DaveInDenver
Rising Sun Ham Guru
@allen.wrench, just my $0.02 the boot stretch thing is a solution looking for a problem.
I don't know Dan personally but see his posts on TacomaWorld and he seems level headed. IMO you gotta watch forum advice (clears throat) and especially on TW since a lot of stuff is parroted and not first hand or reasoned. Also he's running a first gen. In this case I don't think it matter much but is a point of fact.
I've been running IFS for a while and rebooted a fair number of axles. I've never had what I thought was early failures with OEM kits, so seems to me there's logic to what he says. I'm not saying there's not logic to the boots rubbing each other idea but even at stock ride height the boots will do that.
Stretching them isn't a normal operating mode that Toyota originally expected, though.
I don't think it's a simple yes, no, this or that question. This falls into the area where I think one has to decide to double guess Toyota. If you are running suspension that keeps the travel within the original window (most lifts are just increasing ride height but within factory parameters essentially using your down travel and increasing potential up, if that makes sense) then the CVs are also operating within the parameters Toyota expected.
Yes, you're operating them more time in a way that Toyota only expected during wheel droop but it's still within the window. If you replace control arms, change travel length, etc then all bets are off. But you should use longer axles in that case.
So what I'm saying is YMMV and I don't think you can really go wrong as long as you use OEM boots or better.
I don't know Dan personally but see his posts on TacomaWorld and he seems level headed. IMO you gotta watch forum advice (clears throat) and especially on TW since a lot of stuff is parroted and not first hand or reasoned. Also he's running a first gen. In this case I don't think it matter much but is a point of fact.
I've been running IFS for a while and rebooted a fair number of axles. I've never had what I thought was early failures with OEM kits, so seems to me there's logic to what he says. I'm not saying there's not logic to the boots rubbing each other idea but even at stock ride height the boots will do that.
Stretching them isn't a normal operating mode that Toyota originally expected, though.
I don't think it's a simple yes, no, this or that question. This falls into the area where I think one has to decide to double guess Toyota. If you are running suspension that keeps the travel within the original window (most lifts are just increasing ride height but within factory parameters essentially using your down travel and increasing potential up, if that makes sense) then the CVs are also operating within the parameters Toyota expected.
Yes, you're operating them more time in a way that Toyota only expected during wheel droop but it's still within the window. If you replace control arms, change travel length, etc then all bets are off. But you should use longer axles in that case.
So what I'm saying is YMMV and I don't think you can really go wrong as long as you use OEM boots or better.
Last edited:
