4th gen owned by old man is it worth the lift cost to go up one tire size?

Hi all, looking for advice. Since I am almost 70 and don't want to do crazy stuff but just have fun is it worth the cost of a lift kit to go up to 265/70/R17 for additional ground clearance? On my 265/65/17 I scraped the skid plate with the stock tires deflated to about 22#s on what I thought was a relatively "mild" adventure. Thanks in advance!

 

I lift all of mine on day 1 and run an oversize tire on all of them.
This is something i do for looks, i prefer the look of them with a little more clearance and a beefier tire under them. If you are scraping the skids or frame on something you intend to travel, a little lift and larger tire would likely suit you well. It typically makes them look a bit more aggressive as well.

 

You'll be able to put 265/70/17 tires on without lifting the truck as long as your current suspension is in good shape.

A lift will help your approach/break-over/departure angles, but it won't help with bigger tires or create extra ground clearance.

 

So when i lift it 2" where is the lift going? How does it not create extra ground clearance? I lift the vehicle 2" and the frame / chassis is now 2" higher off the ground right? When you lift it up higher, you are moving the center of the hub further down away from the fender wells which certainly allows you to fit bigger tires, that is literally the whole point of lifting a vehicle up so you can clear a larger tire.

 

Are you planning on playing any harder in the future than you did when you scraped, if so ?

 

Yes, you will have more space between the top of the wheelwells and the tire at rest, but that's not where you need clearance.

Remember our 4Runners have a solid rear axle, so when you're lifting the rear you're pushing the entire rear axle including the rear diff ("pumpkin") away from the body so the distance between the ground and the pumpkin doesn't change. Also, when one of the sides of the rear is pushed up it will eventually hit the bump stop, that's the point of the bump stop. At this point there is the same amount of distance between the top of the wheel well and the top of the tire no matter how much lift you have. The front IFS will look a bit different, but lift still won't make space for bigger tires.

For much more insight into the front IFS I recommend grabbing your favorite beverage and nerd out with Tinkerer's Adventure on Youtube, specifically https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_68Hc8GtLko and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1tTelhdEiM.

 

Thank you for your input and advice guys. Robert I'll probably do a little tougher trails than the last one but not anything that could cause a roll over or significant damage to the 4runner. I like this 4runner and it is my daily driver. Probably intermediate forest road trails and stuff in the Sedona area. I am more banged up and have more hardware in me than I will likely ever put into this ride. BTW as a kid my first car was a 66 landcruiser!

 

When I bought mine used it had 265/70r17 and it was bone stock. Only rubbed a tiny bit on the mud flap backing out of steep driveways at full lock. Removed mud flap and no more rubbing.

 

You are young guy still. Go and enjoy this thing as much as you can!

 

Thank you guys! My youngest grandson is also a Grayson!