Bigger is always better, right, if larger lifts and tires result in more lift? Well, it could look good, but the extra cost isn’t always justified. When deciding which kit to pursue, you must consider the terrain your Tacoma will be driving on.
A leveling kit or 2 kit should be adequate for moderate trail use. You might wish to increase the lift to a 3-4 when you enter harsher terrain when the trail is littered with huge boulders and stumps. A 6 lift is significantly more suited when dealing with even bigger challenges, such as full-on rock crawling or anything comparable.
When purchasing big kits like a 6, be sure to pay close attention to suspension travel as well. Longer travel will aid in maintaining the truck’s stability when traversing rocky, uneven terrain.
In This Article...
Can I put in a lift on my own?
Many of you may be wondering if you should hire a professional to install your lift kit or whether you can do it yourself.
A raise kit can enhance the appearance and ride of your car. However, the cost of having it installed can be high. Installing a raise kit typically costs between $600 and $700 in shops. In addition to buying the kit itself, this is required. The answer is straightforward for many people. They do it on their own. An easy lift kit installation can be done. However, it takes a lot of time. The installation of the kits takes a skilled professional between 5 and 7 hours. It typically takes an experienced private individual the entire weekend to work on an automobile.
Even while installing the lift kit is simple, it’s not necessarily simple. Additionally, some extremely specific instruments are needed. It will save time and money if you and your pals already have the necessary equipment. Good jacks and jack stands are required. It is much simpler to reach the necessary pieces once the car has been raised up and the axles have been dropped and supported. Additionally, it releases the strain from the suspension’s springs and other components, making replacement and addition much safer and easier. Installing the lift kit shouldn’t be an issue for those who feel confident with this procedure.
Your vehicle’s age and kind are important factors as well. Installing a raise kit on a vehicle with two wheels as opposed to four requires a somewhat different procedure. When you need to fabricate or weld parts for an older car, the process becomes much more difficult and intricate. Some people hire professionals to complete that type of work if their car needs it. However, you and a friend can do the entire process yourselves if you are confident in your abilities and can follow directions. Simply remove the coil spring with caution.
A lift kit installation takes time. It only requires drilling out and replacing rivets once the structure of the car is supported by individual jacks for each axle. A longer driveshaft can be required if the suspension of a four-wheel drive vehicle is being raised significantly. The transfer case’s angle may also need to be changed. Additionally, independent suspension vehicles are a little more labor-intensive and time-consuming. However, you can build your own raise kit as long as the steering linkage, sway bars, brake lines, and shocks are long enough.
Factory Tire Size on Tacoma
Factory is a relative term. It depends on the model you purchase and how your truck is delivered from the dealer. Depending on the model and trim package, we see everything from a 245/75/16 to a 265/70/17.
With pre-facelift 2nd gens, depending on whether you had a limited trim package or not, you have three options for tire size: 245/75/16, 265/70/16, and 265/65/17. With an additional 265/60/18 size offered from the factory, post facelifts offer the same size. Many of these same options are available with the 3rd Gen Tacoma right off the lot, and occasionally a dealership will mount 275s or 285s on a vehicle. It does happen occasionally, though.
Due to their reduced size, the 2WD vehicles came with somewhat smaller tires. The 4.0L XRunner came in a somewhat larger size, 255/45/18, but the 2.7L 2WD only came in one size, 215/70/15.
Why Bigger Tires?
Why is everyone going as huge as possible since bigger tires would reduce both your gas mileage and your power?
Bigger tires not only look amazing and give your vehicle a more aggressive posture, but they also provide you more ground clearance and typically have a better/wider footprint, which improves your truck’s off-road performance.
The frame and body of the car are lifted when a suspension lift is installed. With a body lift, the body is the only item that is being lifted. Whether they are applied to your body or your frame, both types of lifts are intended to increase your ground clearance. What about your axles, though? The answer is to use larger tires.
The distance between the ground and the lowest point of the trucklikely the axle or control armsessentially increases with larger tires. This is beneficial if you engage in a lot of off-road driving because the bigger tires will enable you to avoid running into barriers by allowing you to pass them.
More traction is another advantage of a bigger tire. This one is fairly self-explanatory, but airing down will make a difference. By improving flotation when your tires are inflated to a lower PSI (20 PSI rather than 40 PSI, for example), you can increase traction. Even additional traction is obtained by adding a larger tire to the mix and lowering the PSI.
Are 33s the Perfect Size?
Many of us will wish to keep our trucks suitable for daily driving. This means that switching to 35s from the factory tires could be a bit of a drastic shift, but switching to a 33 tire might be ideal. 285s are an excellent size because they are visibly larger than stock and, depending on the lift you’re using, require little to no cutting.
