Vibe after Lift - ECGS Bushing Didn’t Fix It

If a well known 4x4 shop told Tacoma World today that the screw under the back seat causes a pull to the left, tomorrow the TW folks would have a cool abbreviation, 38 page thread, MOD install guidance, and fights about how and when to do the mod.
If you think that's funny, you're on myside and not part of the problem...lmao
Zim

 

This is the best response yet.

 

Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week folks, try the chicken. LOL
Zim

On a serious note, I hope you get this worked out. I love my truck, but after two decades as a service tech, service writer, and parts manager, I'm done, retired and playing golf. These are cool little trucks but be advised, they're not what y'all want them to be. It's just a little truck and if you screw with it enough, it will over time, eat your lunch. LMAO. Good luck sir, and thank you for your humor and patience.
Zim

 

The RC lift only comes with a 1/2 diff drop seems weak. I have the same lift with the struts not the spacer and put on a 1” diff drop. Made my angles a little better. The ECGS bushing fixed my vibe though. Good luck

 

my lift did not recommend a diff drop.. they did however mention a carrier bearing drop kit for any possible driveline vibes from a single or double cab. shims were mentioned in the install video, but not considered necessary for the lift, so not included... I have vibes in my rar axle, but I believe it to be a combination of tire balanci9ng issue, and possibly shim angle, I was noticing vibes with factory suspension, and stock sized tires...

 

Welp, the carrier bearing drop didn’t help. Neither did the 1” diff drop I put on this morning. Same 2WD-only pulse vibe that peaks at 48 mph. CV angles look better with the 1” diff drop than with the 1/2” diff drop that came with the RC kit (pics below), but still the same old pulse vibe that disappears in 4HI.

Gonna swap the front tires across, to eliminate the freak chance that will work. And then maybe have them road-force balanced for the hell of it, if it doesn’t.

Anybody think a wheel bearing on its way out could quit making noise with torque put on the CV’s (ie with 4HI engaged?).

Maybe a CV joint gone bad cause it just didn’t do well with the lift?

Any other ideas?

Driver’s side CV before 1”diff drop:

Driver’s side CV after 1” diff drop

 

Are you only perceiving the vibration as coming from the drivers side?

 

Man, that’s a hard one. I feel it, of course, while driving, so through the steering wheel and a little through the gas pedal. But it’s very hard to tell which side.

 

Passenger CV before 1” drop:

Passenger CV after 1” drop:

 

That bushing has to be installed incorrectly, what you’re describing are the exact symptoms. Your rear driveline is not affecting your front, a big benefit of ifs is that you never need to mess with your front driveshaft or pinion angle.

if you feel it in the front it’s gotta be the culprit

 

Man, I’d be with you if the vibe had changed even slightly after the bushing install. But it didn’t change in pitch, frequency or the speed at which it comes and goes. Plus, there’s only two ways to install it and I even talked the install over with the guy who did it, beforehand, and he watched the ECGS install video before he did it.

They either installed the bushing right and that’s not the problem, or they never installed it at all.

Only way to know that is to pull the whole CV.

 

Yeah somethings off for sure but I don’t see how you’re still getting vibes, that was like the first thing I did to my single cab and it took care of them immediately.

What you can do is crawl under the driver side and push up and down on the end of the cv that enters the diff and take note of the play, there should be very minimal up/down play

 

hmm, soo just to recap... trying to cover all the bases here so sorry if you have answered these before..

*wheels/tires have been balanced?
*you did the rear carrier bearing drop 3/8" (OME kit, I have the same one)
*1" front diff drop kit.. and an ECGS bushing kit was installed by someone else (shop)

things to check/look at:
*how are the alignment specs? do you have a readout? (0* or + castor will give you the shakes/deathwobbles) for proper handling this is why most fixed castor UCA's are in the 2-3* degrees negative castor, another is if your toe in is too much 1-2* is max.. and a larger diameter tire can exacerbate this and cause a wobble.
*tire pressures? 33ish PSI? (just trying to cover all the bases)
*how old are your tires are they cupped? uneven wear?
*any play in the steering? (requires lifting 1 front tire at a time, then check for play in the steering linkage left right, any up or down/left right movement in end links/ball joints (should be VERY minimal almost stiff/tight).
*caked on dirt/dust/grease on driveshafts?
*bad u-joints (stiff or ungreasesd/siezing u-joints will cause vibes before failure)

these are a bit more involved, but are critical in ensuring there are no vibrations/harmonic imbalances in the driveshafts. should be checked with a magnetic bas, and dial indicator (HF has these for $35 for both and while not super accurate, they will show runout/endplay)

*check fluids in t-case (if low check front & rear output shafts endplay)
*check differential/s input endplay


this is as far as my knowledge takes me... but check the common wear items first.. and he may be right about that from ECGS bushing either not being installed, or they installed it too deep... good luck

hope some of this helps, I'm also chasing down some vibes on my tacoma, just havent had time to do any of this, and I beleive a lot of my issue is tire/wheel balancing...

 

See what you think:

Driver’s side CV play (with ECGS bushing): https://youtu.be/xYYRKia0F5M

Passenger side CV play:
https://youtu.be/bHv8e1fBoMI

 

Thanks for taking the time to give me a laundry list like that! Most of the basic stuff I can tell you is good. Alignment was done and well within spec after the lift was installed. Tires pressure is fine and tires are only a year/15k miles old, and in fine shape (plus the vibe appeared immediately after the lift, and wasn’t present before, so I have a hard time thinking it’s tire wear). Diff fluid should be fine, since it was drained and refilled when the shop did the ECGS bushing (they said the needle bearing dropped a roller into the diff, and they had to drain it to get it out, and refill it). Driveshafts are clean—she’s pretty much a pavement princess, save for hitting dirt roads heading to fishing holes.

Will have to check the other stuff.

 

I can't remember but are these LT tires or P.
Zim

 

LT. Nitto Terra Grappler G2’s.

 

Agree 100% imo, these truck are better left alone. I've got a buddy that operates his own independent shop that services all sorts of vehicles from tuneups to major work. He's got an older chevy 3/4 ton 4x4 pickup, and a 2019 taco trd or. Both have lifts, both with 33'' tires. He didn't have any issues with the chevy, but he's been pulling his hair out trying to get his taco to perform similar. I've ridden in his truck....yeah it looks cool and he gets looks riding around the city, but imo it rides like chit, doesn't shift like mine, and makes a low grade whining noise at 50 mph. Of course those tires don't help either. I keep telling him to put it back to stock, but its hard for him to do that after all he's got into it.

 

Update: The shop that did the ECGS bushing install went back and pulled the whole CV axle again and checked the bushing, and it’s good. They also looked at everything else front driveline-related while they had it there (over about 2 days) and are stumped. Everything appears totally fine. On the upside, they didn’t charge me a dime for doing all that.

Meanwhile, I sent the video of my driver’s side CV play (see previous posts) to ECGS. They said that’s the standard amount of play with their bushing installed.

As an aside, Will at ECGS theorizes that using spacers in the front, instead of longer coils/struts, could be the problem, although I can’t wrap my head around why that would be the case with a 2WD-only vibe.

Meanwhile, the vibe is now detectable/audible at lower and higher speeds than the original range. The search continues, but I may yet just pull the kit off.