Towing after lift and larger tires?

So I recently received a Dobinsons lift kit that allegedly will net me 2 inches of lift all around. Unfortunately I'm a bit paranoid after reading the thread with some people seeing as much as 2.75 inches of lift with the parts I spec'd out, even after settling (my truck has no added weight beyond a Diamondback tonneau - 80 lbs, and a bed mat - 30 lbs).

I'm assuming my 265/70/17 Wildpeak AT3W's will look ridiculous if I get that much lift. Shit, they may look ridiculous with only 2 inches.

So perhaps I could move to a 285/70/17 Nitto Ridge Grappler in passenger load which would be about a 49lb tire. Not much heavier than my 265 Wildpeaks. Or I could get a 255/80/17 Wildpeak which is about 6 lbs heavier than my 265's.

I ditched my previous 4Runner for the Tacoma as it is significantly more confidence-inspiring when it comes to towing our travel trailer. So obviously, towing is a big concern of mine and in my opinion the Tacoma does a fine job for the trailer I've got.

Unfortunately, I'm also a lifelong car enthusiast and I like my vehicles to perform well and look nice in the process; balancing form and function as best I can.

Anyway, all that to say I'm getting paranoid that this lift is going to be too ridiculous, potentially even worse if I meet some of the other posters height discrepancies of a 2 inch lift actually giving the truck a 2.75 inch lift.

If I end up having to go down this road of bigger tires, which I'm not opposed to in principle since of course aesthetically it looks great, how much shittier is towing going to be?

I'm assuming at least a handful of people have towed their travel trailers with a stock Tacoma, lifted their truck and done all the fun mods we all enjoy, and continued towing their trailer afterwards. So how much of an effect did all of that have on towing capabilities for you, just from a subjective perspective?

 

You will probably want to consider new gears if you increase your tire size and lift.

 

Without gears it's an absolute dog.

Have fun getting in the way of tractor trailers in the mountains trying to get up hills in 2nd gear 4k RPMs and 30mph.

 

Any truck lifted, on bigger tires, is going to struggle compared to stock.

 

Yeah that's what I'm worried about. I don't mind flogging the truck while towing uphill since I'm using it within Toyota's designed parameters (if they say most efficient power range is ~3000-5000rpm, I'm not going to assume it's incapable of spending a little time there), but having to drop down to second gear is not quite ideal.

Dammit, I may need to revisit this whole plan before wasting more time and money. Unfortunately I've already got the lift kit. I could keep the shocks/struts and sell the leaf springs and coil springs and get a Deaver 1" lift rear leaf and a 1" lift coil and proceed. Fuck...guess I shouldn't have paid for strut assembly...

 

I would say it highly depends on the weight of your travel trailer and other factors. I have a lift and bigger/heavier tires and OVTune and my truck pulls harder towing my small travel trailer than it did in stock trim. So, yes, bigger tires and lift does reduce towing performance (and OVTune brings it back then some). Whether that potential reduction is doable or not depends on other factors (Trailer weight, tune).

 

Get the 285s and regear to 5.29.

 

Stop worrying so much. It’ll be fine, it’ll tow fine.

I’ve got a 2” lift (5100s and a single AAL), 255/85r16s on the heavy stock Steel wheels, pulling a heavy pop up trailer. The truck does fine, the lift actually helped IMO as the rear springs and shocks are much better at handling the weight. I do want to eventually regear to 4.88’s but I can definitely deal with it as is.

 

You're way overthinking it. You paid for the full skinny pedal, use the full skinny pedal. Nothing's wrong with a full pull at wide open throttle uphill to pass a semi while towing.

My truck's a big girl on lift and 33s with tons of armor and shit, factory gears. My camper's lifted and on big tires (for a camper) I have no issues towing.



This was about 5 hours there, 5 hours back, almost all highway for my most recent trip. I got about 11mpg this trip and had to fill up twice, which is good considering we were flying at around 70mph for most of it.There's a bunch more trips like that in my build thread (link in signature) and I've towed a lot more than I have on the build thread. My truck always does great.

Tow with ECT on in S4, and manually downshift it to S3 if the engine's bogging on a hill.

