Nevin

Installed revtek spacer kit and diff drop on 03 tacoma 4x4. Went to change oil today and noticed both cv boots are torn and oil is everywhere. Any suggestions?
only had the kit on for 5 months. I thought something was weird last week when i noticed it was hard to keep straight on highway.

vegaskurt

Did you do the install or did someone else?

When I installed my lift I was a little careless on the passengers side. I put the CV at some odd angles during the install and stretched the boot. I had a leak within a week, and lots of grease everywhere within a month. This might be the case with your situation but its hard to say. Im sure there are people on here without the diff drop that have never torn a cv.

As for fixing them. Autozone sells replacements with lifetime warranties.

Tanto

I've run the OME/Tundra lift with a 3/8" spacer and never had a problem with my CVs. I also had the Revtek 1" diff drop installed. Note that some people on this board say that limiting straps need to be run on my setup to prevent breaking CVs.

How good is the alignment on your truck? You said it was tough to get to track straight on the roads and I'm wondering if the place you took it too forgot some quirks in Toyota IFS (like adjusting camber also moves the caster). CV's wont mess up your alignment unless you jam up your wheel good.

How many miles on those CV's anyways?

As long as the shafts and joints are good, all you need is more grease and new boots.

BajaRunner

Well, this mainly goes for an older rig, but, I guess it could happen to yours too...

When I first lifted my rig 2" in the front, I did tear a boot within a month or two. Once I fixed it, I had no problems again.

Talking with a friend who runs a Toyota truck and offroad shop here in town, he had mentioned that the CV angles were fine, and the stock boots which had been so accustomed to being flat for 8 years just couldnt handle the new angle. Once the new boots were in place, I had no problems.

Of course, that was only for a year or so, so I have no idea how long it would have been till I had to replace again.

Now Im noticing a little leak from my outer boot...and my CVs are flat like stock with this drop-braket lift. It just looks old. :/

Nevin

I had this kit installed by a professional shop that deals with toyotas and this kit. i use to run daystar but didnt give the lift i wanted, it sagged a bit in the front. even with the daystar i tore a boot.
truck has 55,000 miles on cv shafts except the one i replaced which has about 25,000.
Im thinking the reason its pulling is due to the fact it needs an alignment. truck never goes off road. just use it for work.

Thanks for all your help fellas. This site has definately helped me out.and as a new member look forward to many new topics and tech help.
Also what is this OEM stuff? are you guys talking about tundra coils????

Nevin

Also for got to mention i do have automatic hubs (ADD) so this probably doesnt help matters with the severe angles of the boots. how about just slapping some new boots and grease on em?

TEPUI

I agree with SC4 and his friend. Since boots are a rubber type material, they "get used" to the angle they've been working at, and a slight variation could pinch a weak part of the rubber, force its flexibility or move the seal, making it leak.

I just bought my rig early this year, it's a 1997 and had never been driven off-road or lifted. The boots looked almost new, but a week after I installed the OME suspension I had torn boots. Had all 4 boots replaced, CVs greased, and they look fine so far.

Mickdady

Its interesting that some people have issues and some don't. I have an OME lift with a diff drop and have almost 60k miles on the setup including extreme wheeling and mine look pretty good.

I do intend to add limiting straps to mine as I have sway bar disconnects and with a locked front end and a heavily drooped front tire snapping a cv would be very easy.

Quickdraw

Just get new boots and slap some grease inside. About the harsh ride in the first post, make sure you get an alignment after you lift your ride.

Nevin

Thanks for all your help guys. I found some new cv boots online. They are extreme angle boots that wont wear out and rub on themselves. gonna put these on and get a alignment. ill keep ya posted to see if this solves my problems.