Let’s discuss power. Depending on your gear ratio, you can experience a slight power reduction while switching to a larger tire size. The good news is that the power loss is barely perceptible because 33s are only somewhat larger than factory tires. It would be a different situation if you were intending to leap to a 35-inch tire. You should think about re-gearing at the 33 stage regardless of whether you have a 33 tire or a 35 tire.
It totally depends on what you do with your Tacoma. If you go off-road frequently, you should definitely switch gears straight away. It’s not unheard of to drive 33s without re-gearing if you choose to cruise dirt roads and tackle simple to moderate trails; but, this will wear down your drivetrain, chassis, and third member’s factory gears over time.
Tires and Regearing?
From standard tires to 285/70R17, there is barely any power loss. We are considering a re-gear because it is visible on the interstate, especially going up hills at higher altitudes.
The final gear on both the 6spd and 5spd versions of the second-generation Tacoma with the 4.0L engine has a stock ratio of 3:73. The gear ratio increases to 4:10 for four-cylinder engines, and the basic trans has the same final gear as v6 cars. The standard gear ratio for the 2.7L 5spd and v6 automatic in third-generation Tacos is 3:909. The stock ratio for a 2.7L automatic and 3.5L six-speed transmission is 4:30.
Re-gearing enables you to move larger tires without burdening the engine further. The stock ratio for our second generation is 3:73, so a re-gear isn’t a bad idea even with 33s. If you have the 4.0L to go with 33s, the ideal gearing ratio would be 4:10 or 4:56. The vehicle would feel as though it were running on stock tires at 4:10s, and you would get about 200 extra RPMs at 70 mph. There should be a significant 300 RPM increase at 70 mph when using 4:56 gears.
Even though the premise is the similar, the third generation Tacomas would be slightly different, and a lot of it depends on tire size. If your truck didn’t already have them, you would choose 4:30s for 33s rather than 4:10s. If it does have 4:30s out of the box, you should probably choose 4:56s for a stock tire feel or 4:88s for a little bit higher RPM.
s and Lift Kits
While it’s not impossible, you will undoubtedly need to cut or trim something in order to fit 33s without a raise. Depending on whether you clear the control arms or not, you ought to be capable of lifting 2-3 pounds.
Although suspension lifts technically do not clear tires for off-road use, they can nonetheless be useful. Your body’s static ride height is altered when you lift your truck. For instance, while driving every day, you might not rub, but when driving off-road and stuffing that tire into your wheel well, you almost certainly will. This rubbing would be significantly harsher both on and off the road without a lift.
In response to the infamous query, no raise is necessary to accommodate 33-inch tires on a factory Tacoma; other modifications may be necessary, such as fender liner pushback, CMC (cab mount chop), rocker panel cap trimming, fender trimming, body trimming, etc. Having said that, you can still bolt the wheel and tire to your hub; you may simply need to perform some trimming. Something needs to give since even when you grow taller, the inner fender’s size remains constant.
In order to determine exactly what needs to be trimmed, we will place 33 tires on a stock, third-generation Tacoma without the use of a lift. Snail Trail 44 will shortly donate that truck.
Realize that it’s crucial that the tires under your Tacoma don’t rub, regardless of the size you choose. If they continue to rub and you don’t fix the problem, eventually you’re going to destroy something or rip something off.
Our up/down travel on the Bilstein 5100 kit 2.8 front with Icon Add a Leaf 2 rearit has cleared everything fairly well after mounting, operating, and flexing it. Following tire installation, there were NO general on-road rubbings on the fender liners or fender well. That included the curb drop test as well as full-lock reverse. The tires cleared the pavement fully.
Driving off-road is a little bit of a different situation. Even driving on a bumpy dirt road wasn’t too difficult, although when the tires were jammed into the wheel wells, they did rub a little. It wouldn’t take much cutting at all to completely clear 33s since they hardly ever rub on the inside of the fender close to the pinch weld.
Trimming
The only place where the Tacoma rubs after using the 33s daily for a few days is on the control arms. 1.25 hub-centric wheel spacers are going to be a quick and affordable solution. It appears like there is plenty of space between the tire and both the front bumper and the rear of the fender.
The lack of tire contact with the body during routine driving actually quite astonished us. The tire appears to have plenty of space between it and the front bumper and fender.
Even after driving the Taco off-road, there is barely any rubbing. At full flex, it does somewhat brush against the inner fender’s backside.
