Lift causing issues

Yeah man you got it. Just buzz me when

Consider it done! I haven't figured out how to send PMs on this forum yet so if you would please send me one we can talk details there. Always happy to take someone out on my slicked out sled (weather permitting of course).

 

Ha! She holds 3 full grown adults just fine... We can all go together or on separate trips. I have a Yami F115 VMAX SHO on the rear end that gits up and goes so weight isn't too much of an issue.

 

Interesting but I'm way too deep in the $ at this point. And I truly love my truck... just some bumps in the road is all. And can always go back to stock.

 

Pics forthcoming!

 

Was the vehicle aligned after the lift? It should be. That would be my first step before judging how it feels when driving it. Your camber and caster will be very thrown off due to the geometry changes of the lift. Those two things can completely change how it feels driving down the road.

If you have stock wheels, with 285/70-17s, you technically don’t need a lift to clear them. Regardless, whether you have a lift or not, you only need a little trimming front inside lower corner of the bumper cover, and slight repositioning of the fender liner in that spot. 20 minutes with a box cutter and drill for new holes to reposition the liner.

However, be aware that if you change to an aftermarket upper control arm, this will require metal work to clear the tires! The reason is that aftermarket control arms reposition the upper ball joint rearward, which means now your tire will likely contact the body mount, or will have the potential to do so under hard suspension cycling. To solve this problem, you have to trim the front sections of the body mounts and weld on new plates to it to close it back up. Personally, I would not change the UCA.

If this were me, I would first have it aligned before doing anything else. This absolutely has to be done first! They will probably not be able to get the caster angles perfectly within spec, due to the lift, but it will be very close to it. In my experience (with a similar lift and tires), having caster close enough is good enough. However, make sure camber and toe are within spec! This guarantees that your tread contact patch is flat against the road (camber), and aren’t scrubbing too much (toe).

The next step I would do is to go back to the first shop and ask them again for your fender liners. If they are still saying they threw them away, ask them to make you whole and buy a new set from Toyota.

 

Pics added at end of thread.

 

Oh I see what they did with the fender liners. It’s a bit “inelegant” lol. But, besides that, she sits real nice!

 

Yes, inelegant indeed!

Do you think that could cause any problems, like rainwater getting into the motor (as suggested by another form member) as an example?

 

It depends, whatever isn’t covered is going to be affected to some degree. Given the amount of driving I do in winter with road salt spray, I prefer to keep factory shielding intact.

At the very least, what they cut away will make winter and mud cleanup more difficult for you. You want to make sure any new areas that get exposed to road spray get rinsed out well, including the front frame cross member. Especially if you drive on roads that have been de-iced.

Ideally, they would have just trimmed the bumper cover plastic at the corner, and pushed the liner forward and drilled a new hole in it to hold it in the new position.

I’ve got 285/70-17s on stock wheels, with stock UCAs. This is all I had to do to make sure it didn’t have any tire rub at full suspension compression (at least at middle of suspension stroke, where the tire is closest)


Worst case, you could buy some rubber or other flexible sheet materials and patch that up.

 

Thank you for explaining this! Big help!
I knew he should’ve have unbolted all that liner. Total shortcut.

 

My advice. Call every larger tire/alignment shop near your, ask if they can road force balance the tires. Then ask if they can align a 4runner to your specifications.

Do some searching on here a lot of guys posted ideal alignment numbers so you know what to tell the shop your looking for. Also when your tires are road force balanced ask them for the run out numbers.

The wescott lift its a decent setup for a florida truck. And if something was wrong with the lift installation youd hear a noise when hitting a bump.

Also return the jba uca. Its a great product but you dont need them and might make it rub worse.

Check tire pressure to make sure its even and not over 35psi. Do your tires have yellow dots on the sidewall?

 

agreed in find a shop that handles bigger tires, return UCAs and make sure those yellow dots are at the valve stem.

 

The original shop did road force balance them, and claim they have a very expensive balancing machine from Italy. They also claim they have a very good alignment guy so just saying. But the new guy I’m taking it to hopefully solve all of this. Not sure I’ll return the JBA upper control arms, though

 

The irony is that it was a shortcut that took more time and effort.

Just a reminder, if you install the JBAs, it will cause rubbing on the rear side of the tire against the mudflap and the body mount. It probably wont rub in most situations, but if you’re ever turning when the suspension compresses half way, you’ll likely end up tearing a mudflap off, at minimum. The only way to fix this is to cut/trim the body mount with a cutoff wheel and grinder. Then weld on a cap over it.

 

It doesnt matter how good the alignment guy is. Ask for the print out of the before and after numbers. Its not rocket science. Just like tire balancing the machine tells you what you need to do.

 

ha that funny about the Italian balancer. Uh huh…. Hunter road force elite balancer is the best to my knowledge.

 

Nice truck! Seems like you've dropped a penny or 2 on it. I put the beloved Rough Country 3" lift on my 2007 4Runner. It goes over the neighborhood speed bumps quite nicely.
(my idea of 4wheeling for the moment) When I bought the truck not too long ago it came with some Hancock 265/70/17s that are in great shape. Eventually I want a taller tire,probably not 285s so it will look cooler going through the 2 inch puddles. I was contemplating UCAs thinking that will move the tire out some but an earlier comment seemed to say this is unnecessary. Anyway, cool truck.

 

Just sold our 2019. Had it for 5 years lifted from day 1. 2 1/2" RL with Nitto 295s and 20in fuel wheels. We chased "vibrations" with alignments, rotations, wheel balance (atleast 3 times in 5 years). Finally did the needle bearing. All made it better but never acceptable. She's gone now, I tried.. Good luck!

 

i bet those Nittos and 20”
fuel wheelswere the problem

so allegedly my car said 102 mph while following a BMW on the TP today. 3 yr old Falken Wildpeak AT3 SL in 285/70/17 on OEM trail special rims,,,smooth as can be just a little noisy at that alleged speed.