Tire/lift recommendations

[bacmb]

Hello! I've been looking for a place like this forum! Please excuse the newbie questions!

My son is being given his mom's '87 4Runner at 16. The first thing he wants to do, of course, is put "Big Tires" on it! The opinions on what makes sense from a drivability and budget standpoint are, of course, across the board. He'd like to put on a 3" lift kit, which seems doable for a couple hundred bucks. From there, what appears to be reasonable are 32 or 33" x 10.5 or 12.5 tires. We're reasonable weekend mechanics, but haven't jumped into this before. Is this as straightforward as it seems? Any gotcha's on it? Suggestions on budget tires that will fit the bill for a 16 year old that mostly wants to play in the mud, but has to drive in the real world?

Any and all suggestions greatly appreciated!

[tacoclimber]

I'm going to guess that the 87's got the 22R, maybe 22RE. That being the case, for driveability, I'd stay closer to 32's, or maybe the 33X10.50's. Anything bigger or heavier, and it's gonna bog a 4 banger. Not saying you can't do it, but you'll notice the power loss.

As far as lift, I would suggest ball joint spacers from http://www.sdori.com/
and perhaps extended shackles or and add a leaf. You can all of those for sub $350.

With a decent set of tools, both the ball joint spacers and aal's or shackles are pretty easy.

As far as tires, if he's gonna be playing in the mud, he'll need something with a tread designed to clear the mud as it spins. There's a lot of different designs out there. I've heard decent reports about the Dayton Timberline MT's. I've used the BFG Mud Terrains in the past, so I can attest to their durability and performance, but they're not what I would call a "budget tire". You might check TireRack or Discount Tire, or the like.

I'm sure others will chime in with anything I didn't.

Good luck and keep us updated!

[4runnerchevy]

x2 on the tires, any larger, than its gonna be a lug without a gear change. 33's would be pushin it. x2 on the lift.

[DHC6twinotter]

What they said.

[Cheese]

I hated BJ spacers, my steering kept dying.

If you want height, get the narrowest, lightest 33's you can, BFG had or used to have 9.5's.

Adding any tires is going to impact mileage and power.

How about a 1" bodylift, maybe some OME stuff if you want to do it nice. That will get cheap height.

Take a look at AxleIke's rig here, do what he has done.

[slosurfer]

Welcome to UY! You've come to the right place.

If the front shocks are still good on it, then I wouldn't even worry about lifting it right away. 33x10.5's will fit with some minor inner fender massaging. If the rear is sagging now, you could always go with add a leaves or shackles.

If it needs shocks, I would go ahead and do the SDORI ball joint spacers, since you need longer than stock shocks to take advantage of the extra travel. I suggest Old Man Emu shocks, but I know others know of ones that are decent and not as expensive. YOu do not want to really go any taller than the 1.5" lift in the front due to the cv angles will start to get excessive and wear out fast.

I'll let others comment on the best way to get the rear up to par to match the front with bj spacers, as I'm not as familiar with the leaf spring rear ends.

[slosurfer]

Cheese, honestly though, would your idler arms/front steering have held up much longer without the bj spacers, considering what, where, and how you were wheeling it? Just curious, if it is really so much the spacers or your natural progression of doing harder and harder things do to gearing, lockers, tires, etc... I have no doubt that they add some additional stress, just not sure if it's that noticeable for what the majority put their ifs through.

[Tankota]

If your looking for mud tires be sure to check this page out. It has the most complete list of mud tires and reviews that I've ever come across.

http://www.offroaders.com/tech/AT-MT...d_Terrains.htm

[Scuba]

What they said x52789

[Tankota]

Thanks for chiming in there Scuba!