....

 

Does anyone have a source for shorter bolts for the shock mounts?

 

anyone else have any info on this? Is this little of stud showing acceptable?

 

It ended up that the shop that installed my suspension and control arms(or the guys who aligned it) overtightened one lower control arm when it was on the rack fully drooped, pinching the brand new oem bushing and the other side was loose and or they bent the alignment tabs.... fml. So I had custom alignment fix all of it... what a crock of shit. Feels great now and no noise.

I left the stock strut nuts like the photo and I haven’t seen them get loose yet.