2015 Taco - 3" vs 6" lift

Nope.

Wheel fitment matters more. Stick with OE wheels, or ones of those specs (offset/backspace/width) and you'll have much less problems than the glam wheel rollers.

A 255 80 17 or a 255 85 16 (wheel diameter dependent of course) is a full 33" and clears fine.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-skinny-on-skinny-tires.529656/

And all 3 gens are the same ride height. Which is a touch higher than a 2nd gen.

 

I was about to say . Go skinny. I went 285s but my next set will be skinny 33s. All OP needs now is a skid.

 

So... My two cents. My lift is a total of 2 1/2 inches. Total cost $175.00 plus an alignment @ $85.00. Gen 3 take offs front and rear that were FREE... search and find on here-TW people rock and are willing to help (90% of the time...) $27 spacer. Yea... much maligned but works well and truck handles fine. Rear I used a HeadStrong AAL. I am running 255/85r16 KM3's at a sale price cost $990.00. $1250 total. All the clearance came from the tires!

I wheel my truck-10 day plus overland trips through tough country fully loaded. This year I have three expeditions planned plus the weekly outings that just happen. Truck works as a tow vehicle in the spring for my side business. No rubbing minimal contact (learning on the driving front, but makes most of the difference...) Stuck a few times but easily extracted. Biggest disappointment is the banging in back coming off ledges etc-Need a good bump stop system. I don't have a money tree, so I make baby steps. These trucks are way more capable than we think... and my lift need was all ego. These tires will fit without the lift. I agree with posters above-don't finance, wait until you can go all the way. Use that time to asses what your real offroad needs are vs the fact that the truck is a daily driver (is it?). Your mileage may vary...

 

so, ran into a buddy recently; started talking trucks as usual. told him i was considering skinnies since i wanted to save some $ and just run the stock suspension for now. he was running some of those on his own rig, but regretted it. although he was getting better mileage than before, he ended up sinking into some mud, and a rock messed up something in his undercarriage pretty badly.

so now, i'm a little spooked on the skinnies option.

he's always been more biased toward bigger wheels, so needless to say, i'm back to reconsidering a lift. he loves his OMEs (maybe cuz he's australian..?).

playing around on the 4wheelparts site.. experimenting with putting a shopping cart together. if i wanted to go with wider tires, anyone know if a 3" OME lift would accommodate maybe 10 or 11" wide tires? also wanting to go with 34s.

as always, thank you all for your advice/input

 

why not 35s?

 

35s, I’m told, would require something called re-gearing. That size tire needs the gear ratios redone.. and that’s a whole ‘nother monster I’d rather not disturb.

34s and below.. the stock ratios work just fine.

 

Tires. You're on what looks like street tires, while the trucks you're looking at are probably 2-3" greater in diameter.

 

If he thinks sinking in mud could have been avoided with another 30mm / 1.2" of tire width alone he's got a lot to learn about offroading.

What kind of undercarriage protection does he have to prevent damage?

 

Here's what you should do -

Many 4WD shops will offer financing if you don't feel like doing it yourself with your buddies. However, I will say you should shop around - 4WP sucks and they may very well fuck up your truck during install. Also, installing shocks is not tough, especially with the help of a few buddies - you just need to get an alignment afterwards and make sure you find a shop to install your front coils on your shocks.

You're clearly trying to save money, so I'd recommend just picking up a set of Bilstein 5100's. They're great, cheap shocks that will handle 90p of the crap you throw at them offroad. If you want to spend a little more, pick up a set of 6112's in the front, 5125's in the back and you'll be set to take on just about anything.

Have your shocks installed on the 2nd or 3rd height setting (perch). That will get you to about 2" of lift alone without stressing the shit out of your CV joints and causing a bunch of the problems your buddies are warning you about.

Pick up a set of 265 75R16 tires. Goodyear Duratracs in load range C are a fantastic option for Tacomas. Just changing to this size will get you another 1" of lift without rubbing inside the wheel wells or causing any other issues that might require trimming fenders or cutting pieces off that nice clean truck of yours.

Personally, the setup I've described is probably the best bang for your buck for offroad capability while maintaining the stock, OEM-designed performance of your Tacoma. 90p of offroad capability is the skill of the driver anyways, so why fuck up your truck by putting a 6" lift on it? If you read enough here on TW, you'll see that most folks regret going beyond 3" of lift, so just do it right & do it once.