Enthusiast III
Have you gone to any Pilot forums?? I own an Xterra and am on like 3 forums, always where I go when issues arise
2010 Pilot Lift Kit Problems - HELP!
- Thread starter Skipnoid
- Start date
Not yet. I picked it up Wednesday night and yesterday's the first day I really drove it. I'm gonna do that today, but wanted to start here because if Aaron's videos. I'm also gonna swing by Honda ths morning and talk to the service manager. It's just up the street from my place.
Enthusiast III
Me too! I was so excited about this fun little idea. I hope there's a reasonable fix.
Next stop: the custom 4x4 place here in town. If they can't get me straightened out, nobody can. I live in Prescott, AZ. We have endless dirt roads and trails here. There are some serious 4x 's driving around. My quad's even street legal here.
The 4x4 shop is thinking it's probably more of a drive train issue vs axles. That's also what the Honda guy said too. I made an appointment to bring it in Monday for a diagnostic. Once they determine what's wrong, we can go from there. Fingers crossed.
I also went by Big O to see if I could get the old axles to have as spares. Something tells me that there's a broken axle on my future, lol! Guess what? The scrap guy came by and took them yesterday. So that's a bummer. He said the new ones are "OES" (Orig Eq Spec???) FVP brand. Opinions on that vs Honda original products?
Thx.
Thx.
Seems a bit peculiar that the shop would absorb the cost of axles + installation which would exceed the charge for the lift kit installation. Anyone installing lift kits can expect some changes in drive lines which ultimately can affect drive axles BJ, u-joints etc. Following this story and hope to hear a solution as your Pilot looks good with the lift.
They're a good shop. I've been going there for 6 years (since I moved here) for tires. I was very friendly with the owner and knew his son. He sold out, but apparently to another stand-up type of guy. Apparently a friend of the original owner. They might have bitten off a little more than they could chew. When I asked if they could install the lift kit, the front desk guy was all like "Of course, no problem, we can do it" with no hesitation at all, so I was fine with it. The mechanic did screw up something for sure when he let it down off the lift the first time and tweaked the right axle driving it. They just wanted to make it right. So here's more background now that I have a minute...
I brought it in before noon on Saturday. They said it should all take 2 hours. Over 5 hours later, and an hour after closing time the axles were out of it and I was in the shop talking directly to the mechanic. He was pretty spun up and frustrated and I wasn't on my A game either, cuz now I would be without a vehicle for days. Plus their alignment machine crapped the bed, etc etc etc … I took Uber home. I was able to borrow a car from my Ex Wife, so I felt better. I was also working on two days in a row with very little sleep. So it a wasn't real fun meeting.
The mechanic and a helper came in on Sunday to try and make it right. I stopped by after hunting (I'm on a really nice buck, but that's another story) and nothing was going right, couldn't buy parts, was going to flat bed it to the next town over cuz their alignment machine was down, etc … So I told him that I have a car and to chill out and just go home and apologized for being a little grumpy myself the night before. So he really appreciated that.
They worked on it Monday and decided to replace the axles because of the vibration, I assume thinking that he messed up the bearings or something (because he mentioned that specifically to me) … that's where I have no way to really get the whole story … but something happened and decisions were made by the owner.
Tuesday they changed the axles and got it aligned and road-force balanced the tires. I got it up to 80 MPH last night and the tires are perfect.
Turns out I know one of the guys who was working there on Monday. I think I'm going to see him tonight, and if I do I'm going to see what more I can find out from the inside perspective.
I wish I'd have thought to ask for those original axles to keep as spares. The recycler took them yesterday.
I'm really anxious to find out what the 4x4 shop finds on Monday. I guess I'll just drive it around town gingerly until then.
Just to clarify, the vibration started after the lift?
I'm not at all familiar with Pilots, does this thing have independent suspension front and rear?
if so, being this is just a spacer lift, the only thing you did was space the shock travel down. Are you introducing a bind of some sort in the CV joints? I do not know how much travel Honda has built in to these things.
I'm not at all familiar with Pilots, does this thing have independent suspension front and rear?
if so, being this is just a spacer lift, the only thing you did was space the shock travel down. Are you introducing a bind of some sort in the CV joints? I do not know how much travel Honda has built in to these things.
I love the look too! If you buy Honda axles I think you would be good to go for a while, but there are no guarantees.
Hi Sean,
1. There was no vibration prior to this mod.
2. Yes, independent suspension x4
3. Correct on spacers only
Thx!
Hi Aaron (I have that right, yes?),
I hear you, and I've read your posts in your build thread and watched all your videos. Great job, btw. You have the nicest little family and it's really nice to watch you all have so much fun together! :)
Finding your YouTube vids when I was searching for Pilot 4x4 mods is really what caused me to do this. ... So thanks!
You may be right abbout the axles, but they had this problem WITH the original axles. That's why they changed them out (to eliminate that possibility). I wish to hell I'd have thought to get them back a day before though! But that's water under the bridge now. Too bad the 4x4 shop couldn't have gotten it in today though. He seemed to think it was more likely drive train/shaft. The Honda service manager thought so too. He pointed towards the bearing(???) that's about halfway down the drive shaft. Ijust hope it's correctable for a reasonable amount of money. Putting $3k into a 10 year old car with 190k on it really wasn't part of my game plan.
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Do you mean AND just live with the vibration?
I really want to know if you had any vibration issues like this when you lifted yours. Im 99% sure you didn't, or you would have said so already, right?
Part of the discussion wih the 4x4 shop he said that if its a drive train issue that they work with a welding shop that modifies shafts, etc ... just more FYI
As with most Honda parts the parts guy mentioned in a previous discussion that the bearing and drive shaft were pretty expensive wear item.
