Adjustable Rear Trailing Arms Significant?

[JSparky]

I'm in the process of configuring a lift for my 5th gen and had a question for more experienced owners regarding rear trailing arms/control arms. From my own experience with Jeeps I know they're typically used to adjust the rear pinion to eliminate driveline vibrations and reduce wear on the driveshaft/propshaft joints. My question is, how critical is this on the 5th gens with 2.5-3 inches of lift? Has anyone experienced vibes or premature driveshaft failure running a lift with the stock rear suspension links? For example, on the Jeep JKs the driveshaft cv-joints would burn up fast on lifted applications, requiring both adjustable rear links and aftermarket double-cardan driveshafts.

I'll likely not run any kind of extended-travel systems as I don't think the KDSS will be able to take it. I'm purely interested in the importance of dialing in the rear pinion for long-term reliability issues. If anyone can shed some light on this I'd appreciate the help.

I ran some searches and couldn't come up with anything addressing this, if it's been covered please direct me to those threads. Thanks everyone.

 

[FERAL 4R]

Anything you do to alter the stock geometry will, at some point, affect something down the line.

I had fully adjustable upper, lower rear control arms and panhard bar on my FJ with 3" lift. Was it necessary to have a fully adjustable set up, probably not. Did it help align the rear end and pinion angle and give me peace of mind, yes. So it's purely subjective and totally up to you.

 

[BigredTEX]

Wranglers have a much shorter wheelbase and therefore, much shorter driver shafts. A 3" lift will have a significant effect on pinion angles, requiring xfer case drops and adjustable adjustable links. My son has an LJ with a 4" lift and has all the necessary adjustable bits.

I have a 3" lift and don't see any angles that look too drastic. Plus, I have not heard of anyone on this forum having driveshaft issues (Please chime in if you have).

 

[JSparky]

Yea, it goes without saying that if you alter vehicle height you're going to put other components at risk for altered wear. The point of this thread was to find out if anyone has had any documented problems with running a lift without correcting the rear geometry.

Thanks BigredTex, I haven't seen a lifted 5th-gen in person to observe the angles, but like you said the longer wheel-base on the 4runners likely helps a lot.. I think the rear driveshafts on TJ's are like a foot long? Not sure about the LJs.

I haven't seen anyone on here with any issues but I wanted to ask regardless since I'm still relatively new here. Thanks again.

 

[Keemonrunnin]

[MENTION=3779]Mikey[/MENTION]-s2010sr5 is from the Bay Area.

 

[Ducmonsta]

The JKs blow through driveshafts because of poor cv design. Their driveshafts are now using cv joints instead of u joints. The fix for them is a totally different driveshaft.

Our 4Rs have the luxury of u joints, longer driveshafts, and smaller lifts. All of these factors mean less angle change. Therefore, we do not need to modify our driveshafts.

Sidenote, TJ driveshafts after a slip yoke elimination kit measured out to about 16" with a 4" lift.

 

[Atrox Caeda]

I don't know about the 5th gens but the 3rd gens have drive shaft problems. Most notably the fact that they will bang the shit out of your gas tank skid and lose their zerk nipple along with the helicoil... Albeit this is not really an angle problem... buuuuuut it kinda is.