To lift my Tundra or not

[billoo349]

2016 Toyota tundra SR5 double cab that I just paid off. It's needing new tires and shocks and I'm torn between sticking with stock height and tire size or lifting it 2"-3" in the front and 1" in the rear to fit bigger tires and give me a little more ground clearance. Coming from a GMC Sierra that had 11"-12" of ground clearance vs my tundra with about 9" (at the lowest point of the skid plate) I definitely have to be more cautious to not bottom it out on the forest service roads I take on.

Here is my dilemma- keep it stock height and have it be more reliable and fuel efficient and have to deal with being more careful over rocks etc. Or do something like the Bilstein 5100's and block or add a leaf on the back and gain a little clearance for bigger tires but will lose fuel efficiency and stress some drivetrain components more.

Perhaps someone with experience could tell me if 275/70r18's would fit with no rubbing. Stock size is 275/65r18 and I keep getting contradictory info on rubbing. That would be the easiest and cheapest way to get a little more clearance with only a ding on mpg but not necessarily reliability.


Sent from my motorola one 5G UW ace using Tapatalk

 

[brocksw]

Lots of variables there. If you lift 2.5"+ and you go with a shock that doesn't have a reservoir, you can go all the way up to 285/75r18 or even 295s without rubbing and without having to do a BMC. There's some caveats there though. If you go 2.5"+ in lift height and stick with the factory wheel, you might not have enough clearance between your tire and UCA to run chains. If you lift over 2.5" it's also time to start thinking about changing to an aftermarket UCA. Not only is it usually the shock manufacturers recommendation, but it also allows more articulation depending on the shock. If the shock you choose has a reservoir, and the front shock has the reservoir mounted towards the front of the wheel well, you will likely rub on the reservoir with factory wheels. Only way around this is spacers or after market wheels with a lower offset. Factory offset is +60, most after markets are +25 or lower (about an inch difference).

If you don't lift, you can go up to a 275/70r18, but you might get a little rubbing on the wheel well liner and the little flap that's screwed into the wheel well in front of the tire. Just remove that little flap and take a heat gun and push where it's rubbing anywhere else, problem solved and you're gtg.

Also, unless you do some HD towing and really need to beef up the rear end for weight, I would use an aftermarket shackle that gives you lift height, not a block or add a leaf. Add a leaf will stiffen up your ride and make it harder for that shock to do it's job. An aftermarket shackle is easier to install, cheaper, gives you more ride height, and reuses your factory leaf springs. Jack up the rear end and find a spot where your leaf springs relax a bit, remove factory shackle, ensure leaf spring lines up with holes in the frame, throw in aftermarket shackle. tighten to spec, job done. I use a 1.5" shackle and pull a 21 foot fiberglass boat around all summer and I do just fine. You could probably argue I'm a little light in the rear end, but in ND, the summers are short.

 

[Finch]

I did bilstein 5100s all the way around with the fronts on the middle setting. Went up a size in tire to 275/70/18 and got a little rubbing on the ends of the skid plate I believe it was. I just bent those corners back a bit and no more rubbing. Tires are cooper discoverer AT3's in 10 ply. I consistently get 13ish MPG.

 

[Fatcamp]

Yes. Of course it's not my money and my F250 is as stock as can be.

Now my 4runner, my 4runner is a different story. Favorite vehicle ever.

 

[billoo349]

@brocksw

Thanks for your detailed explanation. It helps a ton. Am I correct in thinking that the suspension lift itself won't give me any more ground clearance and the only thing to increase ground clearance is a taller tire?

Based on your post I think I'm leaning towards trying the 275/70s and removing the ugly wind deflector things at the front of the wheel well and pulling out the heat gun.

I'm already hesitant to put chains on the front with how close everything is in it's stock form. I'm not interested in getting different wheels but hopefully I don't get stuck and eat my words wishing I could run chains up front.

Also, I appreciate your description of lifting the rear with shackles vs the methods I mentioned. The truck does not tow anything to justify a stiffer rear end. It already bounces like mad at 65mph on the concrete highways around here and I really don't want to make that worse.

Sent from my motorola one 5G UW ace using Tapatalk

 

[JoshOR]

brocksw pretty much nailed it. Lifted my 2011 2” in the front with Old man emu struts, 1” or so in the rear with coachbuilder shackles. Happy with it, still have to body mount chop to fit 35”s. with my 0 offset wheels. Congrats on the payoff!

 

[Desk Jockey]

My $0.02. I am not a gear head but I put billsteins on my 2010 tundra A few months ago. I told the guy I wanted it to stay stock height. Something got mixed up and his guy maxed them out So now i Have a bit of a lift I didn’t want. It drives fine. Wheel wells look a little empty. I can’t say for sure but it think it knock a mile or two off my mpg. I am averaging 15 mpg highway on my last road trip.

 

[bojangles808]

Do you prefer 13 mpg or 9 mpg?

 

[bojangles808]

I have always had good luck with bilsteins and leveling on my last 3 vehicles, Tacoma, titan, f150.

 

[billoo349]

Do you prefer 13 mpg or 9 mpg?

Haha hey my truck gets more like 15-17 mpg now. Something to be extremely proud of. Good thing it has a massive gas tank.

