I installed a revtek 3" lift in my buddy's 96' Tacoma last weekend and it was making a noise when going fast over bumps. We lifted it up today and found that when the suspension droops, the base of the upper ball joint(top of spindle) hits the coil springs. It hits harder on the drivers side than on the passenger side but does it on both sides. I installed this same lift on my cousins 98' Tacoma a couple years ago and as far as I remember this wasn't a problem. I also searched the forums but found nothing about this sort of thing. He didn't get an alignment yet because he is waiting to see if we have to take it apart again, but will the alignment fix this problem? I didn't think it would but I'm not sure, maybe it would? We also replaced the front struts with ranchos #RS5761, this shouldn't matter either but I'm not sure again. Has anyone had similar problems or know what is causing this to happen? I will try to get a picture from my him to post of how/where it hits the springs. Any help would be great. Thanks.

 

Not sure about rancho's but I do know that aftermarket bilsteins and ome struts are 1.75 inches longer than stock. The rancho's might be longer therefore giving you more droop which is why your balljoints are hitting the coils. The revtek kit was designed for the stock strut(that I know of).
HTH.

 

If it's just barely touching I would grind the back side of the spindle. There is an area that can be ground down on the casting. That should give you the clearance necessary, unless those shocks are too long.

 

Here is a picture that shows how the spring rubs. I thought about the grinding thing but don't think I would be able to take off enough material to clear. I checked the length of the ranchos and they appear to be pretty close to the factory length according to the measurements. But it does seem that the new struts maybe are longer which could be the problem. Anyone else try using these struts?

 

The joints can probably survive it but if you can't live with it, take out the top out spacer above the strut. You'll lose a bit of lift but it should solve the contact problem. From there, other solutions are more expensive.