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33x10.50R15 how much lift

23K views 44 replies 20 participants last post by  expeditionswest 
#1 ·
I am the owner of a New Tacoma.. well its a 98 that just was just broken in.

Well the tires aren't the greatest.
I have a set of 33x10.5R15 BFG on a set of 15x7" ~4" backspacing 90-95 Alloys (split 4 spoke).

How much lift do I need to run these?

I do have manual locking front hubs.

I looked at the guides but they list 33x12.50s.
 
#3 ·
I am running those tires on a 99 tacoma. I have a 3" Corn Fed spacer lift in the front with an add-a-leaf in the back. The tires do rub some a full compression on the front. They also get very very close to the rear most side of the back fender when the bed is under a full load (1/16" close). I am going to add a 1 inch body lift to fix that. Other than they they look and perform good.

The spacer lift is inexpensive, but will make you truck ride very rough. There are many options and lots of great information on this website. You may want to run a search on lifts to learn the pros and cons of other lifts.

So I guess your answer is 3 to 4 inches, but it depends. I have read that you will have problems if you decide to go with coilovers b/c you get too much compression with them, but I don't know this as I have never tried.

Good luck.

Brad
 
#6 ·
wvuviv30 said:
I am the owner of a New Tacoma.. well its a 98 that just was just broken in.

Well the tires aren't the greatest.
I have a set of 33x10.5R15 BFG on a set of 15x7" ~4" backspacing 90-95 Alloys (split 4 spoke).

How much lift do I need to run these?

I do have manual locking front hubs.

I looked at the guides but they list 33x12.50s.
If you'll look at my pics you can see 33x10.50 M/T's on about 3" or less...
 
#8 ·
wvuviv30 said:
I forgot to mention, but a couple of you did it...

What parts did you use? And how well do you like your lift?
I ran on cornfed and 3" aal's for awhile and rubbed at full turn/with suspension compression and I just barely rubbed in the rear at full flex. I'm now running Donahoes up front and All Pro springs with 1.5" shackles in the rear and I have yet to run at any point. I did do the pinchweld mod and a little plastic trimming when I first put the cornfed on.
 
#9 ·
You can run 33x10.5" tires on those wheels with ZERO lift. We've done it on several Toyota/Tacoma pickups. If you lift your truck __" to clear __" tires, they will still rub on compression travel. Does that make sense?

The tires that fit your truck should clear everything on FULL compression, and 33x10.5" tires can/do. I've posted several times, suggesting how a person can cycle the suspension to check for clearance and trim plastic, hammer firewall seams, etc.
 
#10 ·
JESSE_at_TLT said:
You can run 33x10.5" tires on those wheels with ZERO lift. We've done it on several Toyota/Tacoma pickups. If you lift your truck __" to clear __" tires, they will still rub on compression travel. Does that make sense?

The tires that fit your truck should clear everything on FULL compression, and 33x10.5" tires can/do. I've posted several times, suggesting how a person can cycle the suspension to check for clearance and trim plastic, hammer firewall seams, etc.
do you have a writeup on that? I didn't notice on on your site.

I did notice the new Atlas Tcase for the Taco, however....nice :D price?

I wonder about that in place of a crawler...hmmm
 
#13 ·
im running 33x12.50r15 on pro comp #87 black steelies, i have sightly over 3" in the front and 2 in the back via an aal, i would say it has a minor rub at most with the sus. compressed at a full turn, it rides like shit and i hate it, way to stiff and unforgiving, spacers r cheap and if u just drive on the street they would be fine. im shit cannin the spacers and aal and buying a fabtec lift with a whole new leaf pack in the back. my opinion, dont waste yer time on spacers.
 
#14 ·
gary briggs said:
im running 33x12.50r15 on pro comp #87 black steelies, i have sightly over 3" in the front and 2 in the back via an aal, i would say it has a minor rub at most with the sus. compressed at a full turn, it rides like shit and i hate it, way to stiff and unforgiving, spacers r cheap and if u just drive on the street they would be fine. im shit cannin the spacers and aal and buying a fabtec lift with a whole new leaf pack in the back. my opinion, dont waste yer time on spacers.
with only 3" you'll rub with 33x12.50s quite a bit when you get into some really twisty stuff like the cracks at Hollister hills...both front and rear. ;)

as long as the tires don't wipe out the fenders a little rubbin' is no big deal.
 
