I was out after work taking a closer look at the front suspension and found what's in these pics.

Pass. side from front - I smeared some of the grease with my finger




DS from front




DS from front, you can see a little grease around the seal




PS from wheel well, this is a good pic




PS , the splatter goes down the frame






Am I in big doo-doo?? I don't suppose that grease couold be from something done during the alignment I had done this morning. We didn't notice anything during the install yesterday.

 

Could this just be due to the lift putting strain on the CV's and squeezing grease out? I don't think I have a tear. I have a diff drop kit to install by the weekend, or sooner if I can break the bolts free.

 

Yes you are in very serious trouble and headed for a $400 repair at in independent shop and double that at the dealer.

Your boots are leaking due to extreme lift.

You need to do the following extremely fast.

1. Buy an ARB or TJM bumper and the heaviest winch that will fit in it.

2. Swap to 881 springs or RaceRunners.

3. Off Road Solutions Manual Hub Kit. $950 plus $350 install.

Look at my axle page, your pulling the boot away from the axle shaft and the grease is flowing out. The only way to replace the clamps is a complete front axle removal and complete axle shaft tear down.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

http://www.fastq.com/~sschaefer/ors.html

Look at the center sections of the axle shaft, even though Toyota cut a groove for the lip of the boot, your angle is sooo extreme that the boot is being pulled away and grease going thorugh basically a tuperware type seal.



:pat:

 

This has absolutely nothing to do with CV's.

 

Don't hold ypur breath on the diff drop. With 1" spacers you'll improve the CV avle equal to 1/2" of less lift.

Sorry if the truth hurts but I've been there and done that & paid 400 buck for new boots.

 

GULP....

I was afraid of that.

I'm putting a call in to Mike to discuss some of those options. Thanks for the suggestions Steve.

 

Extreme lift?? How much lift do you get with the OME setup? I wouldn't think enough to consider it extreme!

What happend to just taking off the old clamp and replacing it with something more secure (ie. hose clamp or zip tie)? $4.50 at the hardware store?

It worked for me - and a quite a few others.

Maybe I need to re-read this thread... I must be missing something...

John

 

By the way, here's a pic of my solution -- been going strong for at least a year now....



John

 

was about to say the same thing...

rock the diff drop, and replace your CV boot clamps with nice hose clamps after shoving some more grease in there and you will be fine. you can crank the hell out of hose clamps...

 

But be careful not to tighten them so much you actually cut into the boot with the metal edge of the clamp. If I remember right - that is why Steve had to replace his boots.

You might put a thin strip of duct tape on the edge of the clamp to "soften" the edge a bit.

John

 

What I don't understand is the people who have the mediums springs, but then put in spacers to match the rear height. I would think the mediums with spacers Vs the HDs would be about the same.

Is putting hose clamps on the solution for this? It seems like a lot of excessive wear on the CVs and the boots. I'm not up on the 3rd gen mods.

Steve

 

You have my $.02 do with it what you want. It's all good any way you take it.

 

According to ARB, the 882's even with their Tacoma bumper and a winch still yield over 2.5" of lift.

Tom must be well around 3.5" plus. Ask Adam F. what happens in 30 days or so with 3.5" of lift. Jeff the Marmot had the same thing happen at 3" as well in 30 days.

You'll see, just sit tight and watch the show.


FYI - Remanufactured axles are $80 each at CarQuest. So worst case your looking at $160 plus install.

 

AY CARAMBA! That angle is way way bad! Something is not right there chief. I haven't seen any like that before...

Please don't be offended, but check your install, assure that you have the bottom spring cups on correctly on the front shocks. No shame in having them on upside down, I did it the first time I installed mine, just noticed it on the first one and took it back apart.

Certianly you have severe vibrations at anything over 50MPH, no? Diff drop, weight, etc. isn't going to help here, that is nearly 45 degrees from my view of the pics, something is wrong.

Sorry to be so urgent / blunt here, but I'd hate to see you go thru a huge repair bill.

Mike

 

Steve's right, I'm pushing 3.5" in the front. I'm basing this off of a thread I found listing avg. stock height of 34.5" from the ground to the fender.

Call me a dumbass, but yes I forgot to measure stock height before we got started. But anyway, based on that, I'm now at approx. 38" ground to fender. The hose clamps may be a patch, but I think these HD coils have gotta go.

 

Hey azrain,

You're right, I'm feeling the urgency. No offense taken, Steve and I both checked the spring cups during the install and I thought they did go on correctly, but its worth a 2nd look. I put the diff drop in tonight, but could hardly tell any improvement visually.

 

Tom,

Don't be so harsh on yourself, #!@! goes wrong sometimes when modding. Do get that corrected though. Hell, I swapped my PP coils twice around the front end when I did them (pre-SAW), got one on wrong the first time and then messed around with them after the install.

Mike will do right by you on this, he's a stand up business owner and will help you out.

Good luck!

Mike

 

OME cups go upward and the Bilstein aluminum sleeves go downward.

If the cups are up, you did it right.

A nice ARB bull bar and a Warn 9500 winch would bring that baby right on down.

"It's only money, you'll make more." Pat "Party Girl" Murphy, BTG Rockcrawlers. Phoenix, Arizona.

 

Yep, the cups are definitely facing up.

So I'm looking at either:

Med coils

SAW's

bumper/winch

OME med's are definitely the most economical and pracatical, especially since I already have new shocks. I'm giving some serious consideration to SAW's, especially since they have a great deal of adjustability, and I'm also dealing with a slight (less than 1") right to left tilt. I thought they were too much to begin with, but man do i wish I had them right now.

Bumper and a winch? Again that would be nice, but I have noo idea how much I'd be looking at.

 

My T-17 was $415
M8000 was like $700
Master Pull Rope $200

Kinda alot. You would really want a bumper heavier than the T-17 as well.