New Member with 3in lift questions

Good Evening everyone,

This is my official 1st post to this forum. I recently purchased a 2011 Tacoma double cab, v6, 4x4, 6 speed manual and I am in the market for a 3in lift. I am a do it yourself kind of guy on a limited budget. I have been researching different lifts and need some input from the Pros. I want to be able to clear 33x12.5xr16 tires. I am looking to keep my stock rims for now. I rarely take my truck off road and abuse it so I dont need a super heavy duty lift with skid plates, better shocks, tie rods, etc. I am considering getting either a 3inch front leveling kit, diff drop, rear add a leafs, and 2in rear blocks or a 3in suspension system from rough county, procomp, etc. If I end up going with the leveling kit, add a leafs, and blocks what other modifications do I need to make for this to work out?

 

33x12.5 is 315/65/17. They will not fit without severe rubbing, and need for chopping.

Best you can do is 285/70/17 or 285/75/16. With some rubbing.

If you don't off road, leveling kits work ok. You best bet is to buy an ome or toytec lift for $1000 or so, and you will have performance and capability, with not a lot of extra cost over the leveling blocks.

Welcome to TW.

ps. Dont forget to use the search function

 

I'm running 285/70/17's and had rubbing.. so be prepared. I also just swapped out my procomp 3" kit with OME and Icon last weekend. Pay the extra $400 and go with OME/Icon. Much better and your truck will thank you many miles later.

Welcome to TW

 

X2 on the spending money on a better lift and if you wana wide tire get 305/70

 

How bad was the rubbing you guys had with the 285/75/16 or 285/70/16. Was it just on the mud flaps? Would a 17in rim make a difference on rubbing too?

 

In regards to the question trying to do a 3" lift ANY lift 3" or higher you will need new UCA's costing $500 and up to correct the alignment. Some i've heard didn't have issues at 2.5 w/ the billies and 1.75" you should be fine. As far as tire sizes ill let the pros tell you all that. I have billies at 1.75 and 2" block in the rear I do very little offroading mainly highway miles. Love the look for now waiting to upgrade later when the cash is available.

 

Wow I was right about to ask that question about new ucas. I really don't want to have to buy new ucas though. Would I been better off running the 5100's up front and an aal in the rear? And sweet pics of your truck.

 

Learn from mistake. Do it once do it right. Spend a little more with a good quality kit. The cheap route has made me buy 3 different kits. Also with mine ( ya it's a first gen ) I had a bunch of cv problems with anything over 2 3/4 inches of lift. Boots tearing and boots wearing out super quick. So spend sometime read about lifting it and after that re read make sure you get a quality kit

 

5100's set at 1.75" you want need UCA's. Billies set at 2.5" in the front you probably will. An AAL or block in the rear doesn't have anything to do with UCA's that's just preference of ride quality and wether you tow or not for the rear to handle the weight. Also, the rear Billie 5100's are not adjustable that's why you use an AAL or Block etc. The 3 Leaf Progessive is best, AAL next, then blocks. Depends on what your doing offroad and what funding you have. I went the cheap route with the blocks and am perfectly happy for now. Thanks as well

 

Yeah I had a 95 taco in high school with a 3in lift and I blew out CV boots and axles all of the time. I really appreciate the input from y'all and I guess I will be patient, save up, and do it right.

 

^X2

 

I am still a little confused I have been reading in the suspension threads about 3in lifts and some members claim they put a 3in front spacer, an aal, and didn't buy new ucas. They said there tires were able to be aligned with no problems. How is that so?

 

Probably because the tire shop told them so lmao. Unless they got the specs and saw it 100%. I had mine aligned at one place and they said it was good to go, but that was bullshit it ate the shit out of the outside of my tires after 3k miles so I went to another shop and watched them get it in the green into spec!! Now its been fine ever since. Mine is to the max per the alignment shop. It also depends on what year truck they are all trucks are slightly different. Plus your wheels and tires can have an affect as well. If you wanna be safe stay under 2". Over 3" I don't see how it got aligned correctly if you wanna attempt go for it but it might cost ya $500 plus for the UCA's and labor if ya wanna chance it.

 

You CAN run a 3" lift without new UCA's... but its recommended to get new ones.

 

metaltech4x4 has a group buy for light Racing UCAs right now. Otherwise Headstrong offroad has the next best price.

 

When you had the procomp lift did you have trouble with alignment going out of wack. When I had mine everytime I woul go offroading it would get out of line. Now I have a 2.5 inch lift and I don't have that trouble anymore

 

Yeah that makes sense I could see a tire shop being shady like that to make a few extra bucks. I am definitely going to play it safe and wait awhile and save up for a better set up though.

 

I have a 3" spacer lift, I had it aligned at a different place than where I bought the tires and wheels at . they got it close, but it wanders a little, not enough for me to spend $400 on uca's , most tire store alighnment's consist of a (tow and go) no other ajustments. 285 will rub , 315's would rub bad!! with uca's I would have to chop the cab mounts.

 

I have the LR UCA's.. definitely recommned them. Picked mine up froma local member new for 375... for reference.

My camber was off. That was about it. Was driveable and didn't have any issues wheeling or dd'ing with stock ucas. Just wore the tires uneven.

 

Headstrong and MetalTech group buy same price. just got me some!