BDS is Garbage

Nothing but tie rod failures. 8 in total now in 3 years of having the lift.
I was losing my mind after 4 failures. Now, I'm furious.

I decided after 6 BDS tie rod failures, to buy the Coachbuilder tie rods and I've had two fail now the last year.
The Ackerman steering issue is a real thing with BDS knuckles.. There is a significant wheel scrubbing when turning and there is absolutely nothing that can be done to fix this.

I though buying the Coachbuilder Tie Rods and aligning it to spec as per their website would solve this... Wrong.. It's still there and as soon as my truck is at full, or close to full lock in winter, the wheels scrub and bam, I immediately have looseness in my steering wheel and know that the tie rod just failed.

Incredibly frustrating and incredibly expensive to repair and align 2 times every year!!

Read post#30 here: https://www.tundratalk.net/threads/anyone-with-a-bds-7-lift-please-read-this.111726/


Since my BDS lift is the 4.5" kit... My question to the community here, is could I order and install the Readylift 4" lift knuckles and replace my BDS knuckles to retain my factory Toyota Tie rods AND maintain OEM steering geometry?

https://www.readylift.com/4-lift-kit-toyota-tundra-trd-pro-2015-2021.html

Has anyone tried this?

 

Have you spoken to David with Coachbuilders? He’s on here and answered my questions about my lift when I bought his supporting products.

 

Yeah I'm going to be giving them a call to see if this will be warrantied and if there are any other ideas. Not overly optimistic anything can be done to permanently solve this.

Would love to know from the suspension experts on here, if I can replace the BDS knuckle with a Readylift one to maintain OEM tie rods and geometry.

 

Thanks for the tags guys.. BoysandHisToys DarknessReigns I'd love to help and am happy to pass on helpful info.The BDS and ProComp Knuckles share similar geometry. Give me a call anytime its convenient.

David

 

I put a Zone 6" kit on my 17' Tacoma and experienced the bump steer/scrubbing issue something fierce and Zone wasn't much help. Seems to be a pattern. 6" RC kit I installed on the Tundra doesn't have any issues. That kit retains stock tie rod ends switched to opposite sides.

 

Is the issue that the new suspension can allow turning too far resulting in the wheel contacting part of the steering? Or just beyond the limits of the steering? Either way, can the steering bump stops not be modified to limit the turning to current full lock and prevent these failures?

 

Limiting steering isn't the fix here.. The wheel scrubbing starts to happen even at 'half lock' in parking lots. It's the terrible steering geometry from BDS designed steering knuckles. If anyone is considering a BDS kit, I would highly advise against it. Pick something that retains factory tie rods and geometry. I'm in the process of communicating with BDS now on the issue and I really hope something can be done here. I'll keep this thread updated as I work through this with them. If this does get resolved, I will take back my comments above. More to come...

*On a positive note, David warrantied my tie rod, excellent service from Ekstrom designs.

 

Pics of failed tie rod? The shaft is breaking? The knuckle on the end is separating? This is just caused by the stress due to poor geometry? Are you running extreme offset wheels that contribute to the scrub radius issue? The post you quoted that identified the issue is from 12 years ago. But you’ve had the lift 3 years. This “defective product” has been around for almost 10 years when you purchased yours? Crazy. Sounds like ditching the lift is in your future. The BDS bracket lift can hopefully be replaced by a better designed bracket lift and solve your problems. Good luck sir!

 

Is BDS standing behind their No BS warranty?

 

@KNABORES, I currently have -18 offset. I had +1 offset wheels for the first 2 years, same issue. I run winter tires that are the OEM 20" wheels with 1.5" spacer. Tie rods just get loose with play, they never snap off or anything, just a really loose steering wheel feel over every tiny bump.

@texasrho83, I'm communicating with BDS via email back and forth.. It's been a few days without update, I've sent them everything they've asked for, multiple alignment sheets, pictures, all measurements requested... Waiting while my tie rod shutters everytime I leave the house.. Don't want to install the new tie rod until I hear from them.

I'll keep updating this as I hear more.

