2013 tundra help!

Hello guys! I recently just put rancho coil over shocks onto my tundra that I bought from my buddy. The shocks needed to be replaced so I wanted to go with a higher performance shock. The shock gave my tundra a 2.25” lift to it. And plus with the existing 2” leveling kit that my buddy added, my truck now has a total of 4.25” to it. I like the ride height, not too tall for me and not low. Since adding the shocks my truck now has a bad shimmying vibration to it. I assume I would need a after market performance upper control arm. I was wondering if I would need anything other than the upper arm? The knuckle perhaps or lower control arm? I want to keep the height but also have a smoother ride. Please help!

 

If it is a coilover that is designed to lift, I dont think you are supposed to leave the leveling kit installed. Any pics? Your angles have to be way off if I'm thinking correctly.

 

Welcome from WI. Most likely the shimmy is from being out of alignment. Aftermarket UCA's are definitely in your future. At 4.25 inches of lift it's going to be hard to get it in spec with the stock UCA's. You'll probably want to do a diff drop as well.

 

Welcome from NY.

 

You need a set of control arms like this. they say 2-4” but the alignment shop will be able to correct for the .25. I had an 07 4Runner that had the adjustable front shocks adjusted to 2.5 over stock but I was unaware and threw a 3” lift and level kit with a set of control arms like this and they were able to get it straight.

 

Could just remove the level kit for the short term. 4” lift is stretching the stock components pretty far and 4.25 is definitely working them hard

 

Didn’t think about this last time but the vibration is from the alignment being out of wack, you’ve been riding on the outside of the tires with the extra lift now they are most likely cupped. You need an alignment and probably two front tires unless you’ve rotated then you probably need 4. If you did rotate, did it stop vibrating? If you haven’t, rotate them and the vibration will go away or change because it’ll now be being produced from the rear instead of the front which will make it significantly less noticeable if you don’t want to buy tires or if it didn’t eat into them too bad

 

Based on prior experience, it could be driveline issues + mis-alignment. Of course, it may be hard to tell what your true truck issues are. I don't know if the Tundras have a double-cardan joint in the driveline (basically balances out driveline angularity), but Toyotas are known to have driveline issues when lifted. The best thing you can do is use either of the lift options to see if the problem has been eradicated. One thing to note is, if you're 4wd, you will likely bind up your CV axles after increasing lift in the front.

Also, I would steer away with the diff drop mod.

 

The diff drop is just a few spacers to put between the diff and the frame. It comes with most leveling kits.

It's recommended by almost every off-road shop anytime you lift the front more than a few inches. You'll run into premature CV joint failures if you don't.

 

While this is true, pinion angles will be off with the diff drop as it changes the working angles of the driveline, causing driveline failure. This is the same concept as the CV joint failures with the different angles. Besides, the only true thing that happens when you do a diff drop is fuck up the CV joints- which is contrary to it's intended use.

If it cant be helped, everyone is more than welcome to do a diff drop for their piece of mind. Folks who wheel pretty hard likely would chime in and say the same while admitting that anyone should have their right to do whatever they'd like to their truck.

 

Okay so I wasn’t gonna say anything but based of what your saying I’m not sure why your trying to lead this gentleman in the wrong direction. I have ran diff drops on several different vehicles over the course of the last 5 years and well over 100,000 miles and never had a single issue. So here we go

Here is the proof I’m running a diff drop. This particular diff drop has been on two years.

Here is the driveline coming out of the trans. Can you save any of these pics and edit to show what angles cause problems?

Here is the driveline going into the diff

Here is the driver side CV axle. (To the OP The cv axles WILL bind without diff drop on a 3” so with your 4.25 they will definitely bind without the diff drop)


And here is the passenger side like I said please save and edit to show which angles cause problems

I’ve been running this for two years exactly this way. I have not had a single issue with diff, cvs, hubs, etc. so please explain to me why your telling this guy a diff drop is a bad idea. Also the double-cardan joint is only on the rear dive line on tundras. May I ask do you own one nomadsland?

