Help a New Guy Out

Hey everyone. I'm new to Tacoma World and wanted a little advice. I have a 2005 Tacoma TRD Sport with the long bed and double cab complete with 4wd. I got it May of 2011 and I absolutely love it. The lady I bought it from sold it to me completely stock except with some factory add ons and westin nerf bars. It has some cosmetic issues including quite a few dents and scrapes, but it's a truck. I had a few questions. First off, I recently put a 3" rough country lift on it. I really like it, but the drive train rattles. Is there anyway to fix this? Also, I am looking into getting new rims and tires to fit the lifted look a little better. I either am going to get 18" wheels with 285/70/R18 tires or 17" wheels with 285/70/R17 tires. Preferences? I am going to get nitto terra grapplers or possibly the trail grapplers. Will I need wheel spacers, or what can I do to make this fit the best? I am in college and do mainly highway driving, but light off roading is always on my mind. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

welcomee to tw from cali. 17s. i have 17s and would rather have 16s. 18s are too much. and the rattle in the drive train, coudlnt tell ya

 

Yea, you need to find out where the rattle is coming from. Are you sure it wasn't there before the lift? Is it coming from the rear or the front?

As far as wheels are concerned, you will find a wide range of opinions here based soley on preference. So my advice would be to do some researching here on the forums and take a look at all the different picstures of trucks here with different size wheels. That is what helped me to make my descision. I went with 17" 265 70 17's

 

x2

 

I know it sounds crazy but is it a rattle or more of a thump. I ask because when I bought my 2011 double cab, it came with nfab tube steps on it. The first time I took it on a basic fire road I kept hearing a thump up in what I thought was the strut and control arm area of the passenger side. Turns out one of the nfab mounting brakets was bent causing the bar to rub the quarter panel near the front wheel. Put a single washer in there and thump was gone.

You said you had bars on the side...could they be touching the body?

 

welcome to TW..good luck with hunting down issues with ur truck..seems to be ongoing around here! anyway, in my opinion, 17s are best. with a 3". little or no trimming is involved. 17x8.5 or 17x9 aftermarket wheels will be given to u with the the proper offset and backspace when u order them. 285/70/17 tires look great too, especially with a more aggressive tire. as far as ur rattle goes.....look under the truck. could be something as simple as something left loose when lift installed. issues with lifts seem to be more consistant with bad vibrations and front end resonance and even bad rear drive shaft angles...

 

I'm pretty sure the vibration is coming from the drive shaft. It drove perfect until we lifted it. Then it started vibrating a little. It's not bad. I can drive it down the interstate all day long, just a little annoying at times. And when I put it in four wheel drive, it doesn't vibrate at all.