 

I would call them directly and talk to a technician. When I had issues with one of my spindles they were
very helpful and stood behind their warranty.
warranty.

 

I'm always up for phone over email.. And thats exactly what I did to open the case. Then was asked for data and pictures via email... Currently sitting with their Engineering dept. for about a week now. I'll update when I hear more.

 

I have a BDS kit and wheel on 40s. I have the CB tie rod ends and have never had a tie rod failure.

Who installed your lift? If it was a BDS authorized shop then you should actually be talking to the shop and let the shop bat for you when they talk to BDS. BDS responds much faster to their shop contacts.

 

Thanks for the boost of confidence that there are some who have had success with this kit. I've had the lift shop that installed my BDS kit replace almost all of my tie rods. I've got the case open with BDS already and they have at least 4 of my previous alignment spec sheets, measurements and pictures already. So I'm going to wait and see what they come back with...

 

What year is your truck?

 

2019

 

So we have the same knuckles I believe. I’m sure BDS checked but did the shop weld a piece of metal onto the knuckle that prevents the steering rack from going too far?

You mentioned “scrubbing.” Has your truck ever had front end damage? I recently bought a stock 2015 that had front end damage. Even though it drove straight the alignment had to be tweaked by a lot to do so. When I turn (not at full lock) I experience this scrubbing.

 

Yes the steering stops are welded in place. The scrub starts to happen way before it even comes close to the steering stops. My truck has never been in an accident.

 

What size wheel and tire? And is this your first lifted truck?

 

35x12.5x20
I've owned lifted trucks since 1998. Many of them.
There is something wrong with this kit, I've never had wheel scrub like this.

 

I am on the BDS 7inch lift on 35x12.5x18 +18 offset for 70,000. No issues.

 

The issue isn't your tie rods, the fact that anyone would warranty them says volumes about that company.

The issue is somewhere in your lift, I know you know that. Since others have that lift with zero issues, I'd be looking hard at:
Its install
Its mounting points
The knuckles, one of them is out of spec

Somethings wrong somewhere and its probably pretty simple to spot. Broken, wallowed out mounting point, etc

How are these tie rods failing ?
Actually breaking or just loose ?
Pictures ?
All on the same side ?
Same one every time ?

 

I never said the issue was "the" Tie Rods. The BDS and Coachbuilder tie rods are both failing. They get loose with lots of play in them. The Coachbuilder ones seem to last a little longer, but they inevitably fail too. And the fact that this happens on 'Both' sides, tells me that this isn't something specific to one side. The lift was installed by a reputable shop that builds trucks, lifts etc. all the time. They have a great reputation, are great people and I trust them over any other shop around. The knuckles are the only thing that I can attribute this to right now.. Still waiting on BDS response...

 

A friend of mine had his lift installed at a reputable shop. It drove different after and he attributed it to the new suspension components. It was eating front tires and seemed out of alignment. Also appeared to only get 3” out of a 4-4.5” lift. He took it to another reputable shop and they discovered the front suspension components had been installed on the opposite sides, L on the R and R on the L. People make mistakes. People pretend to be better at stuff than they are. It’s certainly worth having it checked to make sure there’s not an install issue.

 

BDS got back to me and suggested to run more positive caster. They suggested 3.5 to 4 degrees caster which, according to them, helps keep the wheels straight and less stress on the tie rods... I'm not convinced here, but will give it a go. I'll report back in 6 months (or sooner). 'Sigh'

 

What is your caster now? 3.5-4 are good targets.

 

I had a 7 inch BDS installed by a great installer that also builds trucks and installs hundreds of lift kits a year. One of the things that I did notice was that it did start to wear the tires really early. My installer made some alignment adjustments but I still thought that it was scrubbing the edge of the tires. He kinda indicated that it was more of a Tundra thing than the BDS lift kit. I certainly don’t think that BDS lifts are junk.

 

2.35 degrees

For those with the BDS kit, what Caster does your alignment specs show? Curious if yours are around the 2-2.5 mark as well.

 

Mine are pretty far forward. Probably around 4.

 

I'm still waiting to see pictures of the install. Too many people have these lifts without any problems.