Originally posted this on the Tacoma forum and one of the moderators suggested that I post here. Any rim and tire experts out there that can help? Particularly with #2 below. Original thread is-
TN Rim and Tire Expert???
Ok. here is the current set up in the front of my '05 TRD. 884 3" lift, billy 5100's (set at lowest setting), helo maxx 6 17x9
rims (4.5" backspace), and BFG A/T's in 285-70-17.
I decided to downsize the tires since i'm getting killed in gas mileage and the 285's rub the cab frame, so I went out and got 265-70-17 A/T's and took them to the shop yesterday to have mounted. Couple of hours later the shop called and said they had some things they wanted to show me before moving on.
1. Upper and lower ball joints- was told that if you drew a line connecting the two, the line should point directly to the center of the rim. On my yota, this is not the case. Told me this will cause a "bump steer" at higher speeds. Basically the wheel will jerk when going over a significant bump and if this is not fixed it could cause excessive wear on the bearings. I have noticed this on my current setup and IMO it is not a major concern...more of a nuisance. I'm thinking UCA's would fix but I just don't have the $$$ right now to get them. See #2 for alternate solution (according to the shop).
2. Rims are too wide causing lug nuts to not grab enough thread- Told me BFG recommends 7 or 8" wide rims on the 265 size tire. Mine are 9" and when mounted, the rims are too wide resulting in not enough lug protruding through the rim. When they cranked down the lug nuts, they found that they gripped only 4 turns worth of thread before tight. Toyota recommends at least 6 turns. This presents a
safety issue when going O/R or when going over bumps as it might rip a rim/tire off the truck. Advised me to find longer lugs or to get new rims with 7 or 8" width. They tried to find longer lugs but their supplier doesn't carry longer one's. Said the narrower rim would also help with issue #1.
So they put everything back the way it was when I dropped it off. Luckily, I wasn't charged for the work. Wanted to get your opinions/advise before I went out and bought new rims and cause the next set of problems. I'd prefer to go with longer lugs as this sounds like a less expensive solution. Does anyone make longer lugs for the tacos? What size are the stock lugs? Or Are 7 or 8" rims the answer?
For now, I'm going to mount the stock rims/tires and run those until I decide which path to take. Thanks.
XD
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