ToyoTech559

glad your back in the game. sweet truck

dark_fairytales

So, earlier today I started trouble shooting the front end. I was in search of the issues that were causing the rig to have death wobble. I jacked the front axle off its tires, and proceeded to check for steering play by moving the tire side to side by hand. The tie-rod and drag-link appeared to be tight, I did not find any slack between the two front tires. As I was doing this repeatedly, I started to notice that the steering stabilizer was rotating that drag-link right where the stabilizer clamps to the drag-link. The rotation was about 2-2.5" before the stabilizer would actually function as the stabilizer is intended too do. Upon further inspection of the stabilizer, I notice that the clamp had chipped the powder coating of the drag-link, and has slipped along the radius of the drag-link.

I investigated further and found that the stabilizer was binding at both mounts, which let too the slippage of the clap on the drag-link. I am not positive of the placement of the stabilizers frame mount, but it appears to me that it was welded too far forward, leading to the binding situation.

I would think the frame mount should be in line with the clamped side, just in front of the steering linkage. If any of you can confirm this theory, please let me know.

I moved on by checking for play in the wheel bearings, and found that the driver side bearing has play. I will have to dig into the knuckle next, too verify if the bearing preload is correct, or if the bearing is bad.

After removing the front tires, I found uneven ware towards the inside edge. Both tires had the uneven ware, however the driver side was much more worn then the passenger.



Looking over the suspension some more, I found that the axle has Six-shooter knuckles


I also saw that the bumpstop extension has damaged the breather valve on the front diff.. I do not feel the bumpstop extension is located quite right, and I may address this a issue in the future.

The extension is bent a little its self due to contact with one of the U-bolt nuts.

I also came across too noticing that several of the leafs in the leaf pack were not all strait, some were jockied off to the right or left of the main leaf.

Has anyone else come across this with TG springs, do I have loose centering pins, maybe U-bolts are not properly torqued?

I decided to inspect the shackles and bushing towards the rear of the leaf springs. I was surprised to find spacer to each side of the leaf springs. With all the reading I have done over the years I can not recall of ever reading that spacers were used with TG kit, but it does look like the setup is engineered to be that way.

I did however, find that the spacers were loose, I could rotate the spacers along the bolt with my fingers. I decided to pull the shackles apart. I found there were no sleeves inside the bushing, and the holes in the shackles were no longer round, they were huge oval holes. the bolt were severely stripped where the bolt goes through the shackle. One of the shackles even had what looked to be perfectly mirrored threads in it from the bolt waring against the shackle ( I did not get pictures of the ware, I will do so when I replace the shackles and bushings).

So, I think I have found where my death wobble is originating from. Next time I will tare into the driver side knuckle, and inspect the relation of the axle shaft to the axle housing too determine if the housing is bent, because the ware on the tires may be indicating that the housing is indeed bent.

dark_fairytales

It really feels good to be back mate. It was awesome to do some wrenching today.

BlazeN8

Your dog thinks he/she is the star of the show. So cute! Awh!

SCToy

Definitely put it inline. Or try removing it and see how it goes. I've been running mine with no stabilzer for a few years now and it has been just fine.

dark_fairytales

Yeah, Ayrton is a lady killer. He was supervising and double checking the quality control, for safety. I can't wait to take him on his first wheeling trip.


Thanks for the info SC, Its good to know I was not thinking wrong regarding the steering stabilizer.

space-junk

iTrader: (1)

looks like this was someones truck who had money but didnt really know what they were doing. Its got "cool" upgrades, but not the ones that are really necessary for wheeling with that setup. like sliders or skids. dont need MTRs and an inchworm xfer case if youre just doing mild trails.

anyways, looking forward to recieving parts. maybe we can just have a parts swap day. you take the crap off the turborunner and i take the nice things off yours.

dark_fairytales

I have been suspecting the same thing Troy. Other then mud, I can't find any scratches indicating that is rig was ever used. The kid I bought it from said Prairie City was the most difficult terrain he drove it on. This kid bought the rig as is from someone else, who I am suspecting did or had all the work done to it. The Kid only owned the since August 2012, and he is the one who put the MTRs on.

As for parts swap, you can keep you crap to your self ( LOL). Be ready to bid on a T-case auction, because Highonpottery is interested in the T-case too. The rest you and I will work out the price.

liveoffroad

just gettin caught up on your thread, cool rig man!