#15 ·
Chris-

I'm sorry, we haven't written any articles specifically about fitting 33" tires without any lift, but I ran them on my little red Tacoma and the Donahoe Tacoma for a while. The red truck rode at stock height and the Donahoe truck was obviously lifted, but they both need the exact same tire clearance. It doesn't matter how much you lift a truck or what the ride height is. Full compression is where tire clearance matters.

The best way to do this is put the vehicle on jack-stands, remove the coil-overs, reinstall the wheel/tire and then cycle the suspension towards full compression. You will notice rubbing on some of the plastic panels and the pinch-weld on the firewall, etc., but after a little bit of careful trimming and hammering the tires will clear at full compression and lock-to-lock steering without any noticable interference.

The same process/advise applies to any vehicle/tire size/suspension type. For the rear suspension, you only have to remove your leaf-springs, disassemble the pack and then reinstall the main leaf spring (maybe the second spring too, depending on the truck and the leaf-pack) on the truck. Then you can cycle the suspension with a floor-jack to determine the PERFECT shock placement or check for body clearance, etc. It's time-consuming, but it's better than a pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey approach to shck placement, tire/fender clearance, etc.

Hope that helps. If this is a topic that enough people are interested in, maybe we can try to write-up something Tacoma-specific. We are going to publish an article that covers the major points of this type of work (applied to out Donahoe Tacoma-length leafspring-equipped 1st gen. 4Runner) with Off Road magazine sometime in the next few months.
 
#16 ·
wvuviv30 said:
I am the owner of a New Tacoma.. well its a 98 that just was just broken in.

Well the tires aren't the greatest.
I have a set of 33x10.5R15 BFG on a set of 15x7" ~4" backspacing 90-95 Alloys (split 4 spoke).

How much lift do I need to run these?

I do have manual locking front hubs.

I looked at the guides but they list 33x12.50s.
Check out this site for info on a nice front setup.
http://fastq.com/~sschaefer/recommend.html
I'm going this route soon. (The tundra coils) The front suspension is nearly identical between the 4runner and Taco. (Only the sway bar differs).
 
#17 ·
JESSE_at_TLT said:
Chris-

I'm sorry, we haven't written any articles specifically about fitting 33" tires without any lift, but I ran them on my little red Tacoma and the Donahoe Tacoma for a while. The red truck rode at stock height and the Donahoe truck was obviously lifted, but they both need the exact same tire clearance. It doesn't matter how much you lift a truck or what the ride height is. Full compression is where tire clearance matters.

The best way to do this is put the vehicle on jack-stands, remove the coil-overs, reinstall the wheel/tire and then cycle the suspension towards full compression. You will notice rubbing on some of the plastic panels and the pinch-weld on the firewall, etc., but after a little bit of careful trimming and hammering the tires will clear at full compression and lock-to-lock steering without any noticable interference.

The same process/advise applies to any vehicle/tire size/suspension type. For the rear suspension, you only have to remove your leaf-springs, disassemble the pack and then reinstall the main leaf spring (maybe the second spring too, depending on the truck and the leaf-pack) on the truck. Then you can cycle the suspension with a floor-jack to determine the PERFECT shock placement or check for body clearance, etc. It's time-consuming, but it's better than a pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey approach to shck placement, tire/fender clearance, etc.

Hope that helps. If this is a topic that enough people are interested in, maybe we can try to write-up something Tacoma-specific. We are going to publish an article that covers the major points of this type of work (applied to out Donahoe Tacoma-length leafspring-equipped 1st gen. 4Runner) with Off Road magazine sometime in the next few months.
cool, thanks. I have to pull my SAWs to tear them down and anti-sease the threads so that will be a good time to do it.

Before AZ rocks I had cut some of the plastic and pounded the lower portion of the pinchweld and then tried to lower the coilovers. (the right side worked but I broke the wrench trying to do the dr. side) The tires grabbed the plastic where I had cut it and folded it up making quite a racket during most any articulation...oops. I just need to cut more but I didn't want to take all of the plastic off and leave the fender open to mud, etc collecting into the door, etc. What is the best way to do this but maintain the protection that the OE plastic offers?
 
