Tan sludge / grease under my 200 front passenger side, what is this?

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reevesci said:
I'm pretty sure it was @SQRRRL that the Toyota mechanics did it.
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It was me. I called them out and they folded. Replacing the CV Boot for free. Last time I go to Santa Margarita Toyota. Don’t get me started......should have gone to Hiros automotive or Glenn’s alignment.
 
reevesci said:
I'm pretty sure it was @SQRRRL that the Toyota mechanics did it.
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Could be. My guy isn’t a Toyota mechanic, I just had the exact experience you described
 
Only time I've had a cv boot issue has been with my suspension shop nicking the rubber boot. As long as they own it and fix it no harm done, unless you've been in some deep water recently. I run a diff drop and I have around 5" of lift - I value the drop.
 
I have the parts for a 1" diff drop, but haven't installed them yet, mostly because I ran out of time before the weather got cold last fall, and working outdoors in my driveway sucks when it's 40F out. With a 2" lift the DD doesn't seem to be entirely necessary - there's probably some additional CV wear but if you're talking about 10-20% reduced CV life on a part that typically goes 150k or more it's really hard for us to scientifically measure that when most people running lifts don't even have that much mileage on their entire truck. IMO I still get a small amount of torque steer under hard acceleration (mostly noticeable under pedal-to-the-floor acceleration when the transmission does the 1-2 or 2-3 shift), which I never noticed with the factory setup. I attribute it to the steeper CV angle, though really I need to put the DD in to prove/disprove that theory.

That said I was thinking about what a DD does, and I actually think they could cause more issues than they solve in most cases. Consider: With a normal IFS lift you gain height by changing the starting height of your suspension travel. For simplicity sake, assume you have 12" of travel and a factory suspension sits at the mid point and gives you up to 6" of extension or compression. When you add a 2" lift you end up with 8" of compression but only 4" of additional extension available. In both cases though the CVs cycle through their factory engineered flex range, it's just that the starting point is a bit steeper in the second example. By lowering the diff 1", you effectively change the range the CVs are designed to travel, allowing for 1" more of extension, but 1" less of compression. Thus with a DD under full compression you're actually exceeding the factory engineered CV angle.

Lots of caveats to the above, obviously, including:
  • If your lift actually gives you more extension than the factory specs, you might need the DD
  • I don't know how far outside the factory engineered suspension travel/geometry you can go
  • Steeper CV angles under normal use might wear the CVs and boots faster than lower angles with a DD, even if under full compression there would be more wear with the DD (since full compression is rarer than normal driving)
  • I'm not sure my math is right - i.e. a 1" DD might allow for +2" of flex but -2" of compression, since I know smaller internal suspension geometry (like a 10mm spacer) can have a larger overall geometry change (i.e 20mm of lift).
I'd love for someone with more understanding of suspensions to comment on the above.
 
Willy beamin said:
Only time I've had a cv boot issue has been with my suspension shop nicking the rubber boot. As long as they own it and fix it no harm done, unless you've been in some deep water recently. I run a diff drop and I have around 5" of lift - I value the drop.
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Wow. 5” of loft is the most I’ve heard of on a 200. With that much lift, I can definitely see where a d drop might make sense! I probably have 2.5” lift in front max.
 
Markuson said:
Wow. 5” of loft is the most I’ve heard of on a 200. With that much lift, I can definitely see where a d drop might make sense! I probably have 2.5” lift in front max.
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I'm generalizing to get my point across that a diff drop is not unneeded, it just depends on the application. I may be slightly less than 5" but there abouts. 3.6 on the Icon and then the OEM spacer
 
Willy beamin said:
I'm generalizing to get my point across that a diff drop is not unneeded, it just depends on the application. I may be slightly less than 5" but there abouts. 3.6 on the Icon and then the OEM spacer
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I wasn’t doubting it! :)
-Was just noting that you do have a more aggressive lift compared to many...including mine.

