help with lift/tires/wheels...

seeing as i am a complete noob when it comes to this kinda stuff, i was hoping for some insight.

also, i apologize in advance if this topic has been beaten to death, but i tried searching for answers, but i just have no clue what i was reading.

ok, for my questions:

i'd like to eventually lift my truck, an '09 DCLB, and i have no clue how high i should lift it, (though i am thinking 2.5"-3" though), nor do i know what brand/company to go with. what i do know is i don't want to make it a rock climber, haha, as i am going for aesthetics, and not functionality. and, when i lift it, what about the shocks and what not? (if lift come with new ones, i'm sorry...i told you i was new to this).

now, once lifted, what size wheels should i look into getting? 16", 17", 18"...bigger?

and once i decide on a wheel size, what size/style tire should i consider? i will most likely not be offroading at all, besides driving through the occasional deep puddle, hehe. i would like to get a good all-season tire that won't wear too quick, nor drive too badly. so that i don't have to have two sets of rims, for winter/rest of the year tires. i live in CT, and frequent VT/NH/ME and Canadia in the winter time, and am not afraid to drive through epic blizzards to get my snowboarding fix on.

finally...depending on lift/tire/wheel size, how much can i expect to lose in terms of gas mileage? or does that vary from person to person?

i'm not looking to get this done ASAP, but i like to plan ahead and do my research...kind of like it took to buy my truck, which i love. looked/read/researched/asked questions about Tacos for almost a year before i bought one. i appreciate you guys taking the time to read this and any and all help you guys offer.

 

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/suspension/11282-tacoma-lift-faq-guide-read.html

good place to start. and there are 1000's of threads here with people bragging about their lifts and such. just look around and get more specific questions that we can ehlp. Another really easy thing to do is if you come across someone who has a lift that looks good and interests you, shoot them a PM to learn more. There are a lot of questions you asked and lots of great answers out there!

Welcome to the forum!

 

Another good FAQ: Most important question: how do you plan to use your truck and why do you want to lift it? Everything else follows from that.

 

Hey, another noob here too. been reading alot on here and you should be able to find everything you need. I was looking to start a lift on my 06 taco as well, thought the spacers and a diff. drop would be a good idea to lift the front and some blocks in the rear. all you tacoworlders are scaring me away from the horrors stories ive read about the spacer kits. Im mostly road driving and looking to keep a nice riding truck with a higher look. stay away from the spacer ???? help !!!

 

I will buck the collective wisdom of TW here and say for mostly on road use for looks, a spacer lift is just fine -- as long as you're not trying to get a full 2" (or more) lift out of a top-plate spacer, since that's going to over-extend your CV angles.

Having now put some miles on my OME lift, I'll even venture that the a spacer lift such as Revtek probably doesn't ride any worse ON PAVEMENT than my OME does. (Heresy, I know!) EDIT: I realized this claim may raise some eyebrows. The caveat is that I installed the 885 model springs and full Dakar leaf pack on a stripper std cab with 5 speed - so I weigh in a few hundred pounds lighter than your average taco.

Anyhow: the *main* question as I see it is - how much complication do you want in your life?

A 1.5 to 2" (max!) lift with 265/75R16 tires (or 265/70R17) is much less likely to introduce the following:

Harsh ride.
VSC problems.
Vibration gremlins.
CV boot premature wear.
Front diff premature wear.
Alignment out of factory spec range.

Your dealer is unlikely to warrant any CV boot, CV axle, or differential problems on a truck that has a non-stock suspension height. Naturally, there are always exceptions. If your brother-in-law is the service manager - hey, go crazy. He'll probably have the lift installed for you gratis. But the rest of us aren't so lucky.

So, the bjmoose recommendation for on biggest bang for buck with least chance of problems down the road is:

Bilstein 5100s all around, set to 1.75 in the front, and a "Add-A-Leaf" in the back.

Then 265/75R16 tires on factory rims, or whatever 16x8 rims you think look cool with 4.5" backspacing.

There are more and more sophisticated answers out there - just keep looking all over the boards for what folks have done, but don't ignore the problems they've faced and overcome, either.