#18 ·
Ditch the plastic and use Silicone along the pinch-weld where you fold it over. We bought a few sheets of ABS plastic and cut them up to make a pair of custom inner fenders when we installed fiberglass front fenders on our LT Tacoma. We had to remove those recently though, when we cut out the firewall and trim the fenders to clear 35's. We ran it like that on our last trip down to Baja for the San Felipe 250, then over to the Pacific coast (through a LOT of mud and gunk). After a pressure-wash, we got everything out of the doorjam and seals, etc. If you're only trying to fit 33x10.5's, I'm sure you can easily replace whatever you need to remove.
 
#19 ·
JESSE_at_TLT said:
Ditch the plastic and use Silicone along the pinch-weld where you fold it over. We bought a few sheets of ABS plastic and cut them up to make a pair of custom inner fenders when we installed fiberglass front fenders on our LT Tacoma. We had to remove those recently though, when we cut out the firewall and trim the fenders to clear 35's. We ran it like that on our last trip down to Baja for the San Felipe 250, then over to the Pacific coast (through a LOT of mud and gunk). After a pressure-wash, we got everything out of the doorjam and seals, etc. If you're only trying to fit 33x10.5's, I'm sure you can easily replace whatever you need to remove.
cool, thanks

I bought a can of that spray-on liner stuff so I'll just make up some plastic to fill the hole, silicone it in and spray the whole thing...should work.
 
#20 ·
gary briggs said:
im running 33x12.50r15 on pro comp #87 black steelies, i have sightly over 3" in the front and 2 in the back via an aal, i would say it has a minor rub at most with the sus. compressed at a full turn, it rides like shit and i hate it, way to stiff and unforgiving, spacers r cheap and if u just drive on the street they would be fine. im shit cannin the spacers and aal and buying a fabtec lift with a whole new leaf pack in the back. my opinion, dont waste yer time on spacers.
Wow, that's a mouthful.

I'm running a 3" Cornfed kit (spacers up front, AAL in back), with 33x12.50s and 15x10s. The rubbing on the rear bedsides is quite bad during articulation, but the rear isn't too bad most of the time.

The ride isn't bad at all, but I'm used to driving a heavy duty Chevy IFS truck and big solid axle trucks. Maybe it's your new truck and new springs that need to break in, but I don't see how the ride is "shit."

I wheel my truck hard, and have no regrets about the lift. I got it because of some tires I bought a while ago, but it serves me fine.
 
#21 ·
No lift is required to fit a 33x10.5 as mentioned above.

Here is a picture of my truck with a 33.3x10.5 (255/85 R16) with no lift (lots of trimming and centering of the rear axle thought)



I currently run 1.5" of lift with my Donahoe coil-overs and 2" in the rear with custom Deavers (10 leaf). I did not lower the bump stops or add a body lift, and the swaybar has been removed. I have full travel in the front and rear, though I do rub slightly in the rear at full compression, and on the frame in the front at full lock.

I wrote a technical document on fitting of these tires, which would also apply to the 33x10.5 R15. This should help... :)

You can read the document here:
 
#22 ·
#24 ·
deermeat said:
im running 35x16 boogers on a 3 inch body it only hits when im offroad but i have a steel front bumper
O boy, another "I run 35s with only 3" of lift" line. right.
 
#25 ·
expeditionswest said:
I wrote a technical document on fitting of these tires, which would also apply to the 33x10.5 R15. This should help... :)

You can read the document here:
I read the document, I wonder if you can elaborate on centering the (rear) axle? Are there any writeups I should know about tht deal with this? Is axle centering done pretty much by eyeball?

Thanks,
Ian
 
#26 ·
ianshoots said:
I read the document, I wonder if you can elaborate on centering the (rear) axle? Are there any writeups I should know about tht deal with this?
The rear axle is centered in the wheelwell (moving the rear wheel and tire closer to the front of the truck) in two manners.

1. Drilling the center pin holes on the spring pack .5" closer to the front eye than stock. This image does a decent job of showing that. The spring eyes are even on the right of the image, yet the center pin of the Deaver pack is right of the stock pack pin by about .5".



2. Moving the center pin hole on the axle spring plate closer to the rear of the truck (which, when the spring center pin is positioned in that hole would move the axle forward), this can also be accomplished with a short (.5-1") lift block that has a centered axle plate pin, but rearward located spring pin hole (they are staggered by .5").

The reason why this is necessary is that the stock springs position the axle slightly rearward of center in the wheelwell. So when a large tire it fitted, upon full compression the tire will make contact first at the rear of the wheelwell. Now, my tires still make contact, but in the front and back of the flare evenly (though the rubbing is light).

Hope that helps :saw:
 
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