jd1234

Help please.... I'm beyond baffled.
'04 4x4 double cab, v6. 270,000 miles. 3 years (65,000 miles) ago put an add-a-leaf in the rear to fix axle wrap, new rear bushings (energy suspension) and shocks (rough country), new front bilstein 5100s and a leveling kit (1.5") and new off road tires.
Fast forward to now. Rebuilt the rack, new sway bar bushings and links, new ball joints (all), new control arm bushings (all), new tie rod ends, new cambolts-(I rebuilt the entire front end). Truck will not hold an alignment. Massive positive camber, especially on the driver side. Been to two separate shops, goodyear auto center 4 times, and a small local shop once, Within the past two weeks. The tech will get it aligned, then take it for a test drive, and bam, starts squalling the front tires. Today, at the local shop, his tech put it up on the rack 3 times after getting it set and nope, still jacked. He even marked the cam lobes, but they are not changing/moving. They're as baffled as me. His best guess is that my bilsteins are shot (???) and that the camber is changing after the truck is on the ground, when driving, b/c the front lifts and wont come back down. I thought goodyear was jerking me around, but this guy at the local shop was very honest and tried to be helpful- wasn't going to even charge me, but I insisted, b/c I work for a living too, and he was messing with my truck for like 2 hours.

Now, I offroad my truck, and tear down washboarded roads - gotta go over 40mph so the ride smooths out, ya know. But heck man, bilsteins should last longer than 3 years, right? I'm beating my head against the wall. Any help, point in the right direction??
Edit- my alignment was fine before I took my front end apart, tires were cupping due to worn ball joints, and driving mostly on asphalt(which mud/ offroad tires will do anyway) but handled well and fairly even tire wear.

dropzone

iTrader: (6)

What does Bilstein's warranty say?
you admit to beating on the truck.
my bilsteins have about 12k miles on them. I had them on my old truck and transplanted into the new project but I am considering replacing them.

jd1234

Bilstein has a limited lifetime warranty. (And mine are ride height adjustable, but have them set on the lowest (factory height) groove, b/c I have a leveling kit, btw)
Great shocks. Don't really think that they're shot, but as everything else is tight and new, well... Ocams razor, right?

akwheeler

Can you take a couple of pictures? one of the shock/suspension/control arm setup and one from the front of the truck showing the lean of the worst front tire?

jd1234

I'll take some pictures after work. Commuting on the motorcycle today

akwheeler

watch out for soccer moms and driver's with cell phones!

jd1234

I can usually deal with soccer moms, text messages, and the other idiots. It's stressing out over what's wrong with my dang truck and worrying about it thats more dangerous than anything. I can't for the life of me figure out what is going on. I work with some pretty knowledgeable fellows, that are involved in dirt track racing, we build hot rods, and other stuff. Nobody knows what the heck could be happening.

fierohink

jd1234

I had my wife get in the truck and turn the steering lock to lock as I lay underneath of it, looking for movement. Turns out that the new Moog lower control arm bushings I installed are absolute pieces of crap. You'd think they were made out of foam rubber the way that they flex and move around. That explains why the steering feels as if it's changing, and the actual suspension geometry doesn't stay. What a disappointment- Moog used to be one of the best brands you can install in your vehicle. Well, it wouldn't be the first time I've had to do something twice. So it's time to order some energy suspension polyurethane bushings, take it all apart, and do it again. I didn't take any pictures of the front of the truck, and I'm not bothering to even post the alignment specs, as there's no point as of now. Just a heads up folks, Moog equals crap. Unless you like doing stuff over again don't bother putting them in your truck. Fml😡

old87yota

I am glad you found the problem!

Unfortunately you found out the hard way that just because a part is new, does not mean it is good.

I have seen Moog's quality gone down hill quite a bit in the last several years, similar to Dorman who used to make good aftermarket parts but now turn out pure garbage.

jd1234

Sad, ain't it? I really feel like an old fart now haha... "Back in my day, people made good quality parts and took pride in the work! You damn kids nowadays Don't Know Jack!" But seriously.. I would like to fill the space up with expletives, but as this is a PG and family-friendly site... use your imagination haha. Y'all have a good one, thanks for the pointers and helps.

jd1234

And add another thing, since you mentioned Dorman, the reason I took the time and dealt with a PIA of rebuilding my original equipment rack is because of all the negative reviews I read on the aftermarket racks, and if I could afford to put a genuine new Toyota $800 Rack in my truck, I wouldn't be doing all the dang wrenching myself in the first place haha. Anyway, happy trails y'all.

Melrose 4r

Should there be, and are there sleeves in those bushings?

jd1234

Yes and yes.
Which brings me to a funny (not really) story...
When I removed everything, the bushing sleeves were frozen in place and I was unable to press them out, so I carefully sawzalled them out -big p.i.a. (The moog replacements pressed in and had their own sleeve incorporated into the bushing.)
I had already ordered a set of energy suspension polys, but when they arrived I found that to use the poly bushings that I ordered I was supposed to burn out the old oem rubber with a torch and leave the sleeve in, as the polys were not sleeved. Now, I'm a metal fabricator and could easily build new sleeves but I'm also lazy, so I called suspension connection? (I think) and sent them back and orderd moog instead, cause hell, moog is a better brand anyway, right, And the moogs were sleeved. Being beautiful weather at the time (march in arizona) and riding the bike wasn't in a hurry to get the truck done, figured that was for the best. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah.
So I ordered a new set of energy suspension polys from summit this morning, $52 out the door, get here tomorrow and I can start all over again.

Melrose 4r

I mean sleeves in the center of the bushing, around the bolt.
I recently had a problem with my steering stabilizer in that the center sleeve had become oblong and you couldn't tell or see with it all bolted together.
But when I removed the bolt, I could see the sleeve was moving around the bolt.

When you get your poly ones lube them well. If not they will stick and cause a really stiff ride.

jd1234

Sleeved inside also. The problem seems to be with the composition of the rubber. I noticed shortly after installing that I would get some front tires squeal when applying the brakes, and sometimes turning corners. As it's gotten much worse even though I haven't put 2000 miles on it yet I thought maybe the alignment was off. And it was... Because of crap parts.