drive angles on CV joint front axles.

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Sparky - 13 Aug 2007 02:08 GMT

How much angle are these supposed to run at?
I like to run the torsion bars pretty tight to get more lift.
But now my CV vibrates and the Boots split .
How hard is it to replace them?

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JBDragon - 14 Aug 2007 03:17 GMT

Sounds like you just went to far. I've seen some CHEAPO lift kits, and the
CV joints were at crazy levels and the truck pretty much was a pile of
garbage. At normal ride height, they should be pretty close to straight,
that was you have good movement up and down and side to side. Once you
start changing that and the boots are now under a strain full time, you've
changed things for the worse. Same type of thing happens with a U-Joint,
which is why on lift kits, the Axle pitch gets changed to fix this, and the
Front Differential get's dropped down and also the pitch get's changed to
correct for the CV Axles and the drive shaft.

Your doing the Poor mans lift. A little may be ok, but your changing not
only the ride height, but how the truck suspension acts. You've also
screwed up your Camber, and if you went to far, won't be able to correct for
that and now your also wiping your front tires out.

CV boots are CHEAP, it's just the labor to replace them, and bring it to a
shop to do is usually cheaper to just replace the whole axle with a rebuilt.
If you do it yourself, it's usually not hard. Just time. Don't get one of
them Split Boots either. Total garbage and wouldn't hold up in your case
for a day. I haven't seen one personally in years, and I don't knew if they
even still make them, but just in case, don't. A whole CV boot kit is
around $15 or so. A boot a couple clamps and the correct grease to repack
it with.

> How much angle are these supposed to run at?
> I like to run the torsion bars pretty tight to get more lift.
> But now my CV vibrates and the Boots split .
> How hard is it to replace them?

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Battleax - 14 Aug 2007 04:25 GMT

> Sounds like you just went to far. I've seen some CHEAPO lift kits, and
> the CV joints were at crazy levels and the truck pretty much was a pile of
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
> boot kit is around $15 or so. A boot a couple clamps and the correct
> grease to repack it with.

And of course the worse problem of all, the truck sits way up in the air,
which is the most ridiculous thing of all, lol.

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JBDragon - 15 Aug 2007 05:58 GMT

>> Sounds like you just went to far. I've seen some CHEAPO lift kits, and
>> the CV joints were at crazy levels and the truck pretty much was a pile
[quoted text clipped - 22 lines]
> And of course the worse problem of all, the truck sits way up in the air,
> which is the most ridiculous thing of all, lol.

There's lifted, and then there's just going overboard. I've done quite a
few new trucks where I install a minor lift kit on the front, sometimes
front and back to raise it a couple Inches and/or level the truck out, and
add some little larger tires and Aftermarket wheels. Looks great, still
rides great. This is done on NEW Dealer trucks, so still full Warranty.
The cost is rolled into the truck payments. It no longer looks like a
zillion other new stock trucks out there. I've been doing mainly Toyota's
lately like the Tundra's and Tacoma's, but have done some Ford F-150's with
really nice 4" lifts. I used to do quite a few lowering kits a few years
back. A few a week, but now it doesn't seem to be the thing to do in the
area. Mild Lifted, or at least Leveling is what's Popular around here.
Even here, there's good and BAD kits!!! Now when your doing 6", 8" lifts
with Monster tires, that's just crazy. Now you have a even bigger Gas
Guzzler, Noisy driving truck where your going to have problems with
suspension parts failing sooner, especially on the really cheapo lift kits.
With more Rolling mass from the really large tires, now it doesn't stop
nearly as good as before. There's a reason why a lift kit for the same
truck from from a different company is 4 times as much!!!

If your going to do a lot of 4 wheeling, that's your thing to do, then
GREAT, a good lifted truck may be what you want. A lot of them though
never, or rarely see the dirt!

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