Update 02Jan23: Thanks to all who replied. I got an alignment and asked them to take a look since they also do suspension work. They said the wheel spun freely when they jacked it up after the alignment. Tried it at home and they’re right, no more binding. Briefly considered putting the spacer back in before deciding to leave well enough alone.

As mentioned below, raising the axle just a fraction of an inch with a jack to reduce the axle angle stopped the binding so I assume the alignment achieved that reduction. Leaving the thread in case it helps someone else who has this issue in the future.

Original post:

I just swapped in Eibach coilovers on my 2007 V6 SE. Added a 1/4" spacer on the driver's side to correct the lean. Also installed 1A Auto LCAs. Truck drives fine, no unusual noises or such (though I only took a couple of low-speed trips up and down the street so far).

The issue is that the driver's side axle is binding at full droop (when front wheels are off the ground). As others have described, it turns about 1/4 of a revolution and stops. I've read up on what causes this and my first step was to remove the spacer since I haven’t had one before and the passenger side axle turns freely. Driver’s side still binds at full droop but if I jack the LCA up a fraction - I’m talking less than a single downstroke on the jack handle - it turns freely.

So my thinking is that if the difference is that small, a matter of a very small percentage of the total travel, it should be fine.

Just grabbing numbers for illustration’s sake, say total travel is 8” before axle binding occurs. Now say my travel is 7.75” or even 7.5” - is that significant enough to worry about? I get it if your lift is such that you’re binding at 6” or whatever, yeah, that could be trouble, but a half-inch less?

And another possible factor is that the driver’s side front tire has always hung a bit lower than the passenger side when the frontbis jacked up. Never have understood why.

Thoughts, comments and suggestions are more than welcome.

FWIW, axle is a NAPA so I can get a warranty replacement if necessary. Installed 3 years and 66K miles ago.

I’ve never had an issue with mine doing this however I installed a diff drop when I installed my lift. I do have a cheap Autozone cv in the driver side. I’ve read conflicting reports that a diff drop isn’t necessary but maybe it would help. Maybe the issue is how the inner CV cup on the Napa axle is designed. Keep us posted on what you find.

Do you happen to know if you had any droop issues prior to the lift?


I'm running the same lift on my '03 v8, and I have the Cardone "HD" front CV axles on both side. From what I've read on the forum, these aftermarket CV axles can be really hit or miss. Seems like some people have issues with full droop, and others don't. FWIW, I have not noticed any issues with my front axles.


Also, I contacted Eibach back when I was comparing lift options to ask them about the fully extended length of the shocks at full droop. The numbers they provided were 22.547 inches extended. This is a hair longer than the extended travel options from Fox (22.38in extended) and the same as Icon's extended-travel coilovers (22.57in). It's also about the same as Bilstein 5100's.

Point being, the shocks are longer when fully-extended than your OEM struts, and paired with the aftermarket CV axles, this is probably where the binding is coming from.



Editing to add:
I am also not running a diff drop on mine. If you still have the warranty with NAPA for the axle, and you don't mind taking the time to swap it out, you could try to see if another one of the axles presents that same issue.

Thanks, this is very helpful. Whether there was an issue before is a great question. Not that I know of, but nor was I checking. I discovered the binding by chance this time b/c I tried to spin the wheels to be sure the dust shields were clear.

I have eibach shocks as well. I used to have the 1/4" spacer but removed due to binding similar to your situation. I don't have binding anymore. I'm pretty sure it is your axles. OEM design is much better at handling larger angles.

You may find the CV cup info in this thread useful. I like others believe that your aftermarket CV may be the culprit. If not, your total shock length is just too long. I experienced this on driver side with a "too long" setup as well, even on OEM CVs before going to a shorter overall shock length.

Higher angle inner CV joint options for 4th gens?

Likely a CV issue. I just have a small lift with Bilstein's set a 1.75. But, when I lift it up to work on it, and the wheels drop all the way down, I have zero issues and have never had issues. I'm sure that droop is more than most lift heights. I have OEM CV axles.

Thanks to all who replied. I got an alignment today and asked them to take a look since they also do suspension work. They said the wheel spun freely when they jacked it up after the alignment. Tried it at home and they’re right, no more binding. Briefly considered putting the spacer back in before deciding to leave well enough alone.

As mentioned in the original post, jacking up the LCA just a fraction of an inch to reduce the axle angle eliminated the binding so I assume the alignment achieved that reduction.