arisegame20

Hey guys i looked but didnt see this exact issue in the forums anywhere. i have a 90 4runner as my profile shows. I have installed a pro comp 4inch lift kit and then the two inch ball joint spacers from 4crawler plus 35in mud tires. I do wheel this pretty much every weekend but not really hard rocks or anything just some mud and water holes, few good mud banks coming out the pit that are steep but nothing the IFS cant usualy handle.

In march i took it for allignment after the second lift and 35s were put on. Les Schwab said centerlink, pitman, idler, tie rods all are bad. So i replaced them myself and twisted the castle nut up enough to still get the cotter pin in the groves of the nut.

My tire on passenger side far out tread pattern is already gone through one stage of the three stage lug. i recently broke the idler arm again and a cv half shaft. So i replaced the half shaft and idler arm which was under warranty luckly. Went back for another allignment (not even trying to pull the one year warranty on allignments at schwab on them) and they told me i need all those parts again. They said the tie rod and pitman are to loose so they caused bigger holes in the centerlink, knuckle on the lift kit, and a tierod. They now claim it cannot be alligned untill those are all repalced.
I have found a site with something called TRE Bushings for my jeep steering. It goes under the tierod male end and before the receing end on the centerlink. Basicaly a thick washer. here is the link to what im mentioning. http://www.jcroffroad.com/Merchant2/...tegory_Code=S6
Will those help tighten that up so it can be alligned without replaceing all those parts. or is there a way you can put shims or metal in there. I say it on the steering over knuckle conversion on the jeeps. its a metal sheeth that goes inside to change the direction of the hole so you can get a snug fit. are those orderable for yotas?
Please dont just suggest a SAS, i want that but cannot afford it till next year sometime. I dont know if i should just yell at them, go to a diffrent shop, or drive it as is and wear out my tires. Should i replace the parts they suggest? i know centerlink is 110$ tie rods 14 and 23, and pitman 43 but i dont know how much the peiece on the procomp lift kit will be or even if you can order partrs of a lift kit seperatly.

xxxtreme22r

if all those parts are new, I would go to another alignment shop and see what they say.

arisegame20

figured thats best option. i have tomorrow off and plan on running to a company that specializes in diesels and semi trucks so they might be aware how to handle my truck.

This guy was going to start to blame the lift kit and shocks till i set him straight that procomp provided both kit and shocks, then he was saying the upper arm has alot of wear at the ball joint, well i took a grinder and cut wheel to the freaken underside of arm to get the spacers in so no poop there is wear right there.

My previous experiance with les schwab. first trip in after the 4in lift, they told me it couldnt be alligned due to thelift to call procomp. after 6 hours of trying they figured it out, my camber was rusty and stuck. go figure that an offroad vehical thats 20 years old might get rusty underneath.
Second trip after adding the 2 inch kit from 4crawler they said all those parts are bad, third trip was a charm. now 4th trip i think they are just trying to get out of doing it as they dont know the specs for it after its lifted or something.

arisegame20

I will try that tonight. Last time i installed the cv and idler on halloween it didnt appear to have any play in it. I also thought that you wernt actualy suppose to tighten down the castle nuts on tierods to tight or you could screw them up? schwab is saying they were to loose. not sure what one is accurate.

wow shaking tires for ujoints. thats dumb. even my un mechanically inclined brain knows only ball joints and hubs really would be tested by that. dumb*** that work there. I think i have a firestone here in town but not sure, i know i have a comercial tire, lew schwab, elliot tire, and cooper. plus some standard rink a dink companies like franks tire or freindlys. actualy freindlys are really honest guys and were even willing to try to work on my jeep that was obviously to large for their facility. i only go to scwhab becuase no mater where you are they are in that town and warranty their work so figured if i broke on a road trip they could help. guess that was just a dumb idea trusting them.

xxxtreme22r

there is a possibility they are bad again if those joints were not torqued down properly to spec, but highly doubt it.

arisegame20

they were torqued down at the pitman but the rest were just tightend at the castle. i was able to keep screwing the castle nut on for some of the tie rod ends but it went past the hole for the cotter pin so it could just spin back down to the location its at now. there was no way to get it tighter that i could find. hell i drove on a tierod with just wsaher and a cotter pin no nut holding it tight and that side is not the side they are complaining about.

arisegame20

Ok so I actualy went down and had the guy at schwab show me. Sure enough. The pitman arm that hooks into the centerlink just moves up and down as you rock the tires. Totaly sloppy. But not due to the installer (ME) but due to wrong part from partsstore. the shaft on the pitman is to long and skinny so it doenst allow the castle to screw tight enough causeing slop in it. So for once schwab actualy is right. Now being that the pitman is the fault there may not be an issue with my centerlink. But the AArm bracket from procomp and tie rod also have the slop in them. So i am going to try and get a strong moog tierod and see if it fits tight, and a new pitman but from a repitable company hopefully moog again so that way its right this time. Might not cost me a centerlink or lift part. I dont want to call procomp and ask the pricing, damn lift kit is 1300-1800, i can only imagine the parts are outrageious to replace.