 

Thanks for taking the time to write your post with all that information. Did you recently take those photos, too? All this will definitely help OP make his decision for rectifying his issues.

 

Let's back up and cover some basics here before this thread causes someone to do something that damages their truck and costs them a lot of money.

You're treating the CV axles (between the front differential and the wheel) and the propeller shaft assembly (between the transmission and the front differential) as if they operate on the same principles, but they are different. CV axles use two CV (constant velocity) Joints and the Propeller shaft assembly uses two Universal Joints.

The input rpm and output rpm across a U-joint is not always the same. As the shafts spin through a single revolution the output rpm is slightly higher for half of the turn and slightly lower for the other half. As you deflect the center-line angle of the output shaft from center-line of the input shaft the difference between high and low rpm increases and causes surging. This is cancelled by adding a second u-joint that is oriented with a 90 degree offset from the first. Matching the pinion angles on each end of the propeller shaft assembly prevents drive-line vibrations and u-joint failures. Moving the differential down with a diff drop kit will not cause any propeller shaft assembly issues so long as the angle of the differential itself doesn't change and the u-joints aren't binding (which they aren't after a 1 inch drop).

The input rpm and output rpm across a CV joint *is always the same* even as you deflect the angle of the output shaft from center-line of the input shaft. This allows the front wheels to turn left and right while also allowing the suspension to compress and extend without creating surging and vibrations.

Both joint types have maximum power ratings and maximum operating angles for each specific joint. The U-joints operate with a constant operating angle since the transmission and front differential don't move. The diff drop kit keeps the U-joints properly aligned and well within their maximum operating angle.

The CV joints have dynamic operating angles, but they still have to stay within their maximum allowed limits also. When you add a suspension lift or leveling kit you increase the CV joint angles since the wheels are still on the ground, but the frame and front differential are now higher than before. A front suspension lift that is 3" or more creates CV joint angles that are above the maximum operating limit and greatly reduces CV joint lifespan. Adding a diff drop kit puts the CV angles back within their proper operating range and prevents CV joint failures due to the suspension lift.

It's Science!

 

Hey op so as you can see when I started questioning nomadsland information he was unable to provide any kind of answer. I provided pics and personal experience. I really don’t believe nomadsland even owns a tundra and he clearly had no experience with lifts thinking the double-cardan joint has to do with diff drop

 

I've been running my diff drop and leveling kit (3.5" front lift with 35x12.50R20's) for 3 years and 35k miles with no driveline issues. I installed it @ 135k miles.

 

Mine was a 3” front 2” rear original ran with 33x12.50r18 mud grapplers which I absolutely love but they do not have good tread life with these heavy trucks they lasted significantly longer on my 4runner which was a little over half the weight. Now I’m running the same kit with 37x12.50r18 Yokohama geo landers which have a much better tread life

 

Thanks for clarifying all this! @Bgsxrunner @careyrob

Although I never said anything about double-cardan joint screwing up with diff drops (they're pretty much unaffected as the double cardan allows the u-joint angle delta to cancel out), what I was implying that a simple diff drop shouldn't be the solution to stacking a 2" lift with an additional 2.25" of lift equipment (well, if it is, then these trucks have quite the tolerable working angles).

To the OP, hopefully you can find the solution that fits your needs. Everyone here has provided you with great information with the intent of helping you with your issue. Update us, if you can, about some of the solutions that has helped your lift issues!

 

Honestly I’m not sure why you said anything about the driveline. Nothing was changed in the driveline. He added 2.25” of lift and never mentions an alignment so I can almost guarantee he didn’t get an alignment. So he needs two tires and an alignment. Had he been on a trail or something then I can see how the driveline could have gotten out of balance but he should have never touched the driveline swapping out coil overs. When he added the 2.25” of lift it put the tires ridding on the outside and cupped the tires causing the vibration Point blank period. It happens all the time when people don’t research before doing but hey two tires is a small cost. Hopefully now he’ll ask before doing.