Long story short: Would someone do me a favor and get a photograph (camera phone even) of where your front differential is mounted to your frame.

My diff is tilted and appears to have shot bushings (deteriorated bushings). I want to make sure this angle is out of the ordinary. If I were to design this it would certainly tilt the opposite direction to improve driveshaft angle.

I don't even want to show this image because it doesn't portray the extent at which my diff tilts, it's deceiving but you can still see slightly from this angle.

I'm tearing my complete front end apart to get to these bushings but before I do I'd like to see how the diff sits when it's properly installed. I've noticed the diff moves a lot under load and is binding up my driveshaft now (near the point of breaking). The U-Joint is making contact with the shaft of the driveline!

If I get this fixed, maybe I'll have some videos to bring back of pulling cars out of ditches in the snow this new years in Tahoe.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4...1970/photo.jpg

 

Just snapped these, keep in mind I dont have cranked coilovers like you do so that might have an affect on the driveshaft angle.







Theres a small chance I might be in south shore for New Years, maybe I'll run into you.

 

Thanks a ton mSaLL, it's hard to see in those pics, so is your differential sitting perfectly level? It looks that way in your pics, where mine is bent.

I didn't have a press so I couldn't get out the bushings, but I paid someone to do it today and it took him 7 hours to get this job done. The differential is still tilted, the problem is the leverage placed on that drop bracket (the shiny black metal your front diff is attached to in the first pic you posted). However, it did cause my bushings to go bad so this should temporarily fix the problem.

With the drop brackets Fabtech supplied it's causing the diff to act with increased leverage against that drop bracketry, hence bending. I'm going to need to reinforce the bracketry so it can no longer bend. I'm not sure if my driveshaft binding is gone yet, we'll see in a couple hours.

And I'll be downtown wearing a black peacoat with my girlfriend and her friends new years eve night, flag me down if you see me, I'll grab you a drink for posting that.

 

Well I talked to the guy who worked on it, it's still doing it. Sounds like I might have blown the teeth in my front end. But the differential was certainly binding up the driveshaft so part of the problem is fixed. Now I just need a new front axle.

 

Yeah as far as I can tell my diff sits almost perfectly level. I'll keep on eye on mine though as I've only had my lift on for a year and a half. I don't want to run into more of these problems. I'm having to replace my UCA/balljoints right now as they are completely destroyed. Let me know what you end up doing as far as reinforcing that bracketry. Mine looks okay right now but in the future after a couple more years of abuse I may have to do this myself.

 

You'd definitely notice if it was tilted like mine is.

I need to open my front diff and see [the damage] if any. I'm going to remove my front driveshaft and drive my truck with locked hubs and see if the clunking and grinding is there, if so it's my diff or hubs, the hubs being the easiest to diagnose.

 

i checked mine the top seems slightly (like not that much) tilted to the back but i checked my u joints and everything looks pretty dead on....i don't use my 4x4 that much i'd say 10-20% tops so I don't know if this would be a variable aswell

 

diff should have nothing to do with your caster angle, just your front pinion angle

 

I'm going to mail Fabtech about this problem, it's certainly a bad design decision not reinforcing that particular crossmember. Put your truck into 4x4, gas it around and watch your front diff do the tango. I've noticed this before but it eventually led to this. Far too much play. I believe that gunning it from a dig is where you're really pushing your luck, a snapped front driveshaft wouldn't surprise me with the amount of axle wrap you get up front.

It's a nice-sized 6" drop bracketry with no reinforcing. They did reinforce the rear crossmember just not this particular crossmember.

The guy I had replace the bushings had a hell of a time replacing the bushings (had to air hammer/chisel them out) but it appears that it will eventually happen again unless I take it easy. For an everyday street truck with mild offroading it probably wouldn't be a problem so I can understand Fabtech's reasoning, but there are a lot of us on here who do offroad with our Fabtech's. With that said, I will no longer recommend this kit for anyone who plans to offroad hard. The Fabtech design has already caused my steering rack to break in half (extra stress due to not dropping), and now this. I'm not angry, just disappointed.

If I find anything else, I'll keep you informed.

 

Sorry to hear about this issue Josiah. Out of curiosity, I might check my Pro Comp lift out and see what it looks like. If I do, I will snap some pictures for comparison. I know you are certainly harder on your truck than I am on mine, but even so this concerns me with my own vehicle. I'd hate to break a front axle out on the trail.

 

so are you saying that the top bracket is actually bending? or is there just too much slop or play between the gussets?

 

The top bracket is actually bending. If you look at that bracket you'll notice it's fairly thin and unsupported [from front to back, but side to side it is supported]. Now have the wife put your truck in 4x4 and have her gas it a little, you'll see the axle wrap this allows.

Axle wrap is the culprit. Depending how hard you gas it from a dig and how large your tires are, this bracket is sustaining a significant amount of torsion in the direction it's not reinforced by. I'm working on a bracket to reinforce this crossmember.

Thanks Tornadom, but I do remember your crazy *** going down widowmaker...that was stressful for me and I was in the backseat! Coulda been the broads fingernails in my thigh

 

This isnt a new thing for this Fabtech lift, they've had to make revisions on it already due to poor quality parts. They no longer offer the front struts anymore, but now have a spacer underneath the stock strut up front on the performance kit. This is because the Fabtech shocks were blowing out quite often, and sometimes the actual shock housing was cracking. They do offer available Bilsteins though if you order it direct.

I'm surprised my shocks have lasted this long seeing as I actually use my kit offroad quite a bit and on crappy county roads littered with potholes. I've never actually noticed the axle wrap but them again Ive never watched somebody else drive my truck...ill have to check it out next time im off the pavement.

 

That trail did not look bad at all when we started down it, had I know the steepness of it (and that my truck would try to nose dive over the edge) I wouldn't have chosen it.

In all fairness, at least the girl that sunk her nails into you was kind of cute. I'm still sorry I subjected you guys to that ride though, and Jack (is that the dogs name?) probably still hates me for nearly tossing him out of the bed.

 

Just saw your post and went outside to snap some shots. Mine always has been bent downward but tonight its sitting only a little downward But here are some shots from my BlackBerry anyway.