celica

You will prbably want to align it again if any of the angles change at all. by rotating 90* or 180* I remember when mine pulled out I had to retate it slightly to get it back in. (this would be the CV portion) I am not sure if it still applies since you got a new axle. Double check the part numbers to make sure they are the same. Pull the axle & measure against the old one. Call the dealer & see if there was a couple of different axles for your truck . I know there were a number of change ups in 92, unsure if there were any in 93. Does the axle look like it is seated all the way into the differential housing (compare to other side as the axles are the same). I think I have about run out of ideas. Does it still bind if you take out the BJ spacer?

slosurfer

Well, I just went out there and was playing around with it again and I thought it felt like it wasn't binding as bad, but I ended up tearing the boot again. What do you mean by rotating the axle 90*? I guess I know what I'm doing this weekend. I'm going to keep playing with this axle till I figure it out then I'll take it back to Autozone and get a new one. As far as with the bj spacer out I haven't tried that. I'll try this weekend. Thanks again,
Chris

Strap22

Even at full drop you shouldn't have any binding issues. Remember the drivers side is where the ADD unit is and it engages the 4wd. If you are putting it in 4H and trying to turn by hand it will feel like it is binding. What is happening is you are turning the front diff. and axle and transfer and rear axle all by hand. On the Passenger side you are only turning the front wheel. This is the only thing I can assume you are feeling. Let me know what happens.

slosurfer

The way I am turning it is locking the hub and rotating the wheel or grabbing the axle shaft and turning it. When the wheel is not at full droop, I can reach down and turn the axleshaft by hand no problem; at full droop I turn it a little bit and then it stops and when I try to go farther it tears the boot. So, right now I have a new axle with a torn boot. I think the best thing to do is figure this out before I replace this one. I am going to try to find a suspension place around here and see if they have any ideas. If the axle wasn't seated right, it would act wierd at no matter what my droop was, correct? The only thing I can think of to do is take the bj spacer completely off and go through the whole install and see if I can get it right. If that works then I can go get a new axle to put on (thank goodness for lifetime warranty). People keep talking about rotating the axle 90* do they mean to remove it and rotate it, or just spin it 90*? I am making my self sick trying to fix this. Thanks,
Chris

celica

How is it tearing the boot? If it is binding then it will stop competely. If the CV itself is separated then it could pop out and tear the boot. Is this what is happening? Is the transfer case in 2H when you are doing this? - refer to Strap 22 comments.

Strap22

which boot are you ripping? inner or outter?

Strap22

PM me with your phone # and I will try to help you figure this out.

slosurfer

PM sent....

celica

be sure to post results when it is a figured out - you really have me wondering now

Strap22

Like I told Chris, I just went out and duplicated everything he said he has done and I can not get mine to bind. I even disconnected the sway bars and still could get it to bind. The only thing I can think of at this point is he put it back together wrong somehow. May the Hub? Maybe a bad shaft? He is taking it to the Dealer tonight for the Recall on the Relay Rod and I told him to have them look at it. I think we are all waiting to see how this turns out.

slosurfer

First off, thanks for everyones help. Right now the runner is at the dealer and we will see what they say about it tomorrow. The guy checking me in didn't have much to say about it, he really didn't seem to care, but I'm going to talk to one of the techs tomorrow. I am really starting to think that it has something to do with the new axle that is on there and I won't be able to get to that till this weekend. Phil, I'll send you those pics when I get it back tomorrow. Thanks again, and I'll post what I hear from the dealer.
Chris

Strap22

Any word yet?

slosurfer

The dealer looked at it and couldn't find anything wrong down there. He suggested larger bumpstops. I am wondering if that autozone axle is just a little bit shorter. I don't have the runner back yet, they are keeping it overnight to replace the idler and pitman arm. Is there any way to make sure that my differential has not shifted over at all? I know it is not likely, but I am trying to think of everything. I will keep everyone posted when I find out any info. Thanks,
Chris

Strap22

Anything is possible. Did you loosen it during this install? I am at a loss.

slosurfer

I didn't loosen it, but maybe it got bumped over or something. I'll check the tightness of the bolts when I get it back. I was just wondering if there was a way to measure it to see if it was where it was supposed to be.

slosurfer

Well, I got the 4runner back and the dealership didn't have much to say about my problems, other than it was binding at full droop (which I already knew). I am not too happy with them but that is another story.

I guess my next step is to swap this axle out since I have the warranty on it. If that doesn't work, I might go get one from a junkyard. I measured my axles while the wheels were on the ground and my passenger side was 1/2 in. longer. Is this normal? Maybe someone could crawl under their rig and measure. I would really appreciate it. Also, this may be a stupid question, but is there a different axle from side to side or are they the same part number? I will probably start the swap tomorrow night or sat. morning. I'll post up when I find anything. Thanks,
Chris

celica

As far as I know they are both the same size and part number but someone will chime in. If it is tto short then is would pull out of the CV, bind and tear the boot. Double check the part numbers BEFORE you warrenty it up or else they will just give you another identical one.

Strap22

They are the same for both sides. Get the right one and you should have your problem fixed.

slosurfer

So, I switched out axles and I still had the same problem. To remedy it, I put one of my lower bumpstops on top and shimmed it till I didn't bind. The two axles looked pretty much the same, but the one I just put on had the grease seal stamped and the other one was just flat. At this point, either something else is throwing the geometry of the driver side off, or my alignment is so far off it is causing it to bind. I don't know, I get an alignment on Mon. hopefully that will help. Could someone with bj spacers measure their axles while the wheels are on the ground. I am trying to find out if my diff. is shifted over or something. Thanks,
Chris

slosurfer

I would like to thank everyone for helping me out on this problem. Strap especially, he called me and walked me through some stuff to try to remedy the problem. After swapping axles and not solving the problem, I switched one of my lower bumpstops to the top (they are bigger) and shimmed it till I didn't bind. With the wheels on the ground, I measured my axles and found that the driver side was 1/2 in. shorter. The axle itself wasn't shorter but the wheel was 1/2 in. closer therefore even though the droop was the same as the pass. side, the angle was steeper. I don't know if this makes sense and I still need to find a 2nd gen. around here to measure. I was trying to figure out what would make the axles measure different from side to side. The diff. looked good, so all I could think of was that an alignment could help with the geometry or at least find something that was bent or out of place.

I got an alignment last night and I measured my axles when I got home tonight and they are now within an 1/8 in. of each other. I have yet to mess around with the bumpstops to see if I can go back to my original bumpstop, but I found it interesting that things are starting to look a little better. This weekend I'll get the jack out and see if my original bumpstop will work. If not then, I will just have to ride around with a giant bumpstop, till I can get someone to get under there and really spend some time trying to see why the geometry is off on my driver side.

As a note, I don't think this is the bj spacer's fault, I think they just brought the problem out. I went some light wheeling this weekend and everything rode really good. I would definately buy from strap22 again, not to mention him going out of his way to help me and he didn't even know that I bought from him. Thanks again yotatech, I will post if I find anything new. I am still interested to see if another 2nd gen. could measure their axles to see what the difference is side to side.
~Chris