Lesson learned on lifting a Tundra!

Put a Bilstein lift with new Bilstein Springs on, only leveled out front, the back I left stock height, as well as 33” tires. Thinking that 3” lift wouldn’t create an issue, BUT it did! Started eating and munchin the Carrier Bearing. Had to put on a lowering kit on the Carrier Bearing.


May be preaching to the choir! But some may not know, as I thought 2-1/2” would not affect, but it did! And installing a new one in a auto parts house parking lot on vacation sucks! Only good was it was cool up in Colorado where I did it at!

Corrected, the Bilstein lifted it slightly over 3 inches.

 

That's weird. I have a 3" coil over lift in the front, stock in the rear and I never had a carrier bearing issue. Is it possible the carrier bearing was going bad before the lift?

 

no issues for me yet either and im close to the same set up as @2006Tundra

 

At 75k miles I did not think so, but it could have. I did not look at it when I installed the lift, it started growling within a couple days. But you may be right.

I had talked with a drive line shop local that corrected me when discussing it that I was thinking it would not matter. He corrected me pretty quick with any lift will and can affect drive line parts, some may be affected more and some not. Even same like vehicles will be different. He also stated that any change in angle of the drive shaft will start prematurely wearing on the carrier if it is not corrected.

 

Most of us either have a leveling kit or something similar. I, personally, haven't heard of something like that happening. Sorry you had to work on your truck during your vacation. I would be bummed out too.

 

Your rear carrier bearing should not be affected by a front end lift. Doesn’t change the geometry at all. Your Likely coincidence. Not sure you need the carrier bearing drop kit. If you replaced it with a non-OEM (original is a Spicer) then you’ll likely be replacing it again sooner than later.

 

Thanks! We that have the two piece dive lines are sure lucky! Easy job as you probably know! The heavier Bilstein Springs sure have been well worth how I use the front end. A large slide in haul rack on front on hunts.

 

Mine did. It sure showed up on a angle meter when measuring the front drive shaft and the rear front section. I also noticed Before and After the lowering kit for the carrier bearing the distance it was causing on the top section of the rubber. It eliminated the “bind” it was showing in the Carrier Bearing.

I admit I am not a Drive Shaft person, but have built multiple Rock Crawlers and Big Jeeps. And know any lift will creat issues on angles of axles and such.

 

X2, if you didn’t change anything in the rear, suspension wise, there would be zero affect to the carrier bearing or driveline angles.

Nice looking setup.

 

This right before I went to 44’s and rear steer. This one of several Jeeps I built. When I went to rear steer I stretched it 10inches too.

 

Love to hear an explanation as to how that’s possible. The rear drive shaft and the front drive shaft are not connected. The rear drive shaft and front suspension have no relation. Transmission rear output position does not change. Pinion angle does not change. How does the angle of the driveshaft at the the carrier bearing change? Many of the members on this forum have 2.25-3” front lifts and have not experienced this failure, myself included. I’ve run over 150k miles with this setup without issue. I’ve got 5100’s with TRD coils on the 4th clip (not recommended due to being too extreme per the literature) on my AC and haven’t seen anything like this.

 

Never mentioned front drive shaft. The front of the two piece rear drive shaft will change with any lift at all.

It is a physics, simply as that. Sorry you cannot understand.

If you think that a lift does nothing to a pinion angle, well I don’t know what to tell ya buddy! I build over 300 sets of Dana 60’s and 80’s a year. I know pinion angles, and drive shafts for buggy’s and crawlers. I too did not think it would prematurely wear it out. I have photos of the new Precision one that I put in, in Montrose Colorado and drove back to Oklahoma 752 miles that is trashed. And the one that was in it failed up in Colorado. Now there is another Precision in it with the carrier bearing lowered 3/4 of a inch and it is perfectly centered.

 

just curious how that front portion of the drive shaft changes at all with a front lift. It’s attached to the transmission which does not move with a front end lift.

 

It's so much easier with a 2WD. Other than pulling the drive shaft - that sucks and I failed. I needed u joints, did a carrier at the same time, did a slight drop because...
I am up in the rear a fair amount, and it's a single piece drive shaft. Based on the play in the old carrier vs the new, not even sure it was needed.

 

Replying out of curiosity

Carrier bearing on mine was shot @ 150k. Went ahead and installed the carrier bearing drop, still didn’t fix my mystery vibe lol

 

It changes the angle of the transmission, the front part of the two piece driveshaft, the rear part of the two piece driveshaft, and the pinion angle, all by the exact same amount, which is a wash. Hills do the exact same thing though. What really counts is the difference in those four angles, and that does not change with only lifting the front.

 

Exactly. Pointing the truck up or down doesn’t change the position of those parts in relation to each other. All of the angles stay the same. No change. No additional stress on the carrier bearing. Failure was likely coincidental.

 

Buy a digital angle finder. Get a floor Jack. Have some fun and learn some physics!

 

Check. Check. Check. As I said before, it’s a wash. Anything else?

 

That horse had it coming, OK?

 

I gave it a good thrashing myself.

 

There is no way a front lift will impact rear driveline angle relative to the vehicle. Period.

I’m on 2” rear lift with zero rear end issues. Minus a worn carrier bearing I replaced at 245k when the truck was stock.

I got one of them to, and have been building crawlers since I was 16.