I added an aftermarket trans cooler because my trans fluid looked like dooky earlier in the year. I'd make sure your truck has the trans cooler - some of the 2020s don't - and I'd watch your trans and tcase temps with an Ultragauge or similar.


Above all else, don't stress and just try it first. If you can't stand it, then consider gears. Tons of people jump on "YOU NEED GEARS" when most of them have little experience towing, or don't even have gears themselves.

 

No tune, but will probably pursue it once the final iteration is completed. Trailer is 2900lbs empty so realistically it's probably 3500 loaded. Will hopefully have a new trailer in March but weight will be closer to 4000, but it'll be a bit more aerodynamic than the current one.

Just not super interested in dumping another $2k (I'm assuming - PNW is always expensive) in regearing if I can avoid it.

Oh yeah, I've been towing with it for a year now - towed with the 4Runner for about four months before that. I generally get 10-11mpg already as is, as I'm also not afraid of gunning it to get uphill, and I don't have even half the amount of stuff you have on your truck! I always tow in S4 + ECT and manually downshift to 3rd when necessary. Haven't had to drop down to 2nd with any of our drives yet.

I'm 100% certain mine has the trans cooler - I made sure it was on the build sticker before and double checked after news started coming out about them disappearing and also checked physically.

 

Nah lift it to high heaven then keep the stock size chicken legs tires on it when it's time to tow!!!

 

I put a 3/2 lift on mine and I didn't think it looked to bad before I got my wheels and tires.

 

Yeah, that's not too bad. Ugh, maybe I just need to move forward with it and see what happens.

 

I am in the same boat. 33" tires, lift, heavy truck, 4,500 lb dual axel trailer. This truck has plenty of power to pull that trailer up some very very steep grades, even at highway speed. The RPM's will be up, but the engine is happy to sit up there. The only issue is the transmission heat. I used a OBDII connection to monitor it. I saw mine reach above 240 degrees while towing. I took it to a shop that replaced the transmission fluid (which smelled overheated) and installed a secondary transmission cooler. The secondary cooler does help keep the temps down a bit and rapidly cools the transmission as soon as you let off the skinny pedal. This is all with stock gears too.

Give it a shot with stock gears and watch the trans temps.

 

A lot of drama queens in this thread. I'm lifted 3" in the front and 2" in the back with 285/70r17 Nitto Ridge grapplers and stock gears, and it tows just fine. I have OVtune now which did help, but stock tuning was fine.

I've got an 18' StarCraft Mini Comet Extreme (ghey name, good trailer), it weighs about 3100 pounds empty, 3700 max weight. I wouldn't want to tow any more but I average between 9 and 11mpg. I've towed over the steepest passes in Oregon up to 5500 feet, truck dips down all the way to 2nd gear at 5000rpms at the steepest portions to maintain 55mph, but in general 3rd gear at 4000rpm will take most hills. Flat ground is a breeze.

 

Assuming that doesn't have a slide, it's essentially the same size and probably a similar layout as my trailer: a NoBo 16.5

 

Mines got a slide. I know Rpod makes the identical trailer with a different name and color scheme.

 

I feel you left out a few important pieces of information. Manual tranny or auto? Manual is geared lower. Load rating and tread type of the tires you are considering? I’m of the belief that it matters more than weight. Tow package?

Depending on the lift you chose, it might actually improve your towing experience by improving the load capacity. I sure felt a difference in carrying payload after upgrading my suspension, but I haven’t towed much yet no can’t comment on that yet.

 

Automatic transmission. As stated in an earlier post upthread, 100% tow package.

My hope is to not have to consider new tires. If I'm happy with the aesthetics of a 2 inch lift, assuming it actually is 2 inches and not higher since information seems to vary wildly between Dobinson's specs, the vendor's website specs, the vendor's specs as listed on the forum, and the results people have seen after installation on the forum, with the current 265/70/17 Wildpeaks, I won't change anything.

But if it looks like an absurdly tall chicken leg'd thing, I'm either gonna have to go through the whole process again to reduce the height, or move to larger tires, preferably not e-load.