Thoughts on Tacoma tires and lift

[RedRob]

This post is a long ramble, sorry. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. And I won’t blame you for hitting the back button now.

I’ve got a 2” spacer lift on the front of my 2016 Tacoma. For some time now I’ve been planning on a 4” lift so that I could go from tiny, wimpy, keeping me from realizing my full potential and living a good life 31” tires to gigantic, go anywhere, world-dominating 33” tires.

Today I was gazing lovingly at lift kits online when I noted that the two I was most interested in both said that the factory wheels would no longer work! I had never noticed that before. I was devastated. A lift is enough coin without popping for wheels, too.

This got me thinking about tires sizes. Yes, lifting the midline is valuable, but isn’t the real point in lifting fitting bigger tires? (And looking cool, of course.) So what am I actually trying to accomplish? What tire sizes am I taking about?

Well, my current tires came off the rack with a 31.6” diameter. There’s no way I’m going bigger than the 33”/285 range, and it looks like the tires that interest me the most run right at 32.8”. A 1.2” bigger diameter tire only nets me 0.6” of height increase. This seems like much ado about nothing.

When I used to visit Tacomaworld, which I no longer do because of the unfavorable snark to information ratio, it seems to me that the consensus was that 33’s would require cutting or some other form of work regardless of lift.

So I’m thinking I should just skip the lift, do some cutting and get the same dang tires I was gonna get and spend the money on something else.

If you’ve read this far I’m guessing you’ve got an opinion, and I’d like to hear it.

Thanks

 

[Michael Kinnett]

Regardless of lift, a cab mount chop is required to fit 33" tires. I have a 275/70 R17 and didn't have to do it on my 2.5" OME lift. I didn't do it to fit bigger tires as much as I did it for the offroad performance upgrade. The increase in travel is substantial, which is why mid/long travel is in my future when I don't daily drive my Tacoma. IMO go with the least lift to get what you're looking for. A 4" lift will require needle bearing rebuild, a more aggressive drive shaft angle, and more wear long-term. I'd suggest looking into lesser lift angle/height just so you have more options. The correct 2" lift will get the same benefit of the 4" without the additional wear and lower center of gravity.

I don't know all of the specifics of the 3rd gen, which it looks like you have, but do know on the 2nd I got this lift specifically for my purposes.

 

[Xiggi]

Regardless of lift, a cab mount chop is required to fit 33" tires. I have a 275/70 R17 and didn't have to do it on my 2.5" OME lift. I didn't do it to fit bigger tires as much as I did it for the offroad performance upgrade. The increase in travel is substantial, which is why mid/long travel is in my future when I don't daily drive my Tacoma. IMO go with the least lift to get what you're looking for. A 4" lift will require needle bearing rebuild, a more aggressive drive shaft angle, and more wear long-term. I'd suggest looking into lesser lift angle/height just so you have more options. The correct 2" lift will get the same benefit of the 4" without the additional wear and lower center of gravity.

I don't know all of the specifics of the 3rd gen, which it looks like you have, but do know on the 2nd I got this lift specifically for my purposes.

I was just looking at this same kit today for my 05 trd. If I may ask what tires did you go with and how tall did they end up being?

Thanks

 

[TheGreatWhiteBuffalo]

I’m with Michael, you’ll probably? have to do a CMC with 33’s. I have 275/70/17 with a 2” Bilstein 5100 lift. I did NOT have to do a CMC, because my tires actually rub on the front instead of the cab mount. It has something to do with the alignment and my tires sit just a hair more forward. (You can probably tell them to do this, alignments are over my head, so I don’t really understand all those numbers).

My recommendation: ditch the leveling kit for sure, if you plan on doing any off-roading and get the Bilstein 5100’s if you don’t want to spend a lot. They’re by far not the best out there, but a great shock for someone who just wants a lift for some bigger tires. You’ll get 2” lift out of them. Higher than 3” starts getting really expensive and annoying because of all the extra things you need to do like diff drop, extending brake lines, etc.

For tires either get 275/70/17 or 285/70/17. I would (and did) opt for the 275’s since it’s only like a half inch smaller and not as wide, which means less rubbing. You can also go with the 16” rim equivalents, I don’t know what they are off the top of my head.


Again, this is just my 2 cents. A lot of people probably have they’re own opinions and that’s totally fine!

Here are a couple photos so you can see how it looks.

 

[Lindenwood]

Like the 5th gen 4runner, fitting 33s or larger will require chopping the body / cab mount behind the front tire to prevent rubbing at full articulation.

Also, as mentioned, lifting only moves the static location of the wheels, but doesn't change their overall movement arcs unless you get into extended bump stops.

 

[D-CM]

Hey man, hopefully I’m not too late to the game here. While it is true that getting 33s that are 285s on your rig will require a CMC (mostly due to width),there is another option for 33 at stock height on a 3rd gen trd OR ( not sure what model you have). I have a 2017 TRD OR with stock wheels at stock height and I’m running 255/85/16s, they are 33s but they are narrower...a lot of people refer to them as pizza cutters. I have no rubbing at full tuck/stuff (whatever you want to call it). There are tons of 3rd gen owners who say the same. The important thing is to keep the stock wheels because the offset is perfect. Here are some photos...

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