I've been lurking on this site for a long time, but this is my first post...
A little over a year ago I bought a 4wd 2008 Tacoma Doublecab to serve as my daily driver and weekend expo/light wheeling duty. Never had a problem with it the first year, no vibes or major drivability issues. However, the stock rear springs have sagged flat and the rear bottoms out constantly on speed bumps and dips in the road. After considerable research I planned out my lift and decided on Bilstein 5100s all around, fronts set at 1.75 lift and a 1.5 single add a leaf in back.
The truck looked awesome after the lift and the rear stopped bottoming out even with 4 passengers and a load in back. However, the truck developed two very annoying problems. First, the front lift caused the dreaded front differential bearing vibration at 30-40 mph that goes away when 4wd is engaged. A diff drop didn't cure the vibration. It progressively got worse and worse over 3 months until i couldn't stand it and readjusted the front 5100s to .85 lift in the front. Now the vibration is barely noticeable, but still there. Definitely livable, but I miss the lifted look. Now it looks stock.
The second problem was the back AAL. After adding the AAL i developed a take off/drive off driveline shudder that was pretty bad. No combination of carrier bearing shims, flipping the carrier bearing, or rear axle degree shims would make it go away completely. Only by removing the AAL and going back to stock was I able to get rid of the shudder.
Now my truck is vibration free, but looks completely stock, rides at stock height, and bottoms out like crazy. Is the only cure for the front diff vibe to replace the CV and bearing? Is there some other rear lift that won't cause the driveline shudder (3 leaf AAL, block, OME/Deaver leaf pack?) I want to lift it 2 inches in the front and at least 1 in the rear, but I can't live with the vibrations. Any advice is appreciated.
A little over a year ago I bought a 4wd 2008 Tacoma Doublecab to serve as my daily driver and weekend expo/light wheeling duty. Never had a problem with it the first year, no vibes or major drivability issues. However, the stock rear springs have sagged flat and the rear bottoms out constantly on speed bumps and dips in the road. After considerable research I planned out my lift and decided on Bilstein 5100s all around, fronts set at 1.75 lift and a 1.5 single add a leaf in back.
The truck looked awesome after the lift and the rear stopped bottoming out even with 4 passengers and a load in back. However, the truck developed two very annoying problems. First, the front lift caused the dreaded front differential bearing vibration at 30-40 mph that goes away when 4wd is engaged. A diff drop didn't cure the vibration. It progressively got worse and worse over 3 months until i couldn't stand it and readjusted the front 5100s to .85 lift in the front. Now the vibration is barely noticeable, but still there. Definitely livable, but I miss the lifted look. Now it looks stock.
The second problem was the back AAL. After adding the AAL i developed a take off/drive off driveline shudder that was pretty bad. No combination of carrier bearing shims, flipping the carrier bearing, or rear axle degree shims would make it go away completely. Only by removing the AAL and going back to stock was I able to get rid of the shudder.
Now my truck is vibration free, but looks completely stock, rides at stock height, and bottoms out like crazy. Is the only cure for the front diff vibe to replace the CV and bearing? Is there some other rear lift that won't cause the driveline shudder (3 leaf AAL, block, OME/Deaver leaf pack?) I want to lift it 2 inches in the front and at least 1 in the rear, but I can't live with the vibrations. Any advice is appreciated.