Caution lifting your 3rd Gen tundra

Just saw another video of someone having issues with their lifted 2022 Tundra.
Starting to be a pattern after few thousand miles....

4:00min Mark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_4BlJTjDFk


1st Video to report lift issues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnrQATHxM1k

 

That idiot with the blue truck slapped a 3.5in spacer with a baby diff drop...its obviously going to bind up the cv boots.

 

He also determined he hit something.
Had nothing to do with the lift.

 

They showed the impact on the sway bar which bent it pushing back the top of the endlink causing contact with the CV Boot. Nothing to do with the lift.

 

Fake news.

 

Exactly. 100% operator error. That guy’s channel is the opposite of why I bought a truck. Seems like he’s only about the stance and posting content of himself talking while walking around his parked truck.

 

This dude is one of the worst examples of a YouTube content creator. He’s the personification of the word: “Brodozer”

What a turd.

 

Man, so many personal shots at the youtuber kid.

Just seeing if there’s a pattern that comes out of this, neither driver knew they had problems until they lifted truck and checked.

 

Both of these situations could be called "Local Man Fails To Understand That Spacer Lifts Are For Looks Only; Offroads His Truck Anyway Without Proper Diff Drop".

This is not a 3rd Gen Tundra issue.
This is a people doing it wrong issue.

The second guy says, "I have the stock shocks and coilovers. It's just a 2" spacer. The change that makes to angles on the suspension is negligible." Ummm, not if you're off-roading it and putting it in situations where it absolutely needs the extra travel and articulation of a real coilover lift, and all you've done is stick a spacer in there and put big heavy tires on it.

If you put a spacer lift on your truck and off-road it with either no diff drop or too small of a diff drop, whatever issues you have from CV angles, whether that's a tear or a leak or whatever, is 100% on YOU.

 

He may want to stick to driving to the Mall.

 

I think it's important to note the difference between the two situations:

Brodozer Dude: 100% a self-inflicted wound. Took his truck out on some dunes, went full send, smashed his sway bar into something, bent it; forcing it to interfere with & tear his his CV boot. If he didn't bend his sway bar...his truck would've been fine.

DrivenCompanion: Put a spacer lift his truck (I'm running the EXACT same spacer right now BTW) and probably over extended his axles by letting his front suspension. I suspect he allowed it to go to full droop; either too many times or let it drop aggressively. Unlike Brodozer Dude...DrivenCompanion's CV boots are fine. He damaged his axle shaft seals at the transfer case. This is where he has small weep of fluid.

The two types of damage are very different and very different causes. Grouping them together and calling it a "pattern" would be a mistake, IMO.

Side note about my spacer lift: As I mentioned above, I'm running the exact same spacer as DrivenCampanion. I put it in back at about 5k miles and now have about 15k miles on my truck. I installed the spacers to tide me over until true suspension lifts started hitting the market. (I have an Icon Stage 4 kit on order now). I do not have the axle seal damage that he has. I've been on several trails and have articulated my suspension quite a bit, but I haven't let my front "dangle" at full droop much (if at all). You can wheel on spacers, but you have to be aware of your limitations. There's no reason to afraid of a spacer lift, but you have to be aware of what they can & can't do.

 

I have had a torn CV Boot on a 3/1 coilover kit with UCAs. Wouldn’t say it was caused by the lift necessarily.

 

On your 2022?

 

I put about 6k miles on my truck with the westcott 3/1 spacer kit, I off road quite a bit and my cv boost and axle shaft seals are good.

 

This is why I'm sure it's not a huge issue. There's hundreds & hundreds of people that have the 3/1 kits on their trucks. Granted...most of them are probably pavement princesses...but even if only 20% of those drivers off-road their trucks then it's still a significant sample size.

 

The second video is full of misinformation - that guy is an idiot too.

1: Nothing VOIDS your warranty. The warranty will not cover damage caused by aftermarket parts.

2: Leveling kits are not the same as lift kits. Putting huge tires and a spacer kit on a truck is ABSOLUTELY going to cause damage to CV axles. Further, he points out specifically that he has not replaced shocks, upper control arms, lower control arms, or installed a differential drop kit. THESE THINGS ARE ALL NECESSARY WHEN PROPERLY LIFTING YOUR VEHICLE to help restore proper geometry. Are you seriously complaining that you did the cheapest lift possible and trying to use the fact that you didn't install integral parts as you should have as a reason that Toyota should honor the warranty on parts you destroyed? How ridiculous.

