2010 HB Bent Axle??

[Pacman]

Looking for some help with my 2010 HB rear suspension with 130K miles. The driver's side rear has looked lower for some time now. Though I never really measured, but guestimate was about 1/2". Thought it was my fat that had collapsed that side more than the passenger side. So thought it might be a good excuse to get a lowering kit and replace the worn parts. Bought a set of Tein adjustable springs/coilovers. Installation went fine and also installed a TRD rear sway bar with no fitment problems. By the way electric impact wrench was the best purchase ever for this project.

Put the car back on the ground and began adjusting springs to even them all out. Was shooting for 14" center of wheel to fender lip all the way around. Kept getting close but can't get the driver's side rear within a 1/4" lower than the other 3 corners. So I get 13 3/4" on the driver rear and 14" everywhere else. I'm actually at the end of the rear spring adjustment on that side, while the passenger side is about 1/4 of the way from the end.

Funny thing is if I keep lowering the passenger side the driver's side keeps staying 1/4 lower. There have been know unusual noises or vibrations with the old parts or the new.

Do I have a bent hub or axle? Could the rear axle body mounts be off? Is this common? Any suggestions or thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

[Tapokata]

If the axle was bent, you would see that 1/4" deflection in the sway bar, as it"s bolted to the base of the shock mount. Is the distance from the sway bay to the underside of the vehicle the same on both sides? The bottom of the spring cup should be the same distance to the ground on both sides, and I am betting all of that is fine.

Did you change out the rear shocks at the same time? Are you getting more noise from the back end when driving over rough roads since making the change? Almost sounds like the driver rear shock is bound up or not loaded correctly when it was installed.

[Pacman]

Thanks Tapokata. Went out and measured a bunch of things tonight. I've put about 90 miles on the car to make sure everything was settled. There have been no new/unusual amount of noise in the back. All the measurement were the same on both sides except the bottom of the sway bar at the rearmost point to the ground. Difference was less than 1/16" of an inch. Places I measured that were equal.
Ground to bottom of lower spring perch.
Ground to bottom of axle beam
Ground to bottom of sway bar at the axle beam
Body to sway bar
Body to axle beam bottom
Sway bar reveal from beam
Top of upper shock rod to washer
Compression of upper shock grommet

I also rough measured camber as it like more on the driver's side rear but is probably optical illusion. Camber was about 1/32" more positive on driver's side measured using a level at the top of the wheel rim.

All shocks and springs were installed at the same time.

Should I try changing sides for the springs and shocks to see if it moves?

[Tapokata]

From here, I would guess that the shock is bound up, meaning the lower tube is not moving up on the strut as the car is lowered on the driver side. You might transpose just the shocks and see if the problem moves with it.

[Pacman]

Spent the morning getting it fixed, thanks for the insights. So I'll chock it up to multiple factors, mostly installation error on my part.
So I took the rear shocks and springs off and compared them and they were the same dimensions. Decided to go ahead and swap sides for both the springs, shocks and bushings. First I set the spring seats to the same amount for maximum height (about 1" lower than stock). Then re-installed on opposite sides making sure to get the spring insulators in the same relative alignment and the springs positioned with the same orientation. Next mounted the shocks paying extra attention to upper mount exposure above the washer. This is a mistake I think I made previously as the specs call for only 1.1" from the washer to the top of the adjustment screws.
I then took an extra amount of time using a straight edge and level to make sure I found center of the wheel on the fender, marked it and put a piece of tape on each under fender lip so my measurements were to the same point. I then made sure the front wheels were pointing straight forward (again, may not have done that as best I could the first time).
Once I started measuring everything was now within 1/16" with the drivers side rear being low and passenger side front being 1/16" high. Spun the front right up 1/16" and sure enough they were all are where I wanted them to begin with. Rears are equal and about an 1/8" higher than the front. I wanted to add just a little rake. Side to side they are less than 1/32" difference.
So lessons learned!! Take your time the first time, double check measurements and make them repeatable points.
Thanks again for giving ideas, but I'm going to say it was mostly operator error.

[Tapokata]

Glad you got it sorted. Those small differences will always drive me crazy. I mounted an aftermarket bumper on my 93 Toyotay pickup, and reset it three times, until I was convinced that I had the same distance from the ground to the bottom of the bumper at both ends. It still looks off to eye, but that's because the back gate had been hammered so many times by the previous owner that it runs a bit downhill- the bumper, of course, is level. You can never measure too many times.

[Pacman]

Yep, the eyes never lie. Just wish I could calibrate them to make it a real measurement.