285 And Choppin

I’ve got a three-ish inch lift and want to mount up 285/70r17 but want to avoid the cmc. Totally fine with doing the pinch weld and beating the shit outa some plastic but the cab mount scares me.
Is it a structural part? Will it affect safety?

 

Since you are lifted over 2-1/2", i'm hoping you have an aftermarket upper control arm. It will prevent the upper ball joint rubbing on the coil spring at full droop, and it will help get a better alignment.
Have your alignment set for max caster to put the lower ball joint farthest forward (so tire is away from the cab mount). Then you may not need a CMC, but will likely need to trim the bumper plastic. Every Tacoma is slightly different, so YMMV. The backspacing of your rims will be a factor also.

CMC is perfectly safe as long as you reinforce the cut out area with a cover plate welded in. Read up on where to measure and cut. Thousands of TW members have done it without issue.

The way to tell if you will rub is to remove your front shock, put the wheel back on, and then cycle the suspension up to the bump stop using a jack under the lower control arm. Check for rubbing while turning the steering wheel through it's arc as you jack up to full stuff. Even if you don't offroad, a G-out on a sloped driveway approach at speed will show if you are going to rub.

 

It's not particularly a structural component. The front of the cab is held up by that mount.

With that being said, there are plenty of people who chop the mount but never weld on the plate and it hasn't caused any issues. I would opt to weld it in anyway because welding it takes 1/4 of the time it does to cut it.

I could only fit a 4.5" angle grinder in there, maybe a 7", which would make it much quicker to cut.

 

Just bought the truck and it already had a lift on it. Now thinking it’s only 2 1/2 because it looks to have stock uca’s. Is it possible to get a alignment on oem control arms to pull them forward enough or will I have to upgrade?

 

It's possible, but you wont know until you get there.
Every Tacoma is slightly different.
Wheel alignment is like a dance. Adjusting camber changes caster. Adjusting toe changes camber. Who knows if you can acheive what you want for a bigger tire until you try? SPC LR UCA's give you additional caster and camber adjustments at the upper ball joint, where stock tacomas only allow adjustment at the lower ball joint.
That's why I bought a lifetime alignment from Firestone. I found a good tech that knows what he's doing, and i love to tinker with my setup so i get it aligned for no extra cost everytime i change the geometry or want to try a different caster setting.

 

Definitely would suggest UCA if you are lifting and 285s. I just recently lifted mine about 3 or so inches on 265/75/16s, everything fit but camber and caster were way off. Ended up getting JBA ucas. Got my caster to 3.7, and camber almost to 0.

Just put on 285/75/17s and cleared all arms, have a slight rub at full lock. Very small fender flare trim to clear tire.

Definitely needed to do a CMC though. I did a fairly extreme chop but want to run bigger later on. Granted you are running closer to a 33 and these are closer to a 34 but you might get a little idea.

 

just don't grind off the cab mount lel.

 

The closest firestone from me is about an hour away but lifetime alignment would be nice. How much did that set you back?

 

Just put the same size tires on my truck that has a 3” lift. Literally just pulled in the driveway. What are the chances?
I’m going to paint these rims later. Not bad for rims and tires for $80. Lol

 

I'm going 285 in a week. I'm going to hammer the punch weld tomorrow and I have a shop doing the cmc for me and I'll cut plastic if I have to once I get them on. I have a 2 inch lift and spc ucas

 

What is cmc short for?

 

It was as much as the cost of two Alignments. I think it was $200. Ive had about 8 alignments so far since i bought the lifetime alignment.

 

Cab Mount Chop

 

How’s the rub? CMC?

 

Note: I am running stock rims with 285-70-17 (32.7” not true 33s)
My tires currently only rub my UCAs are full turn. I plan on throwing wheel spacers on. I think that’ll alleviate the issue. No cutting at all has been required