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Here is a recap of all that has happened with the lift and such...

Yesterday had my appointment for all day to get the Cornfed spacers along with the diff drop and the OME 891's with OME N86C's installed. Installation of the lift went flawless...when it came time to align it, I get a call from my Service Advisor warning me that he has no experience with aligning a lifted vehicle and that he didn't know if we needed to use altered alignment specs. In short I got a hold of Cornfed and they said to use the stock specs. I got it aligned by the dealership as close as they could, it was pretty close but not close enough. That was the end of the day yesterday.

This morning I take it to an actual alignment shop recommended to me by the local 4x4 shop. They get it up on the rack and the guy tells me that I have a bad driver side inner tie rod. I found this odd because I just had it at the dealership and they didn't say a word to me. I take it back to the dealer and have the same guy who looked at it the first time, the head tech, and he said there was nothing wrong with it. I got the other 4 techs to check it out and they said it looked fine. Took it back to Tire Tracks (the alignment place) and said to just align it and see what happens. The guy took me out there and showed me what he found, if you grabbed a hold of the driver side wheel and shook it you can hear the play in it, while on the passenger side there was no play at all, felt very solid. I didn't know who to trust so I just had them align it and went on my way to Sam's. They got it aligned within specs so that was fine with me until I could come here and get some info on the tie-rod issue.

Now on to Sam's, after a few small administrative problems (couldn't use my Mom's card, didn't take a VISA, yada yada yada). They guy gets the Runner jacked up and test fitted the 285's on the front and, well...didn't fit. The upper a-arm was hitting the sidewall of the tire pretty bad and they were afraid that if they lowered the rig that it would completely burst the tire. I told them to hold off until I could get some more info on how to fix it.

As of now, rig is aligned, possibly have a bad inner tie-rod on the driver side, stock size tires are on there and the Mudders are being held at Sam's, and my CV boots are leaking grease.

Here are my questions:

1) Are tie-rods a common replacement/issue on 3rd gens with 100k miles on them?

2) Could a bad tie-rod cause vibrations at highway speeds (anywhere from 50-70mph?). It's not like a un-balanced wheel kind of vibration its more like, feels like there's a giant cell phone underneath the car and it's on vibrate and somebody really needs to get a hold of you.

3) Would simply getting some shaved a-arms from Steve at Sonoran Steel be the solution? (I need about a 1/4" maybe 1/2" atleast, up to maybe 3/4" if I'm going to air down)

4) If the shaved a-arms won't do it, should I get wheel spacers?

5) Do they make any aftermarket CV boots that would seat up better than the stock ones and help the grease problem? Is there another solution to this? (I've already got the diff drop installed)

Thanks for the help, ANY info you can offer on ANY of these issues would be great! The tires not fitting is probably the most urgent one.

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leebee

just as a suggestion, have you checked to make certain that the front rotors are not warped? that could be a cause of the vibration you are experiencing. as for the tie rod, take it back to the stealer and ask the head tech if he physically checked the tie rod as opposed to just looking at it.

lee

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The vibration thing is weird because it didn't do it before, it only happened RIGHT after I got the lift on...which is one reason I was skeptical about there being a bad tie-rod.

I did not ask the tech if he physically checked it but I am almost positive they would not just look at it, these guys are thorough and it was up on the lift for a good 15-20 minutes being checked out.

Thanks for the post man,

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BTW: Now that I think about it, I just had the rotors resurfaced not too long ago...I doubt they would have warped in like a month or two...but maybe, you never know.

ebelen1

I know you're asking about a ton of things but about the possible warped rotors: Others have posted on tr4.org that after a month, resurfaced rotors have warped. I believe I've read the same on here.

Can't help w/ the other items but even if you get the tires to clear, you may have rubbing issues w/ 285's. Good luck.

shotking4

wheel spacers sketch me out, but i have heard the if you red lock tite them and retorque them often enough, they are fine to use. you have to get the bolton ones though, not the shim style ones. from what i've read, the a arms will replace the need for the wheel spacers as will different rims.

downey makes CV boots. this guy posed about it, but there hasn't been too much of a response about them

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/downey-offroad-cv-boots-3rd-gen-4runner-72802/

i think i'm gonna try these boots out in the spring. i have a daystar front spacer kit in the way that i hope drops the front end a little bit and eleviates the stress on my CV boots. i went thru boots in 6 weeks. the boots that were on my truck the day i lifted it in March of this year were completely torn into two pieces by the time i replace them 6 weeks ago.

my outer tie rod end was frozen and needed to be replaced, but i'm not sure if this is a common thing with 3rd gen runners.

As for the vibration, i put equal in my tires when i first got em and that caused the same type of vibration you are describing. i have since gotten rid of it and went with wheel weights. since your stock tires are on there now, and you didn't get this vibration before hand, i'm not sure what is causing it. i would think that you would have had the vibration before hand if it was the tie rod end, although the lift may be putting more stress on it. My vibration didn't change after my tie rod was fixed, it just made my steering wheel straight again and made my alignment perfect all around. I mentioned the equal just cause my tires werent' balanced and that is what caused my vibration. maybe the guy at Sam's didn't rebalance your tire after the whole test fit situation. hope this helped.

shotking4

after reading some more posts hear after i posted, the vibration was there after the lift was installed and before the tire thing, so thats out. could it be the steering rack at all?

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I have no idea really...honestly thats kind of on the bottom of the list for now. I want to get the tires figured out as soon as possible or Sam's will send them back to the manufacturer.

I'm hoping some shaved upper a-arms will work, I sent Steve an email, hopefully he'll get back to me by tomorrow morning.

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Also, the guy at Sam's said I had plenty of height and he didnt think I would have any problems even when turning, it was just the a-arm that it was hitting.

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garrett1478

i think this happens to a lot of people. when your trucks on the lift like that, your suspensions at full droop. if they had set it down, the a-arm would be lower relative to the tire, and not rub as much, if at all. i dont really see why they thought the tire would burst...

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shotking, can you post a pic of your rig with the wheels on it? I was looking into getting those same wheels if thats what it comes down to.

Thanks,

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I could see why...it was hitting the very top of the tire where the sidewall protection is, the tire starts to bulge out and then go back in towards the rim. If they lowered it they were afraid it would dig into the weak part of the sidewall and puncture the tire. Also, the way it was lining up they didn't think the control arm would move enough in relation to the tire even with weight on it.

Let me know if that doesn't make any sense,

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shotking4

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...3&page=1&pp=25

this thread has a few in the first post, then at the top of page 2, there is a level ground pic outside my old apartment. this was right after i lifted it. these are the best pics i can find for now that show the rims.

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Looks awesome man! How much did those run you if you don't mind me asking.

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shotking4

wheelers off road has the same type wheel for a little cheaper. i don't know about shipping from them and what comes with them, ie center caps and what not. i got my wheels from summitracing.com and they came with center caps and there was no shipping cost, only 8.95 total for handling and they got here in two days. i think they were 119 or something like that. i got 3 5/8th backspacing so they stick out, especially in the rear with my 305's cause they are wider than 285's. i think they also have em with more backspacing, something like 4 and a quarter.

shotking4

i think it was 475 to my door total without lugs, i got those at the tire place.

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Thats not as bad as I thought it would be...I'd really like to be able to use the stock wheels though...hmm.

I'm hoping it will end up being that I just need to get the shaved a-arms from Steve, replace my tie rods and then deal with the vibration problem.

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