What does it take to run 275/70R17s on my 03

I've been reading a lot of forms and haven't been able to find a clear answer to this.
I have an '03 first gen AC 4x4, currently everything is stock. I'm looking into picking up some 275/70R17s and wanted to know if any modifications would have to be done.

From what I've read so far, some people say that you should go ahead and do the leveling kit on the front, I was planning on replacing the front strut assemblies at some point anyways. So what would be recommended to get it that 2 to 2 and 1/2" lift everyone recommends.

And is it even possible to run that tire size stock, with no lift kit or wheel spacer.

 

Read this stickied thread.

 

And...cue Shifty

 

Thank you for directing me back to this thread I was reading it before but must have missed the part about the tire size.

With that being said though, what is the best recommended strut assembly to acquire the proper lift without breaking the bank.

 

Define “breaking the bank” for you, personally, knowing cheap kits can cause more $$$ in damage than a normally priced kit costs outright

 

Some here break the bank at $5,000.

Some here break the bank at $4,000.

Some here break the bank at $3,000.

Some here break the bank at ...........

And where do you break the bank???

 

Exactly! I’d hate to link him up with that poor kid who installed the Rough Country stuff and showed up here for help with bent knuckles and who knows what else wrong. Single knuckle is $$$$$ by itself.

 

In the range of $500-$1000.

Don't know if that's reasonable or not. I'm pretty new when it comes to suspension stuff.

 

$1k very doable with Bilstein 5100s and an appropriate OME spring, or the OEM springs too. At least, if you’re doing the work. Are you doing the work?

I picked up an open box 6112 front kit for $500 recently. Included springs. Never installed, saving for a rainy day…

Question. why 275/70r17 versus 265/70r17 which looks nearly just as meaty?

And what tire load rating for the tire you’ve chosen?

What will you do (on road/off road percentage) with the truck, honestly?

 

Found a decently priced pair of Sema take offs and they are selling them with that size tire already mounted so I was trying to see if it was even possible to run them, but I also think they would look really good on my truck.
Not planning on doing a lot of Off-Roading.

Would probably do the work myself but would be looking for something that would be a pre done up strut assembly.

 

Mounted on what

 

I think he means the TRD SEMA wheels have 275/70's already mounted

On a budget, bilstein 5100's or 4600's and the appropriate Old Man Emu spring for the lift you're looking for; simply put, CANT be beat for performance+price. 5100's if you want a slightly tighter suspension. 4600's if you want a very stock feeling suspension but will accommodate the lift springs.


If you need a plug for suspension parts. I know a guy.

 

Yes, exactly.

 

It'll rub on stock suspension.

 

So I would be perfect with one of the kits you mentioned.

 

Si

 

One other question, do I need to do the lift on front and rear or the front will suffice?

 

I run 33s with just the front lifted.

 

Have used 5100s before but now running 33s with 2.5-3" lift up front from adjustable Eibach shocks for under $250 with OE springs and leveled in back using AAL. Probably like $500 in parts with today's money.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/2-5-lift-on-1st-gen.140326/#post-3536140

As being shared from others, what's best for you depends on what you want do use it for. This setup is not relatively expensive to accomplish your stated goal, but also not the cheapest (e.g. spacers up front and blocks in back and all the things the sticky says to avoid with that setup). Yet it's also not COs with new springs (like the OME recommendations in the sticky) and UCAs for more money that will have all the benefits of those things. When lifting front be ready for CV mods too (e.g. inner boot swap).


.

 

just the front. Our rears have a surpringsly large amount of room. I run 285/75/17's and my rear suspension is stock except the 5100 shocks. Even got enough room to run the OEM mudflaps on the rear. Lol

 

So should I definitely go ahead and do the longer sway bar links and ucas with the 2.5" lift.

Or will I be alright stock??

 

If you go over 2". The UCA and SuspensionMaxx extended sway bar links are 100% recommended

 

What UCA's would you all recommend?

 

It would all depend on what your doing with the truck.
Pavement princess? Off-road? Light trails? There's a lot out there. I'm truthfully using a brand that not many people know of. So I'm taking my chances. LOL

SPC on the $$$ end
Freedom on the $ end

 

Be careful, you have an AC. Your suspension results will vary, potentially wildly, from anyone in this thread with a DC. It’s not the same suspension geometry. It seems DC is closer to the Sequoia, AC and RC are alike but different from DC/Sequoia. I’d pay more attention to BMF’s results as more applicable to you. We have @abcinv on here with his DC with a simple strut spacer in front (to level) and running 275/70r17, he says no rubbing. Your solution may be that simple.

Also, whether you rub or not is HEAVILY dependent on what tire is installed and your alignment choices and whether your front mudflaps are installed and a few other small things. Like, I’ve got a 2.25ish”+ lift in front with 1.75” lift in rear lift and custom UCA (SPC, but Eibach branded to save big $$$), deleted swaybar, I still eat mudflap and rub, likely because my caster numbers aren’t as high as they should be.

