Rubber pieces under my 80.

[96FZJ80]

Lately when starting in the morning I can hear what I can only liken to a playing card in bicycle spokes if the wheel was turning really really fast. It's not loud - just kind of a high speed chatter. I was thinking maybe a pulley was loose or had a bad bearing (if so, hopefully the idler bearing) and I should check that out soon. When I put it in gear it goes away.

I've had the 80 parked at work while using a company vehicle for the last few days (for no reason other than I could) and just tonight noticed on the garage floor some chunks of some heavy duty rubber. Initial thoughts was that whatever was making the noise must have puked up some parts. After looking closely I'm thinking they may be parts of the 30mm spring spacers that were installed in May of 2018. I drive through some rough yards and pot holed roads but nothing a 2 wheel drive vehicle couldn't do so I don't think it's abused beyond "normal wear and tear".

The bits of rubber on the floor are under where the engine bay would be when parked in the garage and spread across the entire width of the vehicle (i.e. not just driver or passenger side). I'm going to try to have a look underneath tomorrow at the spacers and see if I see any obvious damage to them (big chunk in pics should leave a very noticeable hole) but thought I'd seek some opinions on what else to check based on what's in the photos. Thanks in advance.

 

[Tedward]

Maybe the harmonic balancer?

 

[Rusty Marlin]

Did your harmonic balancer disintegrate?

 

[96FZJ80]

Holy crap - I hope not. I don't know much but I think I know there's some 300 ft-lb bolt associated with that right?

If that is the issue, is that a "drive it somewhere to fix it" or "tow it somewhere to fix it" issue?

 

[Rusty Marlin]

I think that's a tow it somewhere problem.
Easy to check with a mirror on a stick and a flash light.
Look at the front of the HB, if its missing big chunks, that's the problem.

 

[BILT4ME]

Holy crap - I hope not. I don't know much but I think I know there's some 300 ft-lb bolt associated with that right?

If that is the issue, is that a "drive it somewhere to fix it" or "tow it somewhere to fix it" issue?

You can drive it to get it fixed. Try to keep RPM even and low. Don't hot rod into traffic. The outer ring won't come off, it's trapped.

 

[96FZJ80]

Turns out it's the spacers. Both at the same time?? And there are more rubber bits under the car in my parking spot at work. So either the warranty just expired and they're disintegrating or something else has changed causing more or different forces on them.

 

[bhsdriller]

cheap plastic/rubber will do that. Remove or replace with something better

 

[Rusty Marlin]

Oh, that's a much better thing to fail! Cheap parts and easy to fix too.

 

[96FZJ80]

Oh, that's a much better thing to fail! Cheap parts and easy to fix too.

Agreed. Just ordered some Dobinson's spacers. I guess I can keep driving on it in the meantime while waiting on pkg to arrive. Stinkbug will just get progressively worse while the spacers wear away.

 

[davidp14]

this is the universe telling you to get new springs.

 

[96FZJ80]

I replaced the spacers yesterday. Never done anything like this so looked around for pics or videos and while I found bits and pieces on/in different places nothing specific enough to give me a step by step that I felt 100% confident in. Might be because this is pretty basic for most.

I have the OME 2851 medium springs in front so nothing too long to cause too much trouble getting in and out but still didn't just come out with the droop without some help.

This is the driver's side - passenger side was pretty much a repeat with the exception of the 2 lines attached to the swaybar.

I removed the bottom shock bolt - didn't get much more droop. Removed the swaybar at the link at the frame, first on the side I was working on, no help, then did both sides and hung it there with a zip tie. Removed the bracket that holds those 2 lines attached to the swaybar (whatever they are) as they looked to be tight with the swaybar dropped down. Noticed that what I believe is the front axle breather was getting tight so disconnected that at the axle. At this point I decided to put a couple jack stands under the control arms (I think that's what they're called) in case the whole thing decided to drop suddenly.

Still couldn't get enough to wiggle the spring out. I remembered reading about having a buddy stand on the hub but I have no buddy. Also remembered something about using the jack. Had to do something similar on my Tacoma to get shocks on (push the UCA down) so looked around for a good spot and then put the jack in place on the axle "inboard" of the spring. Directly above is a good solid place for the head to contact. I was able to push down on the hub with one hand and screw the jack with fingers only of the other hand - kind bouncing it and screwing at the same time. Eventually had enough droop to compress the springs by hand enough to slide them out. Cleaned out all the old bits of spacer, lubed the top of the new spacer with some liquid soap (it lubes and eventually dries up) and put the springs back in.

Stock brake lines never got close to being tight.

There was a big enough piece remaining of the old spacer that I could make out a part number. Discovered it is exactly the same thing as I just put in. Had almost 2.5 years and 21k miles on them. Don't know if that's good or bad life expectancy.

I was glad I put the stands under the control arms. As soon as I removed the bottom shock bolt on the passenger side it dropped about an inch and landed on the jack stand. At that point I put my jack under the differential, lifted it a bit, put the bottom shock bolt back in place on the driver's side and then lowered the passenger side back down and used the jack on top of the axle to get the rest of what I needed.

So pretty much all put back together but I can't get the bottom shock bolts to 51 ft-lbs. Have tightened them to the point that the whole shock begins to turn. Can't hold it with my hands and I don't see a place to put a wrench on it beside the end of the bolt which is covered by the socket. What's the trick? I don't think holding the shock with a pipe wrench is it.