Those boots are designed to stay at specific angles. They're supposed to be relatively horizontal, not permanently kinked downwards like a badly done lift can do. When the boot's kinked at a bad angle, any motion of the wheel up or down pulls the rubber boot outside of the range of motion it was designed for, especially on the lower end.
Is your front end a live axle, meaning it's permanently locked to the differential? If so, the twisting as the axle rotates also sqeezes the boot inwards at the bottom and pulls it out up top, flexing and twisting it even more. At highway speeds, that can happen up to 1000x a minute. If it's too much of a bend, it will gradually tear the rubber.
This can also cause problems with your drive shaft U-joints, transmission and differentials if taken to extreme. All your driveline components are supposed to be as straight as possible.
That is awesome information thanks! I am fairly certain the front axles are locked, so that might explain a few things. The lift isn't dramatic (i just measured the spacer and it looks like 2 inches), it's more just to level it to the back end that has airbags, but there definitely is an angle for the both the tirerods and the cv axles. Besides removing the lift, is there any other solution?
I agree with @justin-shepherd. The lift is likely stressing the steering linkage (got photos?), which is common for cheap lifts. The solution is to either lower the steering rack ($$$$$),fabricobble a new linkage with improved geometry ($$$), or remove the lift. I'll bet you that your CV axles and balljoints are equally stressed. This is why lifting trucks gets expensive very quickly.
As far as I know this Tundra has front independent suspension, so it's not a live axle, and there shouldn't be any axle wrap which I think is what Justin was trying to describe. But axle wrap is a characteristic of solid axles and it happens whether you have locking differentials or not.
Live axle may be the wrong description, I picked that up from some Ranger fellows when they described the front end of the 2001-up Rangers getting a permanently locked in front end, Ford designed a crappy "autolock" that worked on engine vacuum and was unreliable on the 1998-2000 model years, so they swapped in the front end from the Explorer, which I guess has permanently locked hubs. They described that as a "live axle" setup. I was trying to say that if the front differential is permanently tied to the wheel, it's all spinning with the wheel, just not receiving engine power through the transfer case. I'm not sure what you would call that arrangement.
I see. The fellows did indeed use incorrect terminology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beam_axle
What you are describing: I just call it locking hubs. And unlocked hubs would not experience axle wrap. But I haven't seen those in a while.
I'll update the lexicon. Haha. The fix for my truck was either swap out the front end with an Explorer if it would even fit, rig the vacuum hubs to permanently lock, or get manual hubs. The 2nd option was done by my truck's prior owners and I replaced those with manuals to free up MPG. Ended up freeing 3-4 MPG and made the investment more than worth it with these spectacular gas prices. I'm not sure if "Axle wrap" is what I'm describing or not. When you spin the wheel with a locked hub, the rubber boot flexes in and out like an accordion at the top and bottom while they're spinning. Mine are starting to crack a bit, and unlocking the hubs seems to have helped slow that down. I was thinking that the stretching in and out at an awkward angle can lead to tears, not just age, like my Ranger.
@justin-shepherd. This is axle wrap. Is this what you meant?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54_6GaYJvWI
No, that's pretty interesting, though. Must have a ton of torque to twist a rear end like that, lol. I described what I was thinking of earlier, Idk if you saw it or not.
It doesn't take much, and it's normal to some degree. If you stand on the brake and apply a bit of throttle you will be able to see it. Similarly, hard braking will make it nod the other way. But it's usually made worse by tired springs, suspension lifts, or as you say engine or driveline mods.
I don't think I'm familiar with the phenomenon you describe. I just can't picture it. Is it like "bump steer"? Do you know any videos?