If the price on the wheels is good, buy them. Maybe start cheap. Get a 1/2” - 3/4” thick strut spacer to level the front, get realigned and see where you are. Try to get the person doing the alignment to get as close to the numbers in the “mega thread” as possible, no less than 1.5” caster. If you rub, pull your front mud flaps and see if you still rub, like, where you are after that. If you still rub, maybe you need more.

I’m just trying to be real with you here, and save you some $$. If you won’t actually be driving your truck off road to any degree, it’ll be a pavement princess for the most part, save yourself the coin.

Ask yourself: do you REALLY want or need 2.5” lift? In reality, with tire height and lift your truck is gonna be 4-5” higher off the ground after. Do you really want that?

If you’re really intent on going over 2.5”, and you want full ability to tweak, SPC is the winner, but go with the Eibach branded uppers, which are the exact same as SPC, but way cheaper ($600 vs. $1,000, exact same parts, exact same box, but with a different logo on the box, all else identical at the time of this post).

My main point in all this though: You’re asking US what WE would do, based on what WE already have done. That’s what WE WANT, not what YOU NEED. You must decide what you need and go from there.

To that point. It sounds like what YOU NEED is to tuck SEMA wheels with 32.2” unknown tires (so we assume they’re actually 32.2”), and you DO NOT likely need to go nuts on your suspension to do it. You can probably get there with a strut spacer up front to lift 1”-1.25” (ish). I just can’t remember if the ratio is 1:2 or 1:3 or whatever on the strut spacer, i.e. if 1:2, and spacer is 1”, you get 2” lift, or if 1:3 and spacer is 1” you get 3” lift. Your goal will be to lift the front enough to clear a bit more and and adjust stance, but alignment is what’s probably going to negate rubbing as much as possible.

 

PS - You also need to know. If you lift as much as me, as much as BMF, or others, it comes with other side effects. You will be wearing out other bushings faster (steering, suspension). You will likely start slinging grease from your CV axles and need to reclamp or reboot them. You will wear out other stock components faster. You will need to upgrade more than just the front struts. It can (and often does) turn into a “update everything while I’m in there” situation, and not because you want to, but because you need to. You will probably be lifting the rear. You will probably be chasing clunks and thunks and crunches and creaks for a while, or for the life of your ownership of this truck. You should update your lower ball joints specifically with OEM units, since you ALWAYS go OEM LBJ, and install fresh bolts so you don’t become the next victim.

It may sound like I’m trying to dissuade you. I’m not. I want you to come to the dark side, so you can rock those wheels and have your truck looking cool. But some people need to hear the extra baggage that comes along with that, and I suspect you may be one of those people, no insult intended whatsoever. I think most of us will want to sway you toward custom. But you just want to fit some wheels and tires. That doesn’t warrant going overboard like many of us did.

Just trying to be the voice of reason here, as an often-unreasonable-I-want-to-customize-all-the-things kinda guy, as I’ve been for a few decades now.

 

No I definitely understand what you're saying and appreciate all of the feedback. You are 100% right in saying I basically just want to be able to fit the tires and wheels. With that being said, is a 1 and 1/2" lift enough in order to allow me to do so, and is a set of coilovers that allow that to happen when it comes down to it still better than a spacer?

The tires would be falken wildpeaks.

 

yes.

 

It should be enough. But YMMV because of the factors I mention before. And I didn’t even include backspacing/offset on those wheels as factors but that’s a big one.

Height/lift isn’t going to help you clear tires much in this case necessarily, it will just aid in preventing rub during compression events. It seems more like alignment is (IMHO, some may beg to differ) what will help you mitigate or reduce rubbing. You likely won’t be eating pinch weld or anything with those wheels and tires, and those tires aren’t nearly as aggressive or oversized as, like, the Mickey Thompson I’m running.

Just know…

There’s a solid chance you may rub something at full lock, especially if you (A) keep your OEM front mudflaps, (B) can’t get a shop to align out to specs recommended by the gurus in this sub forum, (C) your wheel backspace/offset isn’t conducive to not rubbing.

We have one guy on here that stuffed 35s under his truck with just a leveling spacer, IIRC. I have no doubt he was rubbing any time he was turning w/that setup, but that’s beside the point. You can theoretically run a lot of stuff with minimal lift, but there are a significant number of factors at play, and you may need to play around a bit to dial in what works. It may take more than one alignment, more than one tweak to get there. First step is getting the wheels and tires… then mount the front wheels and see where you’re rubbing! And if you hate the stance (forward rake), consider the strut spacer to adjust the stance before realigning. Check the megathread for numbers and try to find a shop that does custom/“offroad” alignments who’ll dial you in with those numbers.

Last but not least, check the load rating on those tires so you know what to expect. If they’re E-rated, you’ll probably find they ride rough as shit, and that may annoy the hell out of you. A lower rated tire will be more amicable for on-road. E is overkill for on-road when you’re not hauling thousands of pounds of load on the regular.

 

I went with some aftermarket fender flares so my mud flaps have already been taken off.

So when it comes down to it 1 and 1/2 in lift with an alignment after being done preferably to the specs mentioned on here, and possibly some wheel spacers.