How the hell did I lose 2" of ride height?

[MtnT4R]

I have an OME lift 3" all around(3 yrs old roughly) with medium coils in front. Had the heavy shocks in the rear but swapped to Bilsteins about a year in. 4xInnovations bumpers front and rear, but no winch yet- going to upgrade front this spring to handle the extra weight.

I recently tried to get an alignment at a buddies shop, but he called and said the LCA bolts were frozen and he needed to cut them off and replace the control arms. I said ok fine, he wouldn't BS me, I've known him my whole life, right? So he swaps them, aligns the front and rotates the tires. Over a grand in work. When I pick up my truck, he tells me there is some nasty tire rub(235/85/16) on the driver side and I should probably pull the lower bolt on my fender flares to avoid tire damage.

Strange, I had zero rub for the first 15k miles on the new tires...

Sure enough I drive out of there and there's some awful rubbing close to full lock, but after removing the bolt and hammering the pinch weld its still there. Starting to tear into my fender flares now. Tonight at the car wash I notice the front tires seem pretty tucked into the wheel wells compared to the rear. So FINALLY I break out the tape and my rear is still at 37" to top of the fenders, but the fronts are at 35".

The shop obviously f*cked something up, but what the hell could cause a drop of two inches?

 

[pluton]

He used the standard stock parts?

 

[zoombyu86]

I'm intrigued to hear the end of this...

I'm also intrigued with how you could've left the shop without first visually noticing the 2" difference in height or notice the rake when driving.

 

[Riceye]

Did you have hockey puck lift spacers above struts that were eliminated on reassembly?

 

[JayRolla]

It does seem like some spacers where removed but that should only be about an inch lost.

 

[phattyduck]

You shouldn't have rubbing issue with that tire size. You'll want to get more caster put in the alignment to move the wheels forward.

As for the height issue... measure from the center of the hub to the fender lip to get ride of tire size issues. What are you getting?

-Charlie

 

[Riceye]

It does seem like some spacers where removed but that should only be about an inch lost.

Doesn't 1" spacer equal about 2" lift?

 

[JayRolla]

Doesn't 1" spacer equal about 2" lift?

If the spacer is in the coil than yea but not if sitting on top I don't think.

 

[MtnT4R]

You shouldn't have rubbing issue with that tire size. You'll want to get more caster put in the alignment to move the wheels forward.

As for the height issue... measure from the center of the hub to the fender lip to get ride of tire size issues. What are you getting?

-Charlie

Rear is 22", front is 20".

It does seem like some spacers where removed but that should only be about an inch lost.

No spacers, just the OME 3" lift. Which technically was 2.5 front and 3 rear but mine measured 3" at all 4 corners when completed.

I'm also intrigued with how you could've left the shop without first visually noticing the 2" difference in height or notice the rake when driving.

Just didnt pay enough attention to why that bolt was rubbing when it never had before. I thought it looked a little low but just didnt put it together, probably have too much else going on. Not great on my part!

 

[JayRolla]

Rear is 22", front is 20".



No spacers, just the OME 3" lift. Which technically was 2.5 front and 3 rear but mine measured 3" at all 4 corners when completed.



Just didnt pay enough attention to why that bolt was rubbing when it never had before. I thought it looked a little low but just didnt put it together, probably have too much else going on. Not great on my part!

Do you have the OME 883 coils designed for 200lb extra weight?

 

[MtnT4R]

Do you have the OME 883 coils designed for 200lb extra weight?

No, after talking with Toytec they assured me I needed to go regular coils for just the steel bumper, then upgrade to the heavy coils when I add a winch.

 

[JayRolla]

No, after talking with Toytec they assured me I needed to go regular coils for just the steel bumper, then upgrade to the heavy coils when I add a winch.

Well standard 880 coils give 1.5" lift. 881s are standard weight give 2" lift and 3"with spacers. . 883s are the heavy coils that give 3" lift but are super stiff without weight. So if your running standard coils without spacers 2" lift is all you would net.

 

[MtnT4R]

Well standard 880 coils give 1.5" lift. 881s are standard weight give 2" lift and 3"with spacers. . 883s are the heavy coils that give 3" lift but are super stiff without weight. So if your running standard coils without spacers 2" lift is all you would net.

Yeah the 881s were advertised to give 2.5" but after lifting my measurements were 3". But even if I measured wrong I still lost 1.5" of lift after the new LCAs were installed. And those OME shocks didnt come with spacers.

 

[JayRolla]

Yeah the 881s were advertised to give 2.5" but after lifting my measurements were 3". But even if I measured wrong I still lost 1.5" of lift after the new LCAs were installed. And those OME shocks didnt come with spacers.

Post up a side pic. I got 3" on 881s and toytec spacers. Added winch with steel line and bumper and sit around 2.5". And that's on a 96 that sits the lowest stock of them all.

Who installed the lift 1st time around. I don't see how you can loose that much left with just changing the lcas

 

[phattyduck]

Rear is 22", front is 20".

Oh boy! Your front is at "stock" ride height and the rear has a 2" lift. Something is up.

Can you post a picture of the front coils/shocks? (turn the front wheel to get a pic of the whole setup)

-Charlie

 

[weekendclimber]

New LCA's right? Maybe they were torque without the struts on and the bushings are preventing the additional droop? Just spitballing here.

 

[Yoter]

Where did he get the LCA's and why did he replace the entire control arm? (the only thing that can go wrong on the LCA is the bushing and that can be replaced without replacing the entire arm)
Did they do the lower ball joint at the same time?
Were the parts used OEM?
I don't even know if this is possible (if it would fit) but maybe they used parts from a five lug tacoma?
Have you talked to the mechanic?

 

[MtnT4R]

Post up a side pic. I got 3" on 881s and toytec spacers. Added winch with steel line and bumper and sit around 2.5". And that's on a 96 that sits the lowest stock of them all.

Who installed the lift 1st time around. I don't see how you can loose that much left with just changing the lcas

Sorry this is so late, January was kind of an insane month. I did the lift with a friend, pretty straightforward stuff. Also the 3rd lift we have done on our group's Toyotas.

Where did he get the LCA's and why did he replace the entire control arm? (the only thing that can go wrong on the LCA is the bushing and that can be replaced without replacing the entire arm)
Did they do the lower ball joint at the same time?
Were the parts used OEM?
I don't even know if this is possible (if it would fit) but maybe they used parts from a five lug tacoma?
Have you talked to the mechanic?

I did talk to the mechanic, who just kind of shrugged and said 'huh, thats strange.' Apparently he just removed the LCAs and LBJ, put the LBJs into the new OEM control arms, and replaced. Didn't touch the shock assembly, upper control arms, or anything else.

Is there anything glaringly obvious in the photos that I am just not seeing?

 

[jremus]

if you're running a lift then you _should_ have spacers in there though... right?

everything looks normal/standard - but but standard for what I would expect with stock height

 

[Yoter]

Is there anything glaringly obvious in the photos that I am just not seeing?

Not Normal!
Your UCA is way too high up! (the angle it is sitting at is inverted from where it should be)
The UCA ball joint should sit below the top mounting point of the coil over, not above it.
Did you maybe have a spacer before he did the work?
I don't know what the spring seats on Old Man Emu Shocks are supposed to look like but the seat that the spring is sitting in (on the bottom of the shock) if it were a Bilstein the orientation that yours is in would be upside down. That having been said it should only raise the vehicle if it was upside down, not lower it?
The only thing I can think of is that he either put the wrong springs back on your truck or removed a spacer.

This link has pictures of what the angle of the UCA should look like:
SIte:toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/ spc uca - Google Search