265/75r16 with 3" lift questions

[jglenn6]

For those of you running 265/75r16's or equivalent tires with a 3" lift, I have a few questions for you.

What are the pros and cons of the lift other than ground clearance? From my understanding, most lift kits for our 4runners do nothing but bring your starting point in the travel arc down a few inches. Is there something else that I'm missing?

Now, I understand the lift will allow you to run bigger tires which will cause most people to regear their axles but there are a lot of people staying with the 265's rather than jumping to 33's or something bigger. Other than regearing, is there any specific reason why you don't run bigger tires?

Now, I am building my 96 to be my overlanding rig. I currently have a custom rear bumper with swingout tire and am just now starting on my sliders and front bumper. I'm also trying to decide what i'm going to do with my suspension (I believe it's the factory suspension with 220k miles) and can't decide if I want to lift it or bring it back to stock ride height. My concern is that some of the local trails that I go to quite often tend to get tight for my 4runner without a lift. What would you do?

Help please!:redbrick:

 

[phattyduck]

32" or smaller tires fit and clear a 100% stock 4Runner. Larger than that and you have to start clearancing in the wheel wells, body lift, etc.

And you are correct for the front suspension. There is a fixed limit to the upper travel (bump stops) and lower travel (full shock droop and/or upper ball joint). With the stock upper control arms and bump stops, that's about 8.5" of travel. If you lift 3", you lose 3" of droop...

For reference, I measured center of hub to fender on my front suspension recently:
Full bump (weight of truck on bump stop, no spring) = 16.75"
Full droop (all bushings loose, stock upper arm) = 25.25"

"Stock" ride height is considered to be 20", which is 5.25" droop and 3.25" of compression. You can see that a 1-2" lift leaves you with a pretty good balance of compression and droop (ever notice the '99 highlander springs are 1" taller than 'normal' - hmmmm... wonder why?). 3" starts loosing a lot of droop travel and often comes with stiffer springs which lose effective up travel (weight of truck can't compress the springs).

If you do upper control arms and extended length front coilovers, you can get a bit more droop - but if you go much larger on the tires, you lose up travel (tires start hitting the wheel wells).

Its not an easy choice. Rock clearance and approach angle vs. articulation will always be a compromise with an IFS suspension.

-Charlie

 

[zoombyu86]

I felt like you answered your own question. Taller tires will give you a slightly higher clearance. Wider tires will (debatable by how much) degrade your mpg. It really depends what you want in the long run. For overland, it seems that skinnier tires are preferred because of less rolling resistance. A million variables here in which you will have to decide. Plenty of stuff on the site to state what size and offsets fit what lift.

 

[theriddler]

I run 265/75R16 Duratracs with about a 2" lift and I like the setup but I am kind of wishing I went just a little bigger with the tire/lift combo. I may be me or an optical illusion but these tires don't look any bigger than the 265/70R16 size that were on there. The 2" lift does mate well to the 265/75 though.

I will say that if you run this size tire you really won't feel much difference in power and the speedometer won't be off as much which is good so you won't have to re-gear right away. If you decide to go a full 3" lift, i'd recommend a size larger on the tire like a 285/75R15 or even a narrow 255/85R16.

One thing that makes these Toyotas so good off road is their size and ground clearance, throw a locker and a set of good tires in the mix and you'd be amazed where you could go without a lift.

 

[Road Bull]

You might have gleamed this from other's input or from other sources, but taller tires are the only thing that can offer more clearance. So 265/75/16's are a size up from stock with no immediate need for a lift. You can also fit a full size 265/75/16 spare in the stock location. But it your case, it looks as though you already have a rear tire swing out sorted. That is usually a speed bump in deciding to make a jump between 32" to 33" (or larger) tires.

I am fairly confident that I could probably get away with doing most of what I do with 32" tires. But builds are a bit like how Hunter S. Thompson described putting together a drug collection...

"Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.”

I have gone from stock 265/70/16 to 265/75/16 to 285/75/16. I don't really see going larger. You start to run into diminishing returns as you go larger. I am still stock gearing and it's not too bad. It lags a bit going through the passes around here but totally doable. It is just hard to plunk down the money for a regear and locker, but I will one sunny day.

