What have I gotten myself into... Thinking about lifting

Hi all,

So I am a little new hear and am trying to get oriented on a few things so forgive me if there is a similar thread, maybe you can point me in that direction. I have a 2017 Tacoma TRD Off-Road Double Cab Long Box. I am looking to put bigger tires onto the truck and my research on what will fit and the best way to lift has started me down a rabbit hole.

I do a good amount of camping and offloading, nothing crazy like rock crawling or anything but I enjoy trail running and doing some technical stuff a decent amount of time in the desert as well. I also visit the snow a lot and usually run on snow filled trails a handful of times a year. So far have not run into anything the track absolutely couldn’t do in it’s stock form but I do see a lot of room for improvement in the suspension department.

Ideally I would want to go a set of 285/70/17 Toyo AT2’s (~33’s)

Started looking at Icon stage 1 kit Then progressed to leaf packs and UCA’s (so stage 3 or 4 kit), then I kept reading about how much a 33” tire would effect the livability of the truck leading me to need to put 4.88’s and do a full gear change. The $$$’s are quickly adding up on this deal and I am starting to question if it is worth it to do all of this work to the truck and possibly mess up my daily driver.

So what are the good options out there? Anyone regret lifting? Should I give up on 33” or are those who see the need to regear just going the extra mile?

Thanks for any advice in advance, sorry for the length of the post.