CV Angles after King's OEM kit & SPC UCA install

[OPCruza]

Greetings All,
I am new to the forum and this is my first post.

Seeking inputs from the group on acceptable CV angles (ranges). I just finished installing a King's coil over (650 lbs)
kit on a stock 2014 Land Cruiser and was expecting a ~2 inch lift over stock.

I measured an overall height increase from stock of 3 1/4 " (Driver) and 2 3/4" (Passenger) and am concerned this may
be excessive for long term reliability of my suspension (i.e CV axles, boots, steering linkage, etc,).

I am seeing 14 degrees on the CV angle on both sides with vehicle weight on a flat surface. See enclosed pictures
showing the angle and condition of the boots.

My center hub to fender distances are:
Driver side = 22 1/2 inches
Passenger side = 22 5/8 inches

Thoughts and suggestions ?

Thanks.

 

[NLScooby]

Welcome! Here's a thread I started on this over a year ago with some folks chiming in with their measurements. I have roughly 3.75 inches of lift and was seeing greater angles than what you are describing (roughly 17 degrees!) I have no issues so far....(knocking on wood)

You may want to consider extending your brake lines as well - check them at full droop to ensure you aren't pulling on them.

Post your CV shaft angles (after-lift) - looking for #'s

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[OPCruza]

Thanks for the welcome and sharing of information. Curious if you have noticed any significant settling (decrease of CV angle) over time (miles) ? Or any unusual wear patterns on your cv boots.

My vehicle ride is not compromised at all with the new coilovers/shocks and the stance is just about flat (front to rear) where I was targeting.

 

[NLScooby]

I honestly haven't measured the angles since that thread - I should also probably look into a real angle finder rather than the app on my cell phone!
I remember being paranoid about it and stopping to feel the boots after some highway time every once-in-a-while.....but they never felt warmer than usual. Anecdotally, I've been told by others more knowledgeable than myself about these things "Not to worry about it".....that they have Toyotas with greater CV angles that take a lot more abuse and have lasted for many years....

 

[linuxgod]

I had about 10-12 degrees with a 2” lift from Tough Dog. Recently had a torn CV boot right at the clamp. It’s been about 20k since I put the lift on. After Toyota re-booted it for me I put a diff drop on and I’m now at 5-6 degrees

Many people will say it’s unnecessary, which may be true but anecdotally I felt it was worth the $60 diff drop kit and a couple hours of effort to avoid another $350 re-boot. That said I think it’s more boot wear than CV wear you need to worry about so if you don’t mind possibly dealing with new boots then it’s not a huge deal

 

[cboyd]

@linuxgod which diff drop kit did you do?

 

[linuxgod]

I used this one

Diff Drop Kit 4WD For Toyota Landcruiser 200 Series Suit 2 " - 5" Inch Lift Kit | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Diff Drop Kit 4WD For Toyota Landcruiser 200 Series Suit 2 " - 5" Inch Lift Kit at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

FWIW you really can't see any of the spacers (which are gold) since the skid plates cover them, unless you look at an angle from behind the front wheels. So less bling than the photo might suggest.

Instructions for installation were spotty. I mostly followed this set

http://roadsafe.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/DDLC2001.pdf

but I also used some of the photos from this link for reference

200 series front Diff Drop

Diff Drop done!!!!!! Very happy with the results, have lost 5-7 degrees on the CV's Pre drop WOW (weight on wheels) 6.5-8.5 degrees (slight side to side difference due floor and KDSS??), full ext 26-28.5 degrees. Post drop WOW 1-2.5 degrees, full ext 19-21 degrees. All...

forum.ih8mud.com

The front drop is easy and makes sense. The rear in the kit just uses the little thinner spacer - there's no grinding like the ih8mud kit explained and the spacer is shorter.

 

[Markuson]

I’ve been lifted and aggressive for the last 70,000 miles (127,000 miles total) and beat on my truck very very hard including 35’s for two years of hard use. Original CVs...no diff drop...and zero CVs issues at all.

My 100 had CV issues a lot...both with and without a diff drop...but the angles on the 200 are waaaay better than the 100.

Personally I suggest skipping it...but I’m just some guy on the internet.

You might want to talk to a potential vendor/installer like Ben or Amory at Slee in Colorado, Rob at BudBuilt in N. Carolina, Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters in Salt Lake, Georg at Valley Hybrids in California , or Jason at Trail Tailor also in CA.

None of these guys will try to talk you into it...but know their stuff if you decide to have one of them do the install.

