seanpistol's 01 Tundra

seanpistol

Explorer
First things first, I have a vibration that increases as speed increases and I need to track it down ASAP. Thinking out loud here, but I just made a lot of changes all at once, so here is what is new-


Upper heimed a-arms, uniballs
Lower a-arms, bushings, alignment cams
Coilovers
OEM tie rods
OEM lower ball joints
any and all hardware
front and rear diffs with 4.88s and ARBs
tires and wheels
front wheel bearings


I'm going rule my tires and wheels out. I drove about 100 miles on them before all the other changes and they were balanced great. They are balanced with 8 oz of beads and they obviously aren't going to fall out like a wheel weight could fall off.


Driveshafts should be good, they were good before the changes. In the past when I was trying to diagnose a ringing in the rear end, I rotated the driveshaft in 90 degree increments to see if I had hooked it up in a different position and put it out of balance. No position made any difference whatsoever at highway speed.


The vibration got slightly worse when I put it in 4hi at about 45 mph. I think it being worse in 4 wheel drive would indicate that it's definitely something in the front end.


The suspension feels smooth on the highway.


Wheel bearings? Could have been pressed in incorrectly, but I'd guess it would be hard to mess that up.


Wondering if my alignment is the culprit. It went straight to the alignment shop after I did all the work, was aligned, after the initial drive around the block they had to realign it because the coils had settled. I have driven the truck about 60 miles since, with the vibration at speed. I'd assume the coils have settled more.


Here are my alignment specs-


Camber -0.2
Caster +2.6 left and +3.6 right
Total toe +0.22


If any of you guys are familiar with "DJ", he designed the Hunter alignment machine and drives a first-gen Tundra. His recommended alignment specs for a first-gen Tundra are-


Camber +0.25
Caster +2.00
Total toe +0.08

Another issue I have to sort out... broke an abs sensor off on the drivers side. Got a new/used one off ebay and threw it in that said it was for a sequoia but the same part number. My abs will now come on at random when on the brakes. I temporarily pulled the ABS fuses until I find the time to investigate.
 

jsnow

Adventurer
I know the whole ABS can be a hot issue, but I've been driving mine for over a year inoperable. It hasn't really affected the drive-ability in my opinion. I've also run into vibration issues that were a result of alignment, so it may not hurt to have it done again, after you get some more miles on it. You're truck definitely looks killer! One of my fav's!
 

Blackdawg

Dr. Frankenstein
My rear wheel bearings just took a ****. So i'd look there. I thought it was my front from the sound but it was the rear's. Truck drives smooth now with new bearings all around. My vibe's started just under 20mph and got louder as i got faster. Kinda got quieter at 60-65mph then really loud above that. I could feel the brake pedal pulsing when braking hard.

It is pretty common to **** up the rear axle bearing install. More the seals than the bearing itself. The retainer rings have to be installed in JUST the right spot and the are free floating.


and id just go ahead and delete the abs personally..i did. No regrets.
 

seanpistol

Explorer
I'm sure I can, what will that tell you? What are your thoughts?

Spoke to the shop that did the alignment. The guy that runs it drives a solid axle Ranger on coilovers and knows vehicles. He likes my truck and is willing to just keep aligning it until it is right. Seems like an easy place to start so I'm headed there after work in about a half hour.
 

Blender

Adventurer
Another issue I have to sort out... broke an abs sensor off on the drivers side. Got a new/used one off ebay and threw it in that said it was for a sequoia but the same part number. My abs will now come on at random when on the brakes. I temporarily pulled the ABS fuses until I find the time to investigate.

I had the same issue after going LT. Abs would trigger erratically while rolling to a stop. Cause was the sensor's o-ring had a sliver of rubber hanging off and must had screwed up the seat depth.

Truck looks so ************. I like the look without fiberglass especially if you're going to work your magic again to gain just a bit of flare upfront.
 

rickashay

Explorer
I had the same issue after going LT. Abs would trigger erratically while rolling to a stop. Cause was the sensor's o-ring had a sliver of rubber hanging off and must had screwed up the seat depth.

Truck looks so ************. I like the look without fiberglass especially if you're going to work your magic again to gain just a bit of flare upfront.

