Rcross

I have always been told that the CV joints were the weak spot on the Toyota IFS. I wish that were the case, I just recently replaced the whole front axle housing due to the ring & spider gears were toast. When the truck broke I thought ok finally the CV's gave out, after a tear down the ring gear was missing 5 teeth, and 3 of the 4 spider gears were missing ALL of theirs. After swapping the whole assy, I am still using the same CV joints that were on my truck when I bought it in 1998.

elripster

Other than the extra idler mounted to a round piece I like it. I think it could pivot upwards if enough torque was applied.

I think many of us are taking IFS harder and harder do to the cost of an SAS also that fact that many yotas that came stock with solid axles are increasingly harder to find. Something to strengthen that area might sell better now a days.

Frank

elripster

I just checked and the board had an old email address on it so you might want to resend it again. It should work. Or, just send it to sales@sdori.com

I'd be interested in seeing pictures of the idler truss you have bent. It would be helpful in designing a different one.

Frank

deathrunner

How are you bending trussed idlers? I would think the center link would surely give first.

There are a couple things that I think need to be followed up on here:

Stronger Shafts? Are the necessary?

Cryo'd CV's: How much? what parts?

Stronger center link... anything available? How much?

Stronger center section? 8"????

MudHippy

Stronger shafts needed: Not likely, I've only damaged ONE piece on ONE side of the original CVs on my truck. I'm on my 3rd set of ring & pinion gears, 2nd set of side gears. But why not I geuss.

Cryo'd: Give me the part I cracked, the bearing case thing where the stub shaft flange bolts connect up.

Stronger center link: I'm thinkin' hydraulic myself, ram steer. Not assist, full. $?

Stronger center section: Boy I'd like to know about that 8" mod myself. I know how to weld (gas,stick,mig), so I could make it happen. With a shop full of the other tools, and 2 old straight axles. 1 for the experiment, 1 for when the experiment fails. I did read somewhere about there beeing an 8" IFS in the works for new Toyotas, I'll try to remember.

1styota4X4

my center link (relay rod) was in the recall i havent replaced it yet b/c the new ones bend instead of break....i am a mild wheeler but the stealership wants around 350 for it and i dont have that kind of cheese lying around if the replacement bends. I would be more interested in a new centerlink that could handel the abuse.

Now I know other parts would become the weak point but everything around there is fairly easy to swap out...

How are you guys breaking cv's. Besides rock crawling. i have yet to experence that (knocks on wood).

AxleIke

I have researched this pretty heavily, in the thought of doing this. You are spot on, assist would be worthless on IFS, Full set ups are moderately expensive, but really not too bad, about 1k.

The only moderately time consuming part is building bracketry for mounting it. It has to be pretty low, so you'd also need beefy front protection.

I decided not to becasue of the sort of "bulletproofing one thing, the next thing will break". Steering components are super easy to swap on a trail, they are uber cheap at yards and online with all the SAS's.

Hydro steer would put a lot of pressure on the knukles and ball joints, if the truck were wedged.

Essentially i decided that hydro would not help me align better, and it might make trail repairs much more time consuming.

However, if you do it, by all means, post a write up. It would be pretty awesome.

MudHippy

Mine took being angled steeply, and 35's spinning and grabbing for traction. Possibly also, the loss of lubrication when the boot popped off, and being cold, I was stuck in some soft snow.

This is my take on the event. My torsion bars where/are cranked, this caused the upper control arm bumpstop bracket to finally snap off, after years of being pounded every time the suspension topped out. So with nothing to stop my suspension from over-extending, it did. The CV shaft on that side was not happy, and bound up suddenly. I heard a snapping sound, got out and looked to find the upper boot was not on and the grease was slung everywhere. Closer inspection revealed a crack in the cylindrical part the holds the upper joint bearings there, whatever it's called. The part where the 3 big roller blade wheel lookin' bearings move around in.

Never did find the bracket. So I welded on something I fabbed up, with a bumpstop from a junkyard.

AxleIke, I sure will. If I ever find out if it's legal where I'm at, and/or get the money put aside to.

fthertime666

Frank, you asked about using a picture I had posted, go ahead and use it.. I bent the trussed idler trying to turn against the rocks. I think the truss may have not been torqued down tight enough. Anyways, I bent the tie rods the same day so who knows. Never bent a centerlink.

2gen4Runner

I have a pair of SDORI spacers (milled to 1") on my 95 2nd gen 4Runner. No binding in the CV, although a bit of "lumpiness" when you rotate the axle by hand when tires are off the ground (on jack). Warn manual hubs installed to minimize wear. Downey torsion bars with very moderate crank ( < 0.5").

I have ripped two inner rubber CV boots in the 6 mos since install. I believe there is a bind on the rubber on downward rotation of the inner CV.

My problem is I haven't found any posts anywhere on this problem, even though it seems that most people run 1.5" spacers with heavier torsion cranks (and subsequent steeper CV angle).

Does anyone have any ideas????? Thanks,

ROb

tc

Were they the original CV's? (ie - one on each side) Could be the rubber was just "tired" after 12 yrs...

There have also been reports that people have had problems when they first installed their lift because the CV's weren't "broken in" for the full range of motion that they now have.

I would just replace them with lifetime warranty remanned units from Autozone, Advance, etc and see how they do.

2gen4Runner

Thanks for the feedback. I replaced them with the brand Downey sells after the originals ripped, so I don't think it's age. The second rip is on the drivers side w/3 month old boots.

JonnyBoy

Dunno if y'all will appreciate this much, but the steering problems that the 2nd gen yotas have is also shared by the 1st generation Nissan Pathys. There is an upgrade kit which if someone took the time could be duplicated or modified for the yotas, I'm almost sure of it. Being a former(sort of, haven't sold it yet) owner of a Pathy, and a new owner of a 4Runner, I've compared them side to side and the systems are nearly identical, the center link is the main difference, much more prone to the joints wearing out on the Nissan(reason I'm ditching mine, among other things) due to sharper angle of tie rod attachment. Here's the link to the steering kit- http://www.purenissan.com/wd21_steering.htm

Sorta on topic but sorta sideways of it, the cv's can be done up pretty durable, I've wheeled the '87 Pathy kinna hard on a few occasions, both crawling and field mudding with 35's and the tbars cranked down just as hard as they'd go(3 inches of lift), granted not locked, but they never broke or made strange noises.

FredTJ

For those thinking about full hydro steer (IFS or SAS), remember that it's illegal to drive a full hydro steer on the road.




Fred

AxleIke

Fred does have a good point there.

I'm glad you brought that up. People should be made aware of the potential for hassle with illegality.

But, before that totally steers everyone away, locking rim beadlocks are also illegal in most places, as are wide tires. So, its going to be a risk vs reward sort of thing.

FredTJ

No one, ever, that I've seen, has been able to show where beadlocks are illegal, and there has been a TON of discussion about it on all of the various 4 wheeling forums that I visit, for years.
Regarding wide tires, that would be a local call, nothing federal about it.
Some states, counties, etc., may have rules regarding fenders and tires inside of 'em etc., but it's not federal.





Fred