I’d lift mine a bit more, but my wide tires already tend to graze my UCA at full droop, so I don’t want to make it worse.
 
Markuson said:
I wasn’t doubting it! :)
-Was just noting that you do have a more aggressive lift compared to many...including mine.

I’d lift mine a bit more, but my wide tires already tend to graze my UCA at full droop, so I don’t want to make it worse.
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bora spacers my friend
 
Willy beamin said:
bora spacers my friend
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Hmmm... Just looked them up.

@Willy beamin -Did you use the .75" unit?

If so... and it works... t'would be awesome!
 
It works my friend. Havent flexed it out yet to check fender contact but for my general daily driving its the bees knees
 
Just got my truck back all better now. The shop basically didn’t charge me and got me back on the road fast so I really appreciate that. Thanks all for the quick responses on this thread it helped a lot

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TonyP said:
Did you drive through a mud puddle or does the boot and clamp not look new? Also, it looks like your inner (and possibly outer) clamps aren't secured. Can you take more pics of the clamp ends?
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No puddles on the way home. I believe what happened is they originally were going to charge me for the parts. At that point, they were going to change both boots. When they decided not to charge me they only changed the inner boot with the tear and left the outer boot I had. here are the pics, let me know what you think of the clamps and if anything else looks suspect. Not the easiest area to get photos of. I've only really been doing this 4x4 stuff for a little while so I'm learning as I go thanks in huge part to you and the other members on this forum.

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TonyP said:
Ah ok, it was just a wierd angle pic for the clamps.
That's definitely a new boot, looks good to me!
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Thanks so much for all the helpful advice I really appreciate it. It helps me going into the shop with something resembling a clue so i at least can ask the right questions. This could have just as easily been a pricey repair at my expense.
 
linuxgod said:
That was my mechanic. Small tear at the bottom. He had my CVs rebooted by an axle reman guy, and those boots dripped out a little grease. I ended up reclamping them and they've been fine since (knock on wood).
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Hey were you able to reclamp them while they were still on the truck by chance? My driver side inner CV boot spit some grease, but the boot isn't torn. Thinking about trying to remove existing clamp, check if it needs more grease, and reclamping all while still on the truck. Possible?
 
Mogwai said:
Hey were you able to reclamp them while they were still on the truck by chance? My driver side inner CV boot spit some grease, but the boot isn't torn. Thinking about trying to remove existing clamp, check if it needs more grease, and reclamping all while still on the truck. Possible?
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Have you wheeled at all lately? I have beaten the s*** out of my truck and have never seen a CV boot spit grease?? Maybe its a KO2 w/heavy mall crawling symptom? :D
 
Mogwai said:
Hey were you able to reclamp them while they were still on the truck by chance? My driver side inner CV boot spit some grease, but the boot isn't torn. Thinking about trying to remove existing clamp, check if it needs more grease, and reclamping all while still on the truck. Possible?
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Yes we just used the screw-type band clamps. The hammer down clamp had loosened and fixing it which attached would be tough. No driveline vibration from the worm drive band clamp, though you can get some with tapered edges online if you’re worried about it wearing the boot.

You can also get some moly-based grease and a grease needle if you think you lost too much grease and try to squirt some in there under the boot. If you do that spray some carb cleaner around the boot and shaft first as you don’t want to introduce any dirt or moisture
 
linuxgod said:
Yes we just used the screw-type band clamps. The hammer down clamp had loosened and fixing it which attached would be tough. No driveline vibration from the worm drive band clamp, though you can get some with tapered edges online if you’re worried about it wearing the boot.

You can also get some moly-based grease and a grease needle if you think you lost too much grease and try to squirt some in there under the boot. If you do that spray some carb cleaner around the boot and shaft first as you don’t want to introduce any dirt or moisture
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Got it thanks, figured it was possible. If you have link to those bands pls send along. And I don't think I lost too much but we'll see when I get in there.

@SchobTime Is it "show time" again? Was hoping the show was over by now. How are the loud tires that are getting louder, better with more air?
 
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