2010 Pilot Lift Kit Problems - HELP!

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Skipnoid

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Hello everyone, new member here and I have a problem and could really use some advice!
I made some posts on two other threads, but I figured I should just start a thread. I'll try to copy all over here and delete the others. So it might be a little chopped-up.
 

Skipnoid

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@b0wfin
Hi Aaron,
I too found your vids online and just joined this site, which I was going to do just in order to say thank you! I'm on my 2nd Pilot. I had a 2004 and now I have a 2010. I've been wanting a new (or newer) rig, but don't want a car payment. After finding your vids on YouTube, I decided to lift it up and put some better tires on it. I'm off-road a lot, but never did any mods to my Pilots. I do routinely take it where it doesn't belong however. NOW I NEED HELP
 

Skipnoid

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I bought the Readylift 69-8020 kit off Amazon. There was only one review, and it was negative. But there are ALWAYS going to be some negative reviews. I had the tire shop (Big O) install the lift kit and tires. One stop shopping. It turned out to be a cluster $%&@ , it's relevant, but I'll save that story for later. Bottom line: they put new axles in it, because of this vibration problem. I picked it up last night and I have a distinct vibration on acceleration, which was the Amazon reviewer's post. I'll do a screen shot of it. It looks great and I have great clearance and it's going to give me a lot more utility now and the tires look and ride awesome (31" BFG KO 2's).
 

Skipnoid

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So now I'm BUMBED OUT! I am mechanical, but I'm not a gearhead. I have no facility (or desire) to do this work myself. Vibrations are always bad, but I'm wondering if I can just live with it. I've got $1700 into it so far. $500 for the kit, $900 tires, $300 labor/balancing. Does anyone know a simple fix? I don't want to keep throwing good money after bad into this thing. Any help greatly appreciated. Thx!
 

Skipnoid

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This is the only review for this product on Amazon. I guess I should have taken it more seriously.
Also, Big O told me that they called the ReadyLift factory and asked if they knew of any similar problems and they said no. I guess i'll call them tomorrow myself.
1580362503301.png
 

Charles M

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Bad drive angles could certainly cause this and my not be very easy to correct. Have you done an alignment on it yet?
 

aggrex

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Inspect LCA bushings, BJ, SB links, tire balance. Get a torque wrench and double check all bolts especially the ones for lift kit.
 

b0wfin

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3rd party axles do not play well with the lift in my experience. Honda axles are expensive ($300 each) but superior. I have been scavenging mine from salvage yards. Ebay has some for sale as well. If you look at my build thread, I have had axle issues as well. I do my own repair work so it has't been too expensive. My bet would be the after market axles.
 
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b0wfin

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I don't see any alignment parts in that kit. How did your alignment turn out? I had to have camber bolts up front and adjustable control arms in the rear to reach perfect alignment.
 

Skipnoid

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Skip
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3rd party axles do not play well with the lift in my experience. Honda axles are expensive ($300 each) but superior. I have been scavenging mine from salvage yards. Ebay has some for sale as well. If you look at my build thread, I have had axle issues as well. I do my own repair work so it has't been too expensive. My bet would be the after market axles.
Yes, I saw your posts about this. They had this problem with the original axles, which was why they changed them out with brand new ones. They didn't charge me for them, as they really steped-up. They also honored their original estimate of 2 hrs to do the job, but the have WAY more into it. I wasn't there, but talking directly to the mechanic, after he installed everything, when he went to drive it to the alignment building, the right front axle broke or came apart or something. He said/thinks because with the new kit and tires, the alignment was so far off it caused it to break. I'll never get a full story there, so I'm at a disadvantage. But they got it back together and had this vibration. So that's when they bought and installed two new axles. That was on Tuesday. I believe they took responsibility because it shouldn't have come apart in the first place. Did they use Honda axles? I'm sure they didn't. But I think based on all this, that's probably not it. But I don't know. My initial thought was that they botched it, and that might be part of it, but looking at that one Amazon review, I don't think so as much now.
 
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Skipnoid

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Prescott, AZ
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Skip
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3rd party axles do not play well with the lift in my experience. Honda axles are expensive ($300 each) but superior. I have been scavenging mine from salvage yards. Ebay has some for sale as well. If you look at my build thread, I have had axle issues as well. I do my own repair work so it has't been too expensive. My bet would be the after market axles.
I don't see anywhere in your vids and posts that you've experienced a vibration on acceleration problem like I'm having ... have you?
 

Skipnoid

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I don't see any alignment parts in that kit. How did your alignment turn out? I had to have camber bolts up front and adjustable control arms in the rear to reach perfect alignment.
I have the print-out from Big-O ... I'll scan it or take pics and try to post it up here later ... that said, there was no discussion at all that alignment was a problem.
 

Kwikvette

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Any way you can just return the kit?

I'm not familiar with Honda Pilots at all, but a lift would cause steeper angles for your axles and that's probably part of the cause.

I've seen guys bust an axle having a 3" lift with no diff drop; not sure what the remedy is for a Pilot.
 

Skipnoid

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Any way you can just return the kit?

I'm not familiar with Honda Pilots at all, but a lift would cause steeper angles for your axles and that's probably part of the cause.

I've seen guys bust an axle having a 3" lift with no diff drop; not sure what the remedy is for a Pilot.
I bought it through Amazon, so probably. I've always had great experience with Amazon. But what I want is for it to work! Either way, I'm out major bucks. I assume the tires I bought won't fit without the lift. I'm sure Big O would swap them out for some amount if credit, but just buying new tires for it wasn't my goal. So basically I'm just whining like a baby now, lol .... whaaaaaaaaaah!
 

Skipnoid

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It looks awesome though! I parked it next to a new TRD Taco yesterday and rolled around on the ground with my tape measure and my clearance is as-good, if not better. So I'm psyched about that! The height to the bottom of the doors is notably higher on the Tacoma, but so what? It's about not hitting rocks, right? My Pilot's wheel base is noticeably shorter too. That said, I'm not saying a Piolt is in the same class as a Tacoma. I'd go buy one today if I had any money. I was planning to go run Schnebly Hill in Sedona on Saturday and see how she does, but I s'pose maybe not such a good idea now. That said, I was going to start from up top and drive down into town, lol!
 
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