The 255/85/16 is a popular "overlanding" size tire. That is just a bit taller than a 285, but it is also narrower.

But... Before you decide on what tire you plan to run, start thinking about what you plan to pack your 4runner with. Once you start packing it full of stuff, it tends to push modest lifts beyond what they were designed for. You have a rear swing out already, but have you put a lot of gear in the back yet? Did your rear sag? It will. There are only a couple of spring that are designed to hold extra weight so keep that in mind.

 

[theriddler]

well said...:hatsoff:

 

[Hepar]

I personally don't run bigger tires than 265/75's because for me any of the pros don't outweigh the cons. For me the 75's are a good blend of size and utility for my needs.

One con I do feel that doesn't get discussed much is a loss of mpg's. The increase in height does increase your drag. Now, these rigs were far from the most aerodynamic shapes stock, but it certainly doesn't help things raising them up.

 

[jglenn6]

But... Before you decide on what tire you plan to run, start thinking about what you plan to pack your 4runner with. Once you start packing it full of stuff, it tends to push modest lifts beyond what they were designed for. You have a rear swing out already, but have you put a lot of gear in the back yet? Did your rear sag? It will. There are only a couple of spring that are designed to hold extra weight so keep that in mind.

Thank you for the great explanation! I have loaded it down and it sags tremendously (it already sags as it is which is why I'm considering the lift). In the picture above, it has a set of 265/75r16's on it but they're worn out. Has anybody lifted just the back to give it a small rake when not loaded which would then level it out when loaded?

 

[sportscarfan]

You should not be deterred from running 33's just because you think you'll need to regear.
My '97 has been on 33's for 6 years and is just fine with the 4:10's. Sure it is no powerhouse at highway speed on the CO passes, but that's what 4th gear is for. Off road, 1st gear lo range has never been too fast or lacked torque to pull steep technical terrain.
If your rig has an automatic transmission, maybe my .02 is worthless, but also consider that I live at 9200', so there is also a noticeable drop in power compared to Indiana.
My "lift" consists of some $60 craiglist'd 99 "tall" springs, a DIY 1" body lift, and some Gabriel Hijacker air shocks in the rear to help with no-sag load carrying.

 

[Hepar]

Sure it is no powerhouse at highway speed on the CO passes, but that's what 4th gear is for.

There's a BIG difference between the 5-speed and auto when it comes to how you can put the power down to the pavement. I had a 2001 Taco with a manual. It was lifted with bigger tires and mountain pass driving was no issue for the very reason you mentioned. You can just shove it into 4th and cruise. But with an auto trans, the amount of gear searching is insane. It actually was making me considering selling it before I added a supercharger. Now that it's SC'd, it's night and day better driving over hills.

 

[Hopeless Diamond]

But builds are a bit like how Hunter S. Thompson described putting together a drug collection...

"Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.”

When someone starts quoting Hunter S. Thompson, you know they know their sh!t :guitar2:

 

[Road Bull]

Thank you for the great explanation! I have loaded it down and it sags tremendously (it already sags as it is which is why I'm considering the lift). In the picture above, it has a set of 265/75r16's on it but they're worn out. Has anybody lifted just the back to give it a small rake when not loaded which would then level it out when loaded?

Okay, it sounds like the suspension needs to be addressed no matter what. No problem. I don't claim to have all the answers by any means, but if I were fo build again, I should pick one of two different paths.

If I went with 265/75/16's. I might skip the rear swing ot bumper and the weight that goes with it and think of additions to the build through a weight cost / benefit lens. The spare can go underneath. Get a roof rack for things that I we would have put on the rear swing out. Pass on heavy space hogs like a RTT. Add some sliders and call it good till you ran into needing something you don't have.

OR...

Accept that everything is s compromise and plan my end game around some tried and true things that worked for many before me.

That rig would be based ona 3" lift and 33" tires. It would use some of the only coils that handle the weight. OME 861's. Get some sliders. Add the rest as you need it. You don't have to regear. It's nice to have, but not need to have.

