Not asking about regearing...

I have an 02 taco xtra cab, 6-speed, 3.4 stock 4.10 gears and am currently running 265/70/16s with ome 883 coils, Dakar springs and ARB bumper and eventually plan on throwing some lights and an all-pro bed rack with a roof rack.

Question is...how much of a difference would it be going from my current tires to 255's? I don't ever plan on going up to 35's, I don't rock crawl and will be living n Alaska with all the wonderful ice and or snow.

 

In which aspect are you asking about this "how much of a difference"? are you talking about MPG, torque, top speed, cruising speed, ride comfort?

going slightly smaller should increase tow capacity a bit and may increase gas milage and torque, though marginally.

 

torgue, speed and cruiser. what u mean by slightly smaller? tire wise? ive read quite a bit but this is my first actual time going up to 33's

 

Going from 265/70 to 255/70 will reduce the diameter from 31 to 30, thats what he means by slightly smaller. We assumed you were concerned about loss of power with all that weight you've added or are about to add.

 

I was talking about 255/85's since I'm talking about 33's

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/tirecalc?tires=265-70r16-255-85r16

 

You will feel a difference going to 33s. That being said, the manual transmission is far superior to an automatic in that you'll still have control over your shift points. That was my biggest annoyance with my change to 33s (285s at first, now 255s). For me (and an automatic), it was enough to "encourage" me to regear. I hear though that with a manual transmission, it's entirely doable to run 33s on 4.10 gears.

 

But loss of power, acceleration and cruising speed are my concerns, yes.

 

Do you have or are you planning to add a lot of additional weight over stock (i.e. towing, armor, camping gear, etc)? I'd say find someone local with 33s and swap wheels/tires for an afternoon and see how you like it. Best way to tell...

 

Well i did recently added my arb bumper on the front (150 lbs alone), over time plan on making some road trips from Alaska down to Arizona and back, towing would be light, probably a few hundred pounds for firewood and bringing what meat i get from the woods back to the house.

 

My 2.7 handles 33x10.50s just fine with stock 4.10 gears so I'm sure you'll be fine. Only time I wish I had lower gears is slow rock crawling type stuff, it requires a lot more clutch action than I'd like.

 

Theoretically 8.2% loss based on the added diameter but with the extra weight lets just say a 9-10% loss to the ground.

Think of it as loosing almost 20hp at crank.

 

Youll certainly notice a power and mpg loss. Some people dont mind it, others cant stand it (myself included). With that said i have the 2.7 so that extra 40 HP of your 3.4 will definitely combat the larger tires. In the end it will just be personal preference as to if you like it or not...