Help!! My tires rub my fender! 285/75/16 on an 02 Tacoma

It's cool you have a mind for reliability with your truck. It seems to be working well for you. But if what you say about your steering rack is any indication, I am not replacing parts as often as you are, so i guess there is a point of dimishing returns.

Also, I didn't tell you you were wrong about anything. You asuume that I'm lying about my experience with my truck or that I'm making stuff up. I never said anything about some 60/40 travel ratio.

The fact remains, that I know how much lift the truck has. It was measured off of numbers taken from a brand new unlifted truck. If you don't believe me I don't care. I'm still going to voice my experience hopefully for the benefit of others. Those are the numbers. I wheel my truck harder than most on this board so it's not like my data is skewed because the truck never leaves pavement. The fact remains, my balljoints are holding up fine, my steering rack still works properly, and the truck has adequate alignment so that there is no uneven tire wear, and no noticable poor steering behavior. But I've performed proper maintenance too, like having my balljoints replaced under the recall. They didn' show any signs of being bad but i took advantage of the recall and replaced them so I'm sure that's helped my current situation.

this next bit is directed at no one in particular but just a general statement to anyone reading this.

I'm sorry but trucks that are modified are going to wear parts faster than an unmodified truck.....period. That's part of the game. I understand that and anyone who modifies their truck and thinks they can get away with not having to maintain and repair parts on an accelerated pace in 100% naive. Have I had to replace CV's every 5K miles because I'm lifted more than 2.5"? Nope. Is my steering rack a leaking pile that is ready to fall off the truck? Nope. When my CV's or steering rack show signs of an issue, will I fix them? Yep.

Dell, you seem to think I'm encouraging the OP to push the limits and that he won't encounter problems. If you read my post repsonding to you stating "The 4WD Tacoma should not have the suspension lifted in excess of 2.5" " as some rule that must be adhered to, you'll notice that I pointed out that is it a good rule to follow because of the issues that can arise when going beyond those limits. I even listed the items that are affected. So, I'm saying the same thing you are, even if I haven't seen those issues with my own truck. I knew they were possible consequences when I set the truck up the way that it is. I planned accordingly and fortunately haven't had to replace any of those parts, yet.

You are correct. I'm sure I have diminished caster with my lift and without aftermarket UCAs. But as you said it is possible to get it within specs so there is no perceivable issues, whether they be tire wear/poor steering etc. If I don't see any of those negative symptoms, why should I spend money on replacing parts (UCAs) that are doing their job just fine? I can think of a long list of things I'd rather spend money on.

 

I'm new and don't know a whole lot but this got me thinking because 285's are only 1.5in bigger then 265's, which is what I run stock?

 

I have lots of things to consider here. I talked to Toytec and found out they didn't send me the coil overs with the top plate spacer as they thought. They are sending me the top plate spacer and I am going to install them this weekend so that I get a total 3" lift. Should I expect any difficulties in installing the coil overs with the added top plate spacer? Should I think about getting some new UCA's so that I don't run into any issues? Should I have the shop adjust my alignment after I put the top plate spacer on with the OME UCAs?

 

Oh yeah and as per the comments that I did "zero research"... you are right. I am a learn by doing kinda guy and this thread dialogue is awesome in helping me learn. I look forward to learning from my failures.

"Without failure, there is no progress." - Carl Sagan

 

As long as the top plate spacer is the type that goes between the top plate and the upper coil bucket on the frame it will be an easy install. Just pull the coilover, put the spacer in place and reinstall the coilover. Otherwise you'll need to take the coilover apart. You'll need some springs compressors if that's the case.

Here's a photo of mine (which uses a different spacer) but you can kinda see that the spacer goes between the coil and the top plate so it required it to be installed with the coilover taken apart.


Here is a photo of the stock coilovers that I took off of my truck when I installed the OME suspension. You can see that it is using two spacers. one is under the top plate like my OME ones, but there is also a second one that just sits on top of the top plate. If the one you get from Toytec is like this then it won't require you to take the coilover apart.


You should consider new UCAs if you are not able to get proper alignment, particularly enough caster. From my experience, you shouldn't need new UCAs with the 881s. I have 882s which are a taller coil and I haven't needed new UCAs, so I would think you should be ok.

On the topic of UCAs, again, this is just my opinion since Some people seem to think that nobody's opinion but their own is correct......