Regarding your front suspension issues:
The frame mount for the front shackles is wider than the width of the leaf springs, which is why factory toyota shackles look like this:


So the spacers in yours are common if your using straight shackles, rather than offset ones like the picture. trail gear sells the spacers. to my knowledge there is no real drawback to this setup, other than a goofy appearance.
also, the trail-gear poly spring bushings do not have sleeves, so this is also normal...even though it may not be "ideal". i have them on mine but i'm running their greasable bolts so the bushings stay nice and lubed up. I also have a double nut on the end of the bolts to keep them from loosening over time.
My only thought regarding your deathwoble is castor angle, might check that out

kornhuskerwizard

im assuming the tire thats worn came off the side with the bearing play?? I would swap that to the back and get a good one on the front, fix the bearing play, take the steering dampener off just for a test run and see if that fixes your wobble. That tire is screwed, too bad cause one sides still good and mtrs are $$$!!

dark_fairytales

Ah, yes, I did confirm for my self the need for the spacers, but thank you for sharing the difference. I will be replacing the bushings and shackles due to the ware that has already taken place, which will tighten up that part of the front end.

You assume correct kornhusker, the tire with all there ware did come off of the driver side with the loose bearing. I will be moving both front tires to the rear due to the ware. As for the baring, I still need to investigate it; my plan is too tare into the axle fully, so I don't have any future surprises, and I will also check to see if the axle housing is bent. If I discover the housing is bent, I will end up buying a TG housing so to avoid future chances of a bent housing.

drew303

Check the trunion bearings. Haven't talked to you on awhile but if you want ill pm my cell #. Text or call me with any questions. I know the ins and outs of that setup

I don't come on yt much

dark_fairytales

I have a question regarding if my axle housing is bent. How hard is it to actually pull the birf and the shaft out of the long side of the axle housing? When I pulled the birf and shaft, I had to put the snap ring back on, and wrap the snap ring with paper towel in order too get enough grip. I found that the flat sides of the birf was kind of contacting the ball end of the housing. I was thinking that the birf and shaft would pull out fairly easily. Instead, I ended up having to pivot the flat edges of the birf against the ball end and pry on the birf up and down to get it to wiggle free.

After going back out to investigate any other issues, I slid the axle shaft back in the housing and verified that the flat side of the bell to the birf is contacting the lower part of the housing ball, (where the lower trunion bearing is) which makes installing the axle shaft kind of difficult.

SCToy

I know on both of my axle housings that they slid in super easy, the ball did not touch inside the knuckle. You can put it back together, lock the hubs and spin the wheel by hand to test of it's binding up.

SCToy

P.S. I do have a straight spare housing sitting around in my yard that I could potentially bring to Sacramento. Supposed to be going to Prairie City during the next VORRA race in 2 weeks.

dark_fairytales

The axle shaft spun fine in the housing. The shaft and birf do not contact the knuckle, but does contact the ball end of the housing.

Don't worry about bring a housing SC, if my housing is bent I'll just buy a TG housing; I just need to be sure that the housing is actually bent. Thanks for the offer by the way.

SCToy

Maybe you have a picture where it's touching? It definitely shouldn't be hard to pull out of there though.

VANCE164

iTrader: (1)

Can't really tell from the pics but due to that tire wear your either way out of alignment or that tire has separated and either way that's gunna cause a death wobble being like that there always going to ride like poo.

dark_fairytales

I do not have any pics that show the contact between the birf and the lower ball end of the axle housing, but I am guessing you can imagine what I describe here.

I have read that Toyota front housing bend fairly easily, and most of the problems are found on the long side regarding bending. The housings tend to bend due too hard hits, and quick drops during off-road driving. Many axle housings are bent due to welding on the housing, building up heat, hence warping the housing, such as when an upper truss is welded to the top of a housing. Most housing that are bent, have had the negative camber increased (when the top of the tire is pushed in towards the center of the axle; if illustrated it would look that this: /----\).

I read that the birf and the axle shaft should pull out easily. I am guessing the front birf and axle shaft should pull out as easily as the little force it takes to pull a rear axle shaft. And, there should be no contact between the birf and the housing or knuckle. Relying on the information I have read posted on Yotatech, IH8MUD, and Pirate4x4, if there its resistance to pulling the birf and axle shaft from the housing, and if there is contact between the birf and the housing, chances are the housing is bent.

Tomorrow I will pull the passenger side apart (the short side), and I will see if that side is any easier. I did discover that the front axle assembly was not assembled correctly in the first place, so I need to dig into every part of the axle to make sure it is proper. For example, when I was pulling the locking hubs, the studs the support the cone washers were not seated correctly and several unscrewed out of the bearing hub.

I will post pics of my progress tomorrow too add a visual update.

BlazeN8

Swap out that SAS for LTS!