 

[linuxgod]

I agree, @Markuson. FWIW I made it about 25k miles before I had a boot tear. It's entirely likely mine was because my CVs were re-booted and the clamps weren't tight, and then I put on new screw-style clamps to keep the grease from leaking out. So more than likely it was a combination of the type and size of clamp along with any additional stretching from the lift plus when pulling the trailer the front end gets an inch of additional lift.

Quite likely I wouldn't have another CV issue but since I had to have it re-booted anyway and I'd bought the DD kit like 2 years ago I figured I might as well put it on.

 

[OPCruza]

Getting 600lb springs delivered today and am considering swapping them to see how far it brings me down up front. I like the firmer ride quality with the 650 lbs springs and hoping not to lose it too much going with the 600's.

 

[chiplee]

Getting 600lb springs delivered today and am considering swapping them to see how far it brings me down up front. I like the firmer ride quality with the 650 lbs springs and hoping not to lose it too much going with the 600's.

You'll probably lose about 50lbs worth.

J/k, I'd expect very little ride height difference. Maybe .15".

FWIW, I've always thought of 600lb springs as Taco and 4Runner springs though. Planning 650s when I build our LC200.

Whether or not a diff drop is worth it really depends on how it's designed and what the mount geometries are. I made this graphic to show roughly what you get out of a "1 inch" diff drop on a 4th gen 4Runner, which turned out to be .375" of actual drop. Not familiar with the 200 diff mount, but it looks like the vendors are stating the actual drop pretty clearly vice leaving it out like some did for 4Runner.

 

[linuxgod]

The dd kit I used had a rear spacer as well. Not as tall as the front tho.

CVs are much closer to the front than the rear on the 200, so actual drop is probably 3/4” I’d wager. The change reduced my CV angle when parked from 10-12 degrees to 5-6 degrees.

 

[linuxgod]

Deleted

 

[ga12r1]

Actually got lucky, my wife hasn’t left yet when I got home. Here’s a shot of the fronts - super dirty but I rubbed my finger on the coil so you can see it’s just dirt

View attachment 2070150

Top hat of the coils. You can see the nuts are rusty. So far that’s the only rust I’ve seen

View attachment 2070151

Quick Shot of the rear shock as well. Again super dirty so it’s hard to see but there is extremely minimal if any rust on the welds. Otherwise it’s good

I’m going to hit the car wash on Friday or Saturday and can send a couple pics onve I have the month of LCDC and other accumulated road trip grime hosed off

View attachment 2070152

Wrong thread me thinks?

 

[linuxgod]

Wrong thread me thinks?

Bah!

 

[chiplee]

The dd kit I used had a rear spacer as well. Not as tall as the front tho.

CVs are much closer to the front than the rear on the 200, so actual drop is probably 3/4” I’d wager. The change reduced my CV angle when parked from 10-12 degrees to 5-6 degrees.

That would be worth it to me then. I got pretty frustrated with the 4th gen 4Runner diff drop when I first put it in, but even in that case, I'm of the mindset that every little bit helps, and it's not really about the angle sitting. It's about the dynamic angles created by driving, turning, lifting the front with torque, etc. CVs are expensive and a PITA to change. Diff drop is a cheap way to (hopefully) delay the need to change CVs. I wouldn't really consider the anecdotal reports of "no diff issues" yet from non-diff droppers. We wouldn't really expect you to have issues yet. This is more about who will have issues sooner, guys with diff drops or guys without. Issues may arise at 200k or 180k. I'd still rather have the extra 20k miles.

 

[AZCRSR]

It's been a bit since the last post on this thread so wondering if anyone has any different thoughts/experience on dropping the diff since then?

The dealership is telling me I should do a diff drop because the CV angles. When I reminded them that they did the install, they said they'd cover the labor if I bought the kit. Since I'd only be out $60 or so, I thought it might be worth it.

 

[TLC2013]

It's been a bit since the last post on this thread so wondering if anyone has any different thoughts/experience on dropping the diff since then?

The dealership is telling me I should do a diff drop because the CV angles. When I reminded them that they did the install, they said they'd cover the labor if I bought the kit. Since I'd only be out $60 or so, I thought it might be worth it.

View attachment 2644426

Is this image of the CV angle with the wheels on the ground? Looks like a pretty severe angle with the boot binding.

 

[AZCRSR]

Is this image of the CV angle with the wheels on the ground? Looks like a pretty severe angle with the boot binding.

It was raised up.

 

[chiplee]

So since this thread got bumped, does anyone know where you can get a diff drop currently? That ebay link doesn't work anymore and other suppliers I've checked either say not available or have sketchy details that make it hard to trust it's the right parts.