Clearing the Upper Control Arms
The SPC upper control arms are the only visible area we have rubbed thus far (UCAs). They scarcely make contact while traveling straight and it is barely visible. Turning while driving at parking lot speeds is quite obvious and somewhat unpleasant. There is a tiny vibration experienced when turning when traveling at highway speeds, but it is not particularly uncomfortable.
To pull the tire away from the hub, one solution would be to install some wheel spacers. Hub-centric wheel spacers are fully safe for both on- and off-road use as long as everything is torqued to specification. You only need the most popular size, 1.25, to completely clear the upper control arm.
Purchasing a set of wheels with a more aggressive offset is an alternative choice. Offset effectively moves the outside edge of the tire away from the hub, much like wheel spacers do.
Wheel Offset or Spacers
Both spacers and offset wheels have advantages and disadvantages. Offset wheels are theoretically equivalent to wheel spacers in terms of their negative effects on wheel bearings and other things. After all is said and done, the tire’s outer edge is being pulled away from the hub.
This does not imply that you should avoid purchasing 33s. If everything is fitted properly, your truck will be good with smaller wheel spacers and a lower offset. Since there is little room for error with hub-centric wheels and wheel spacers, this is particularly true.
On the other hand, rubbing problems on the body will result from running too much offset (negative). This is because the geometry of the wheel in relation to the body has changed. The body mount, front bumper, fender liner, and mudflap are just a few of the body parts that could be impacted.
Of the two options, wheels will undoubtedly be more expensive. Hub-centric spacers, however, aren’t exactly inexpensive either. A pair of two often costs over $100.
Factory Wheel Size Offset
We brush against the control arm because of how much positive offset we have. Different sizes of stock Tacoma wheels correspond to various offsets.
While the TRD Beadlock range only has a +10 offset, TRD Offroad and TRD Sports typically have +30 offsets. The range of TRD Pro wheels has a +4. Additionally, the majority of SR5 and Limited wheels have an offset of +30, with the occasional +25.
You might not even require spacers or aftermarket wheels, depending on the Tacoma’s current set of wheels.
Terrain Type
Your choice of tires will have a significant impact on how well your truck handles both on and off the road. A set of 33 mud terrains may end up rubbing where your 33 all terrains did not. Due to the larger, more aggressive tread, mud terrains tend to be a little bit larger in size.
The transition to 33 mud terrains will undoubtedly be more obvious because 33s also tend to weigh more. Although you won’t always need to change gears, on-road driving might not be as comfortable as with a set of all terrains.
Can 285 Fit in the Spare Location?
You made the decision to go up a size, and are now curious as to how to fit a 33 tire in the spare tire holder. Our 285/70/17 all-terrain tires, which are inflated to 10 psi, hardly fit in the stock spot. Although it could fit and drive, the space was constricted. You would probably need to make some adjustments to the spare location if you wanted to get a size larger. Purchasing a swingout or a bed tire carrier is an alternative.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to off-road performance, a good set of tires may undoubtedly make all the difference. Although size doesn’t always matter, it might ease your burden on the path. The ideal tire size for both daily driving and off-road use is 33s. They are incredibly simple to fit and offer greater ground clearance than factory tires. Not to mention that they fit in perfectly with a 3-lift.
After a few days of everyday use, the Tacoma has only rubbed on the upper control arms due to our 3 lift. The problem should be resolved more than adequately by the wheel spacers that have been ordered. Again, though, a raise doesn’t clear tires, so don’t be shocked if you rub a little off-road rather than on the road.
I suppose you could say that I have a slight addiction to Toyotas. I drive a third-generation 4Runner and a second-generation Tacoma. Over the years, I’ve worked at a few different Toyota dealerships, which has taught me a ton about things Toyota. When I’m not fixing trucks, my pals and I are out on the trails.
Would using wheels with a zero offset cause my stock Toyota wheels to protrude further? I am upgrading to Method 701s with a 0 degree offset because I have an 09 Sport with the same wheels as shown in the photographs.
I have a second-generation 2008 Toyota Tacoma, and I’m thinking of installing some 33-inch tires. What is the lowest lift I could go for that wouldn’t rub? I could also use spacers, but I don’t want one that is too high.
My Toyota Tacoma trd Sport 44 from 2021 has a 2.5 inch leveling kit. I replaced my wheels and tires with 2010 models that are -19mm off and 275/60r20.
The LT285/70R17 121/118Q E tire, are those the tires? A Geolandar X-AT 285/70R17 that has an LT weight rating higher than 121/118 E is not listed in the Yokohama catalog. For a Tacoma, the LT and weight rating seem a little high. Are the tires’ rides rough?
Please send us some pictures of the spacers installed, Cody, and keep us updated.