Lifted 4 inches, axle shaft interference.

[kozak]

I just finished putting in a 4 inch suspension lift. And I went to for a test ride, put it in 4 wheel, and noticed a newly acquired sound. So I get out and get under the truck, and notice that the axle shaft u joint is rubbing against a lift bracket, and part of the axle shaft itself is rubbing against the axle beam.
Has anyone ever come across this before ?

 

[Evan]

Never seen that. Check everything out carefully and post some more pics. Are the radius arms seated correctly in the mounts?

IF everything looks ok, you should be able to clearance that stuff with a grinder. Don't touch the shafts, just grind down the bracket and beam window a bit. But first, post some more pics.

 

[Bray D]

WTF mate? Never seen that before. Do you have a more general pic of the frontend with the lift installed?

 

[kozak]

I was afraid I would hear that. Damn. Ill go take more pictures.

 

[kozak]

I am pretty confident that I have installed it all correctly. Although it is a used lift kit I bought off of someone, I am pretty sure it is a Trail Master lift. The brackets looked fine to me. I got the extended pitman arm. Spring over axle in the rear. My front end alignment was a bit out before the lift, the tops of the tires leaned out a bit, not too bad though. The alignment is pretty much the same after the lift.
I forgot to mention, my front drivers side lower shock mount is broken, so I am only running three shocks right now, thats the only thing I can think of, although it wasnt a problem before the lift. I am fixing the shock mount in the next few days.

 

[Bent Bolt]

Hmmm , is the passenger side beam drop bracket installed correctly ? Or is the driver side radius arm drop bracket or bushing not installed correctly ?? Is about the only way that center u-joint will interfere with the drop bracket.

Get some pic's of those.

Definately a weird problem.

 

[Destroyer000]

thats very strange.. i had a 4 inch lift wit no problem.. ive never seen them rub like that.

 

[Combs Customs]

Had that happen to me with the BDS passenger side drop bracket i had. It bent very slightly forward, just enough to rub the center u-joint. Hate to tell you its bent. I had to straighten mine mid-trail by running a strap around the pivot point, out that back of the truck and hooked to another truck. Worked ok the rest of the trip, came home and bought the Skyjacker pivots. It punched a hole in my diff same trip, so I had 2 reasons to get rid of it.

 

[4x4junkie]

Got me as well

My only guesses are:

Bent driverside axle beam
Bent pivot bracket(s)
Axle too far rearward (bent radius arms and/or radius arm crossmember)
Any combination of the above.


Looking at mine, the centerline of the axle u-joint is a good 3 inches forward from being underneath the mounting flange for that bracket.

 

[kozak]

Thank you all for your help. I was under there for a little while this after noon checking things out. After alot of inspection, the bracket on the passenger side, which holds the drivers side axle beam, may be bent, but not alot. I put a straight edge across the bracket, and the last few inches on the bottom of the beam where it bolts the axle beam there was a gap, it had no more then a 1/4 inch gap though, is that enough to throw everything off that much ?
If that is the problem, I think I will heat it up with a torch, make it straight as an arrow, trace and cut out some 1/4" plate and weld the pieces together, brace it up a bit. Then get the skyjacker brackets a couple months down the road if possible.
Few more pictures. I will try to get a picture of the bracket, and the location that I think is bent.

 

[kozak]

Okay, its not the best picture, but was hard to get a good picture of...
It is actually more like a 3/16" gap.

 

[Bent Bolt]

That looks bent to me but it's hard to tell without being there in person. I also noticed that there doesn't seem to be any clearance between that bracket and the driver side beam which also suggests the bracket is bent.

 

[97fordrunner]

Not sure that heating the piece is a good idea. Someone correct me if I am wrong but will that not make that area a brittle weak point then and you don't want that at all. Just my .02.

 

[4x4junkie]

Thank you all for your help. I was under there for a little while this after noon checking things out. After alot of inspection, the bracket on the passenger side, which holds the drivers side axle beam, may be bent, but not alot. I put a straight edge across the bracket, and the last few inches on the bottom of the beam where it bolts the axle beam there was a gap, it had no more then a 1/4 inch gap though, is that enough to throw everything off that much ?

If that bracket was bent backward, it certainly could contribute to this issue, although I'm not sure it would do it all by itself though (the pivot bolt on that side I think would strike the axleshaft first).

In this pic, looks like there's a dent in the beam from a rock impact? Is the beam bent at all?

 

[kozak]

Good eye you have, there is a little dent, but it doesnt seem to have affected the beam otherwise. I have a stock explorer that I compared it with.
I phoned up a local 4x4 shop and told them the problem, they suggested it could be that the bushings in the end of the axle beams where they bolt through could have gone bad. Looks like I am going to have to rip it all apart again.