1st time offroad and I broke it

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kabish

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Spent the last few months building my 2002 sport with 3" OME lift, white-knuckle rock sliders, shrock works skids, and Goodyear duratracs 285/75/16. I've been offroading for the last couple years as a copilot. So now I took it out on some familiar yet challenging trails for the last 2 days. The left front axel is covered in oil and the sway bar is disconnected.

I've done all the work so far to the truck and I'd like to fix this myself. Any and all guidance is greatly appreciated!
 
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kabish said:
Spent the last few months building my 2002 sport with 3" OME lift, white-knuckle rock sliders, shrock works skids, and Goodyear duratracs 285/75/16. I've been offroading for the last couple years as a copilot. So now I took it out on some familiar yet challenging trails for the last 2 days. The left front axel is covered in oil and the sway bar is disconnected.

I've done all the work so far to the truck and I'd like to fix this myself. Any and all guidance is greatly appreciated!
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Lol. First time I took mine wheeling years ago when stock. Broke front sway bar links. Removed sway bar. Both front CVS have been torn since I lifted years ago. Still no issues. Taking her on wheeler lake thus weekend. Rated a 7 for difficulty. She will do fine.
 
grannyzpanniez said:
Is the oil just grease from the cv? That's what happened to mine after the 3" lift
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My guess, too. If the boot is bad, reboot it, if it's just leaking, you can adjust and tighten the boot with a #20 hose clamp. Don't ditch the CV altogether in favor of an aftermarket replacement if the boot is bad. The OEM CVs are made with a much higher grade steel than the aftermarket CVs are.

As for the sway bar on our trucks, the end links seem pretty thin and brittle-looking to me. My friend has an '01 that he's never taken offroad and both front end links are snapped at the top. From what you're saying, I'm assuming its the end links. Check out [MENTION=98153]MStudt[/MENTION]'s thread on his end links for sale if you need to replace them.
 
kabish said:
Spent the last few months building my 2002 sport with 3" OME lift, white-knuckle rock sliders, shrock works skids, and Goodyear duratracs 285/75/16. I've been offroading for the last couple years as a copilot. So now I took it out on some familiar yet challenging trails for the last 2 days. The left front axel is covered in oil and the sway bar is disconnected.

I've done all the work so far to the truck and I'd like to fix this myself. Any and all guidance is greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...

Sounds like a torn CV boot and maybe a broken swaybar endlink. Sounds easy enough.

Where'd you take it?
 
+1 on the sway bar end link busting the first time off-road, even at stock height...lol,

Actually it happened when I was taking my poser avatar pic, while checking the flex.....
 
Yeah I've sheared my sway bar links before. With a lift, it's expected to happen. Im currently running no sway bar up front and extended links in the rear. The rear links are just stock links from a 2nd gen 4runner. It still flexes well with the extended rear sway bar attached, although I feel like it could droop even more without it:

 
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Thanks guys. The oil on the short shafts feels lightweight so it's probably just the boot, like you said.

Would the disconnected sway bar cause the vsc lights to come on?
 
kabish said:
Thanks guys. The oil on the short shafts feels lightweight so it's probably just the boot, like you said.

Would the disconnected sway bar cause the vsc lights to come on?
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Light weight is NOT from the CV boot... I wonder if you blew a shock out? Post some pictures of that...

The disconnected sway bar should not cause the VSC lights, I don't think?

kabish said:
We went to Naches pass Thursday then 676 to Manashtash Ridge/Quartz mountain today. Beautiful trip.
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Beautiful area, that's for sure.
 
Im with Wilson. Lightweight oil, is not cv grease. With a broken sway bar endlink, I too wonder if its a bad shock.

Pics?
 
Confirmed that it is a torn inner cv boot. Shocks are brand new OME. I had o'Reilly auto parts plug in their diagnostic tool to see why the engine light came on. Engine and vsc lights as well as a traction buzzer were on during the last rough climb over loose boulders. All hell broke loose on that climb. Catalytic converter issue was the response from the tool. I asked if they could reset the dash light just to see if it came back on. If it did, I knew I had an issue. Luckily the engine and vsc lights have stayed off since.
 
Boots are known to tear after lifting. Im running napa cvs cause of the lifetime warranty. Read a few write up and give it a shot
 
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