Best First Off-Road Mod

IMHO tires and skids together, tires to get you in and out and skids to keep everything in place and in one piece. If you opt for tires only - stick to the easy trails until you get your skids. By the way I own Bud Built skids and they are well made and fit up nicely.

 

Do this!!!!

If you go with stock size, you will only waste your money!!! this will give you a little extra height, and you don't rub at all!!!

I have used stock and 265's, there is no problem with ABS/traction, etc...

Also, 265's looks better when you are stock!

 

Sometimes tiresize results in a need for lift. I had to lift first so my tires would fit. Why waste time buying tires and having them for 50k if your going to want bigger tires and will need a lift.

2 cents,
-Jon

 

I got the goodyear wrangler authority's for my stock taco last week. 245/75/16 were $750 mounted and the 265/75/16 were only about $10 more a tire. They do awesome in every season and on/off road. I had them on my old T100 and absolutely loved them. Last week the day after I got them I went wheeling with a couple buddies, I made it further then the both of them. One was in a dodge cummins with brandnew 37" duratracs, the other was in a cherokee with 90% 33" cooper stt's. Granted the vehicle makes a big difference but they were all in aw at what the cheap tires could do.

 

Lifts of 3" and less have no impact on what tire fits without rubbing. It only changes the amount of compression needed to rub. If you have proper clearancing and cab mount chop you can fit a 285 width 33" tire the same as a lifted truck with no rubbing. Again, it is an often repeated falsehood on this forum that a lift makes room for larger tires. It does not. It can do the opposite and make rubbing more likely, but never makes extra room... ever. The way it can make rubbing more likely is via added caster with an after market UCA.

 

Abs killswitch...........

 

There is no tire & lift option, it's either, or. Tires are the by far better than a lift as a first Offroad mod, I already stated that 90 some off percent of the members do both at once before.

 

I have to go with rear locker. Doesn't matter what tires you have if you unload 1 front and 1 rear you are stuck. You should be able to find a wrecked trd and snag the rear fairly cheap. Next would be tires.

 

I put sliders on first- because I was stock height, I needed armor bad.



Next was tires


Followed by Rear Bumper & Suspension at the same time (I was rear ended- and they gave me a bunch of $$ to play with)

 

I put on sliders first, then lift, then beefed up skids, then finally tires. Now waiting for my rear plate bumper to arrive.

 

Sliders

 

I said lift, but def lift (5100's w/ aal or leaf pack) + tires

 

Tires, Lockers, Sliders, Skids

Armor doesn't make you more "capable" off road, just saves you from damage.

Get tires and locked up then plate everything up, imo.

 

Moon visor, truck nuts, 265/75 tires and sliders

 

Agreed.

 

Why is recovery gear not as important as tires? You can always get far enough to be stranded, stock or not. You can't always get out, tires, lift, sliders, body armor, gears, lockers, etc. None of those help when the shiny side is down. Just wondering why recovery equipment isn't more of a concern.

 

I thought we left this in another thread.............

 

The order I did mine & why
Lift (room for larger better tires)
Tires (33" BFG KM2s for better traction & ground clearence)
Sliders & a full set of Skids (protect my sides & belly)

 

Tires.

No other mod is worth a shit if you can't even get traction.

 

Alright, this is a old thread but I have some experience now and wanted to reply so hopefully newer folks can benefit. I ended up doing:

1. Manual recovery gear (hi-lift, etc.)
2. Skid plates
3. Tires
4. Locker
5. Power recovery gear (winch)

I realize everyone's got their opinion, but this order worked well for me.

The truck is already very capable from the factory so recovery equipment and protection seemed like the best place to start. Why make it more capable without any method for recovery? You'll only be stuck further from help.

Next I added more capability in the form of tires and a locker. Getting stuck once with this setup thought me that manual recovery equipment is a bare minimum and that powered equipment would be more practical so I finished up by adding a winch.

In the future I might consider rock sliders and a lift. Lifts look cool, however unless you go big or go expensive you make sacrifices for minimal returns. For example, a spacer lift gives you 2 to 3 inches in the front but nothing (unless you go with bigger tires) in the rear. However it degrades ride quality, limits down travel, and increase wear and tear due to geometry changes.

One last thought - this order allows the drivers skill to progress so that the trucks ability doesn't outpace him/her...which can lead to very bad things!
This is just my opinion, please don't hate on me!

Chuck