3: Yep. Toyota is encouraging people that want to do aftermarket modifications to purchase their vehicles. It works. Look at how many modified Toyotas you see out on the road. The warranty, however, clearly states that modifications that cause damage will not be covered. Who is at fault for not reading and understanding their warranty?

4: It all depends on the dealer. Some dealers will absolutely cover their aftermarket work under a dealer warranty. Again, it's up to the buyer to understand their warranty and how their modifications may impact said warranty.


I would encourage you all to learn the ins and outs of modifying a truck, accept liability where reasonable, and understand that the manufacturer is not at fault for modifications or damaged caused by modifications that you make. It's common sense. If you sold me a horse and tomorrow I put 4" horse shoes on the damned thing to make it taller, is it fair when I come back and demand a refund when the horse tripped and broke a leg? I miss the old days where we took responsibility for our actions instead of whining on YouTube about it.

 

But there are hundreds of other 2022 Tundras out there with the same lift doing the same kind of wheeling that do not have leaking axles. How are we sure that the lift caused this issue?

I've never run a spacer lift on any vehicle. I don't like them. But they're popular, and I expect the new Tundra to tolerate them.

 

I've run across the street in traffic hundreds of times and been fortunate enough not to get hit by an 18-wheeler.

If I run across a busy street tomorrow and get hit, is it the driver's fault?

 

Do you also not have a proper diff drop like our two hapless YouTubers? If you’re maxing out the travel of your suspension while off-roading with that spacer kit without a proper diff drop, then your CV boots and axle seals are good in spite of not being set up properly.

The fact that they’re currently ok doesn’t mean you’re doing it right.

 

Noooo, my bad. On my 19 with a Toytec Boss 2.0 Aluma kit.

 

GET EM

couldn’t handle much more than a minute of the videos.

 

Magnuson moss act.

 

The first one I couldn't get through much. The second one I listened in detail because I immediately disagreed with the guy's tone and posturing. "TOYOTA IS DOING US WRONG BECAUSE THEY SHOW PICTURES OF PEOPLE OFFROADING!"

Stop looking at the goddamn pictures and come to these forums to learn a little bit.

 

well that hapless YouTube has a 3.5" RC kit and 37s which I don't have so....that kit also uses a spacer that goes on top of the strut, that pushes the strut even lower than the westcott lift would. As far as i know there is not diff drop kit available for the 3rd gen yet.

I never said it was right? as of right now I have king shocks and I set it to about 2.5" of lift

 

Lol you can say what you want, but when 20 year old shitboxes with hundreds of thousands of miles are doing just fine with spacer lifts and 35” (or bigger tires), I expect my $55,000 Tundra to be able to go a HELL of a lot more than a few thousand miles without an issue.

Like I said: If this continues to be a normal occurrence, I’ll be trading mine immediately. I’m not keeping a next generation truck that can’t handle a tiny 1.75” leveling kit and tires that are a whopping 2.5” bigger than OEM.

 

I don't think that's quite the right analogy there. I don't think a 2" spacer lift should be equated to an inherently dangerous activity.

I get the sentiment that if you modify your vehicle you can't expect the manufacturer to cover your issues but if the modification is widespread and the issues are rare then maybe it wasn't the modification.

 

I wouldn’t say that it’s not inherently dangerous.


Source: https://www.chitown4x4.com/why-spacer-lifts-are-bad.html

 

I thought the diff drops were generally stupid and didnt really do anything. At least the ones on the GX/4Runners only drop one side of the diff and that only results in the CV's actually dropping like 1/8" or something. They drop the back end of the diff .75" or whatever but the front stays in the stock position, and because the CV's are more towards the front of the diff the actual movement is minimal.

 

I can almost guarantee that's because it wasn't properly bump stopped. They push the shock down 1"+ with a spacer and leave the bumpstops where they are and suddenly the shock is taking the impact on the uptravel. Toyota puts those little stems on the bottom of all of their shocks and I have seen where they fold over like that a bunch of times.

F150's don't have standalone bumpstops in the front. The shock is the bump stop and has a full body the whole length, and so spacers have less consequences if done improperly. I have seen a Belltech lowering shock on an F150 do that though because the bottom of the shock has a thin stem the same way as the Toyotas do, and with no bump stop, it failed.

 

The Rough Country 3.5" kit has a diff spacers in the form of redesigned brackets, but I wouldn't call it a "drop kit." Attached are the instructions. The diff spacer install starts on Page 10 - Step #47.

It doesn't look like they drop the diff at all. They look more like they slide it over about an 1/8" to 1/4". Can't tell from just the instructions.