.....most aftermarket UCAs use an open uni-ball instead of a sealed ball joint like the factory UCAs. The uni-ball allows for a higher degree of adjustment and travel without binding than the factory ball joint. However, if you live in a climate where you drive in the winter on salted roads, the uni-balls can take a real beating and need frequent maintenance/rebuilding. It can depend on conditions but it's possible that the uni-balls could need to be replaced as often as every year if conditions are harsh. For that reason, and since I would rather have a set up that requires less maintenance I prefer a sealed ball-joint like the factory designed. The only aftermarket control arm that I know of that offers that is the Light Racing UCAs. The LR UCAs still provide a higher degree of adjustability and travel like a uniball but have a sealed ball joint.

So for where I live and the climate/conditions where I drive the LR UCAs are a better choice for less required maintenance. If you live in an area that doesn't salt the roads in the winter, or in a dry climate any of the other UCAs should work out great.

Yes, you should get an alignment after the top plate spacers are installed.

 

...if we are dead, what value would progress have ?

I'd like to see that day when engineers build
a protective wall around a city to keep the ocean out.
And then observe the residents of that city, in their satisfaction,
that their city's wall failure was a successful attempt towards progress.

personally I think it better to prepare by planning ahead,
doing yer homework, and work out the bugs before failure could occur.

Doing things once, correctly...
is always smarter then doing things twice.

Especially when someone has already done it before.

Why wait until after the fact...
to determine if it was a bad idea or not good enough ?

Some folk gotta learn the hard way I guess

good luck with your way

 

Sorry Adam...

didn't mean to demean or denounce you in any way.
nor do I believe that your advice is anything but genuine.

It's just that I've read a host of threads on the forums lately
and many folk complain of vibration issues
and prematurely failed components
when pushing the limit of their truck's suspension.

I guess I'll always believe it's better to lead people
in a direction of, "less susp. lift is smarter"
rather then advising them to push their susp. lift to the very limit.

we're purdy much in agreement with most issues concerning...
guess I just think it's smarter to set up a suspension at less then
it's max capability.

whereas you prefer to push the envelope.

That's cool if you know what yer doing...
maybe not so much if you don't.

still like yer junk...
and even tho' I am somewhat critical of your choices.
I'd likely wheel yer junk with little complaint

 

Then you did not do your homework.

 

Do you have any pictures of your fender mods?

 

I don't have any good ones. So far my fender mods are pretty minimal. I trimmed the inner fender liner back and flattened the pinch weld. this worked well with my 33x10.50s. But i'm rubbing more now with the 33x12.50s so I'll be trimming a little more and taking a hammer to the firewall.

 

What is your wheel backspacing? I have 16 x 8 at 4.49" backspacing. I want to compare to see if I might have issues.

I just got my spacers in mail yesterday and I am going to put them on this weekend.

I am crossing my fingers that the added vertical lift will address my tire rubbing issue with the same "minimal" amount of mods you did.

How did you do your fender mod? Did you pound it over and plastidip it or car undercoat?

 

I mounted 285's on 4 different 1st gen tacoma's in the past, 2 were mine and 2 were friends that I worked on. All 4 trucks had rev-tec 3" lifts and I never had this issue that you are having. Most slightly touched the lower plastic valance under the front bumper which was about a 2 mins trim job and fixed. And they all slightly touched the frame when turned all the way one way or another, but it was not major.

Here's the best and easiest way to fix your problem. Take all 4 wheels off, go to the UPS store and ship them to me. I will run them for 40-50000 miles over the next 5 years and then return them, by that point the tires will be over 1 inch shorter due to tread loss and fit with ease. That your best solution, pm me for my address.

 

Did you ever take these trucks off-road? my guess is that they were street queens.

 

I wish I had a scanner, I have pictures of both of my older 1st gen tacos with the set-up I mentioned and you cant even tell what color they are from the mud I had on them. Every weekend going out and out doing the junk rangers and s10's and lots of full size junkers. I am not going to sit here and say I was a hard core crawler but I was 8-10 years younger then with no kids so I acted like one. When I got the chance to hit some mud or go off roading I went. Bought a brand new taco in 2001 had it in a mud hole with water up over the hood with less than 1000 miles on it 5 miles into the trail, scratched to F and back from bumper to bumper, I did NOT pussy foot around I can tell you that much. Now a days well things are different, kids and a family will do that to you and your bank account...

 

well then.........


.............I got nuthin.


Maybe Revtek's dont flex at all.

 

This thread just gets better and better every time I come back.

 

zero fender mods or trimming and my 33s dont run any where ever (only frame at full lock) with my 2.5" lift

 

the majic of 33x10.5s on stock wheels. haha

 

yeah, it's a whole different game with 33x10.50s. I didn't have rubbing issues either with the 10.50's. The 12.50s ( or in the case of the OP the 285s) being wider are going to have more rubbing problems.