So...maybe I spoke too soon on my earlier post today -----> 1.5" Auto Spring Installed

The install happened yesterday for leveling kit. At first blush, driving around town everything felt fine. The ride unchanged. I had to take a ride on the highway today and I thought it felt like there was a shimmy coming through the wheel. I also felt it was in the gas pedal. I passed it off as nothing. This was a 40 mile round trip. Then this evening I had to take another ride to visit my father in law in the hospital. I'm still felt the shimmy and was thinking maybe I needed to rebalance my tires for whatever reason.

Traffic comes to stop on the highway and is moving nowhere in the forseeable future. So I click into 4wd. I thought I felt the normal clunk of 4wd engaging. Then after rolling along after 50ft I heard a crunch noise. I'm probably rolling along at 10-15mph at that point. I switch it back to 2wd..I don't hear anything. As traffic starts to roll again, I suddenly hear a "whirring noise". It's loud. The best way to describing it was that it had a grinding feeling. I could feel it through the wheel and in the pedal. This is a noise I've never heard or felt in my previous 9100 miles.

I park at the hospital and left a few hours later. My truck seemed fine. No noises driving down a back road. Nothing strange if I take a hard right or left. After about a couple of miles back on the highway, the noise and feeling are back. It stayed with me the whole way home even on back roads.

I also heard a "clang" maybe it was an actuation noise. This only happened on the backroad to my house. It seemed to appear when I came off the throttle into a coast, then hit a minor bump in the road.

All I can think is that I have a cracked IWE from the things I've read on the forum. I know the shop will make it right, they're a good shop. They lifted my Jeep wrangler 3 years ago and regeared it. It ran better and smoother than it did stock. I'm not blaming Ford, it certainly was caused by my modifications. Too many owners on this forum are running leveling kits with zero issues for me to think it can't be done.

 

I just did a 1.5 level today too and the axle had to be removed from the IWE. Make sure it was all properly seated and torqued and no IWE vacuum line damage.

 

That does seem like they broke the IWE.

Find out if they unbolted the end of the axle to do the leveling kit. It's possible to do it without.

 

Dropped it back off this morning at the shop. What's strange is that it doesn't make the noise until you drive it for a little, then it's noisy as all heck. Anyways...I'll post when they let me know what it is.

 

Did you get an Alignment after the level install... shimmy

 

I did get an alignment.

 

Ford installed my 2" AS level and 275/70R18's.


They took it off the lift, heard the IWE actuator making a whirring noise and put it right back up and replaced it. 0 issues and I wasn't charged for it.

 

Thanks Beer. That's encouraging.

 

Well guys you were all correct. Both IWE'S were replaced by the shop today. He said it was an expensive mistake on their part. So far so good. But the real test will be another long highway trip.

 

Oh boy oh boy.... So I'm not sure what IWE is as nothing like that was ever mentioned in my install instructions. Non the less, I just went out and put my truck in 4wd and sure enough it made a clunk sound and when I put it back in 2wd now I'm hearing a thump thump thump driving down the road.

So what is this that I'm hearing and how do I fix it?