Sent from my motorola one 5G UW ace using Tapatalk

 

[kda082]

Blistein and leveled Ram. Looks good, rides okay.

 

[brocksw]

Do you prefer 13 mpg or 9 mpg?

I did a 3" lift in the front, 1.5" in the rear, went to a 285/75r18 (35x11.8) and my mpgs were virtually unchanged. Little less power/torque, but I notice that mostly towing the boat up hills. My truck takes a little longer to get to 5th and 6th gear. But again, my fuel cost over a year without towing is basically the same.

 

[brocksw]

@brocksw

Thanks for your detailed explanation. It helps a ton. Am I correct in thinking that the suspension lift itself won't give me any more ground clearance and the only thing to increase ground clearance is a taller tire?

Yes and no. Yes a taller tire is the only way to bring the lowest parts of the truck higher off the ground. So your rear diff, LCAs, drive shaft, abs sensors, etc. But a lift will also increase your approach and departure angles allowing you to go over larger obstacles and it will raise a lot of other important stuff higher off the ground. Transmission, oil pan and filter, exhaust, brake lines, rocker panels.

Before my lift I I was running 275/70r18 tires and i dented the bottom of my front bumper on a rock. Crack my fuel tank skid plate on a another rock. Broke my front skid plate on another rock and hit it again on a chunk of sawed timber laying in the middle of a campsite.

Since I've had my lift, which with my tires puts me 5" over stock height if you meausure from the top of the wheel well, I haven't touched anything with the bottom of my pick up. And that includes driving some intense Boulder infested jeep trails in CO (I did bend up my running board brackets when I slid off a wet Boulder though).

That's the only reason I wanted a lift, for clearance. So you need to decide where you intend on driving and what kind of clearance you're comfortable with. Then allocate a budget you can live with and make it work.

If you pick a good shock, ride quality drastically improves. My dad has a tundra as well. He has 5100s in the front with an add a leaf in the rear...so basically a 2.25" lift. He can't even come close to keeping up with me on Prairie trails. I can drive 40 or 50 quite comfortably, his head is hitting the roof at much lower speeds. My shocks eat up washboard like it's nothing. His truck damn near rattles off the road.

 

[Tmac]

Went from the factory 275/65 4 plys, to LT275/70/18’s 10 plys and did not get any rub on mine at stock height. Then I added front Bilstein 5100’s set for about 1” of lift and got a little rubbing on the skid plate. Put on a RCI skid plate and the rubbing stopped. Rear is factory height. I gained about 1.5” of clearance up front. That, with the full skid plates I added gave me what I needed. Freeway mileage went down a couple mpg, added a hard tonneau and it want back up 1mpg. So all done within 1mpg of factory.

 

[ktm450]

I can from a fully loaded 2018 Ram Power Wagon and ordered this 2021 Tundra. Added:

Rough Country 3.5” with Vertex
295/70 r18
Among other things.

This Tundra is so much nicer in many ways. The lift and tires are perfect for off road and clearance. I’ll bet it spends a legit 60-70% of its life off road. I don’t miss the Power Wagon. Go for a lift.

 

[bojangles808]

Haha hey my truck gets more like 15-17 mpg now. Something to be extremely proud of. Good thing it has a massive gas tank.

Sent from my motorola one 5G UW ace using Tapatalk

haha was just giving you a hard time my buddy just got rid of his 2010 with a 6inch lift and it was a tough scene at the pump. customs offsets has a good photo gallery where you can set filters so someting your interested in

 

[ddavis_1313]

Bilstein 6112 front with 1/2” top hat spacer and 5160 rear with 1” shackle. Swapped to kmc 18” wheels and running metric 33’s that are about 11” wide i believe. Ride is way better and handling is way better especially in off road applications. Also added the JBA upper control arms. Did all the work myself

 

[JFK]

2017 Tundra. Bilstein 6112’s in the front and 5160’s in the back. Coachbuilder shackle lift in the back. Camburg UCA’s and body mount chop. Run a metric 34” tire with no rubbing. Super happy with this setup and it’s a solid step up from the 5100’s without spending the big money for Fox or Icon.

 

[Centralcoastca]

Depends on how much you want to spend and what kind of ground clearance you need to have. When I had a tundra I just did a spacer lift in the front, airbags in the rear because I had a cab over camper and went up slightly in tire size but I don’t remember exactly what it was. I was happy with a stock drive feel and no noticeable change in mileage and gained a little clearance. If I remember right it was a couple hundred bucks for the spacer and if I did a block in the rear instead of the airbags. If you’re wanting much more than that, you’re getting into big money to clear big tires which is really what gives you actual ground clearance and you lose mileage etc unless you regear which is also big money. Also, most trucks lifted too much really aren’t that great to drive if you do a lot of highway driving or care about that sort of thing. I went from a tundra to a tacoma sort of because of this. Even if I lifted the tundra more, it was so big it wasn’t nearly as capable as a stock taco on the tight trails and dirt roads I wanted to go on. Ground clearance wasn’t nearly as important in my situation as width and turning radius. I do miss that beast though…

 

[BrentH]

Here’s my old 2017 Tundra. Had 3” front, 1” rear, and 295/70/18. Gas mileage was virtually unchanged from stock.