I had the same issue exactly after I pulled the front end apart when going "mid-travel". I ended up pulling the fuse and driving it for 2 years without issue.


Sean... truck looks absolutely awesome! Glad you went with the black wheels. Also really like the poke without the front flares, I vote leave it alone!
 

seanpistol

Explorer
I had the same issue after going LT. Abs would trigger erratically while rolling to a stop. Cause was the sensor's o-ring had a sliver of rubber hanging off and must had screwed up the seat depth.

Interesting! I'll have to look into that, but I have thought about just deleting the ABS in the past...



Glad you went with the black wheels.

This is a huge facepalm for me. I loved the machined wheels when I saw them on another truck and when they were sitting on the floor of my basement. I had a local shop install the beadlocks to save me some time, and as soon as they pulled the truck out I knew it wasn't for me. Not sure if it's the white truck or what, but they reminded me of a Fuel wheel that would be on a diesel pickup in Florida.

Sadly, I sanded down and painted a wheel that wasn't cheap and I could have had in black in the first place.







 

seanpistol

Explorer
Thanks for the kind words and ideas on the vibration. The truck is being aligned tomorrow- got my fingers crossed that's the culprit, but if not it will at least eliminate a possibility. They got it on the rack before closing tonight and had enough time to check where the alignment was currently at- it wasn't too far off from the numbers I posted earlier which should indicate the coils are settled to about where they are going to stay.

The tie rod extenders Solo provided were 4" long for a 3.5" long travel kit. Not really sure how that made sense, because after I installed them with the rack adjusted as much as it allowed, a half inch had to be cut off each extension to get the toe to where the truck was drivable. It was comical with nothing cut off- the rack had no adjustment left and the tires were both toed in at about a 20 degree angle. To get my toe to +.08 degrees Dj recommends, they're going to cut another .5" off the extensions for me.

Anyone with long travel have their alignment specs?

Funny to see a few be such supporters of no glass fenders. I don't think the photos do justice of how wide it is, haha. I'll get it out and take some better photos soon. Now that my caster is significantly further forward than it ever has been in the time I have owned the truck (thanks to the seized alignment cams), I wish I hadn't taken so much out of the aft portion of the front fender. If I want to keep these fenders, I need to pull the coilovers, throw the tires on, and cycle the suspension. I know I'll need to take more out of the front of the front fender and chop the front bumper again. The top of the fender is the same height as the top of the wheel well.
 
Last edited:

Blackdawg

Dr. Frankenstein
You'll go on one trip and hit one big water hole or mud hole. Come back and order glass fenders. Guarantee it.

Or you'll get caught in a rain storm and won't be able to see anything out the sides. Get home and order glass haha
 

smokeysevin

Observer
I'm sure I can, what will that tell you? What are your thoughts?

Spoke to the shop that did the alignment. The guy that runs it drives a solid axle Ranger on coilovers and knows vehicles. He likes my truck and is willing to just keep aligning it until it is right. Seems like an easy place to start so I'm headed there after work in about a half hour.

I am playing with the camber curve on mine and from the picture it looks like you have a decent amount of positive camber at droop. Currently the arm lengths I am looking at give a really gentile curve with not much positive camber at all.

Thanks,


Sean
 

Blender

Adventurer
Anyone with long travel have their alignment specs?

Funny to see a few be such supporters of no glass fenders. I don't think the photos do justice of how wide it is, haha. I'll get it out and take some better photos soon.

I don't have my numbers handy, but I do know my front end is bent. Leading cams are maxed inward to keep camber close but outside of spec iirc. Between alignments I have been struggling to keep the toe reasonable. It's killing my tires. I bought a toe bar to ball park it regularly, but I really need to have my work checked a few times afterwards. A dealer alignment after every wheeling trip isn't my idea of fun.

Showing the width in a photo is really hard at least for a photography newb like myself. My junk is a modest ~84.5" wide at the front outside of tires including a little sidewall bulge. You should be 1.5-2" wider per side maybe between your wheels/tires? If so that's a big truck.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,795
Messages
2,878,260
Members
225,352
Latest member
ritabooke
Top