When someone starts quoting Hunter S. Thompson, you know they know their sh!t :guitar2:

LOL. Freak Power!

 

[SpidermanGeek]

My rig's previous owner is the one that put the lift on and slapped 285/75R16's on it (with spacers). I don't think the lift is a full 3", probably closer to 2.5". (as pictured in my avatar)

I bought it like that, but the tires were utter crap at this point (old, dry treadwrights).

For him, the 4runner was a weekend bush toy for camping, so he never cared much about road manners. He took both sway bars off.

For me, it's more of a second utility vehicle that I bought for its reliability and look. I'll admit, I've never taken off-road.

I ended up installing an external tranny oil cooler & gauge, refreshing the front end with OEM UBJ, LBJ, ITRE, & OTRE, as well as slapping on some Cardone CV axles before then putting the front sway bar back in and downsizing the tires to a more streetable 265/75R16 M/T. I also put a same sized spare back under the truck.

I'm very happy with this current setup as I like the look of it with the added benefit of much better on-road manners. My speedo is still pretty close to accurate now and since I have the Limited with e-locker and 4.30 gears, I also know that if I do hit the trails for a camping weekend, I haven't really compromised much off-road capability by ditching those 33's.

 

[baja1]

put a sonoran steel 1.2 lift on it. even if you're not going off roading its so much more fun to drive around perched up there! :hatsoff:

 

[SupaSupra]

put a sonoran steel 1.2 lift on it. even if you're not going off roading its so much more fun to drive around perched up there! :hatsoff:

Even with 5" of lift and 35s, I still don't feel that tall. Lol.

 

[thenightman]

In quite a few threads on this forum you will read that 265/75r16s will fit stock with no rubbing. On my 2000 limited with stock wheels and a 188,000 mile suspension, my maxxis bighorn 265/75r16s rub. Around town they are fine, cruising a dirt road they are fine, but flexing out or bouncing around the dunes they rub at the back of the wheel well, and at the bottom corners of the limited flares on the bumper. Every vehicle is different. Some of this might also be because the bighorns are a true mud terrain, not an all terrain or one of the newer, sort of in the middle tires.

 

[phattyduck]

In quite a few threads on this forum you will read that 265/75r16s will fit stock with no rubbing. On my 2000 limited with stock wheels and a 188,000 mile suspension, my maxxis bighorn 265/75r16s rub. Around town they are fine, cruising a dirt road they are fine, but flexing out or bouncing around the dunes they rub at the back of the wheel well, and at the bottom corners of the limited flares on the bumper. Every vehicle is different. Some of this might also be because the bighorns are a true mud terrain, not an all terrain or one of the newer, sort of in the middle tires.

An alignment will fix that. Max out the caster at 0 camber and you'll clear just fine (moves the wheel forward).

-Charlie

 

[its_azar]

I have a ToyTec 3” Lift and run 285/70/17 Duratrac‘ and absolutely love it. Fills in the truck and look great. 265’s on a 3” lift look skinny(my buddy has that setup)


1997 Toyota 4Runner Limited - 94k Miles
17” TRD Pro Wheels - Toytec 3” Lift - 32” Goodyear Duratrac - LED Taillights - LED Interior Lights - Plastidip Bumpers/Grill - Limo Tint all around

 

[Hepar]

I have a ToyTec 3” Lift and run 285/70/17 Duratrac‘ and absolutely love it. Fills in the truck and look great. 265’s on a 3” lift look skinny(my buddy has that setup)


1997 Toyota 4Runner Limited - 94k Miles
17” TRD Pro Wheels - Toytec 3” Lift - 32” Goodyear Duratrac - LED Taillights - LED Interior Lights - Plastidip Bumpers/Grill - Limo Tint all around

That’s more backspacing of the wheel than tire size.

 

[theriddler]

I had an extra set of Goodyear Kevlar all terrains at home mounted on some TRD fj cruiser rims in a 265/75R16 size so today i put them on my stock 02 4runner and they actually fit pretty good with no lift. I'm trying not to lift this one any further than i have to, i want to get a winch bumper and a locker first.