I wanted to offer an alternative to the threads going with large lifts and the largest tires as you can. This Truck has continually shifted my thoughts on what to do to it, and still has me going back to the drawing board on a few configs. These are some of the brain drippings when modding the vehicle over the last 2 weeks. It rambles, so sorry for the length of this.
Disclaimer: Obviously, do what you want with your rig, these are just items I found with my setup. Still, I would love to hear others opinions on their config.
First a brief garage history of me. Avoiding the sports cars, my last few off-road vehicles:
(Current beast) 2013 Jeep Wrangler JKU: 3” lift 37” tires
2004 Nissan Titan: 2.5” lift………..34.2” Tires
2007 Jeep Wrangler JKU: 3” lift………35” tires
1984 Jeep Wrangler YJ: 2.75” lift……34” Tires
2010 Toyota Tundra: 2.75” lift………33.5” Tires
I am not opposed of re-gearing, larger tires, lifts, UCA, etc. This is why it’s going to get weird on this thread. I need this truck to be fully capable, not showy. Good on highway, great on jeep trails, dirt roads, and corn fields.
I had walked into this truck project with the intent to put a 4” lift and 34” tires on my 2015 Canyon. Since Fox couldn’t get the 2.5 line out in time, I decided to put the 1.25” body lift I had intended on the truck and opt for a 1.75” Leveler lift, giving me 3” lift overall. I slapped some Mickey Thompsons Baja ATZ 285/70R17s on (measured 33” tall and 11.5” wide per the manufacturers’ website specs). So I am already lower than my original plan.
Then this truck changed my mind on a few things:
Net/net, what I found was the levers did have enough of an effect on the rake that it did impact the “factory feel” that every leveler lift company says isn’t changed by their product. It does a bit, not horribly, but noticeably. Tire size for my setup, and many like it, cannot handle 11.5” width tires without spacers pushing it out of Factory backspacing. Any lift saying it can fit 285s without rubbing, I can’t see how it can get past the sway bar on full turn unless the actual tire size is even thinner than 11 actual inches wide. At least on my vehicle. I don’t know how others are doing it even by going larger on the leveler lifts, but do yourself a favor, do a full turn on your vehicle, and then get under it and measure hopefully your truck will be like everyone else’s and you can somehow make it work.
Eventually I may go to the Fox 2.5s, but I am in no rush and don’t expect to go above 2”, eventually I may go to 285s but not on factory rims and not without fender flares and cutting, but for now I am happier having moved to smaller tires and lifts.
Disclaimer: Obviously, do what you want with your rig, these are just items I found with my setup. Still, I would love to hear others opinions on their config.
First a brief garage history of me. Avoiding the sports cars, my last few off-road vehicles:
(Current beast) 2013 Jeep Wrangler JKU: 3” lift 37” tires
2004 Nissan Titan: 2.5” lift………..34.2” Tires
2007 Jeep Wrangler JKU: 3” lift………35” tires
1984 Jeep Wrangler YJ: 2.75” lift……34” Tires
2010 Toyota Tundra: 2.75” lift………33.5” Tires
I am not opposed of re-gearing, larger tires, lifts, UCA, etc. This is why it’s going to get weird on this thread. I need this truck to be fully capable, not showy. Good on highway, great on jeep trails, dirt roads, and corn fields.
I had walked into this truck project with the intent to put a 4” lift and 34” tires on my 2015 Canyon. Since Fox couldn’t get the 2.5 line out in time, I decided to put the 1.25” body lift I had intended on the truck and opt for a 1.75” Leveler lift, giving me 3” lift overall. I slapped some Mickey Thompsons Baja ATZ 285/70R17s on (measured 33” tall and 11.5” wide per the manufacturers’ website specs). So I am already lower than my original plan.
Then this truck changed my mind on a few things:
Body Lift: I don’t like them on almost any vehicle. I deliberated right up to where I jacked up the tires. This truck needs it. It responds well from it, and gives you back the fender room you need. I opted for the smallest body lift I could go, and have no cutting. Hands down the best decision yet. Handling is not hindered in any way and you can step up slightly in tire size. The kits are way better than they used to be, and I do not feel that it impeded the quality of the ride in any way.
Leveler Lift: I know its no comparison to 2.5 coilovers, but I am relatively impressed with the response. I went with a 1.75” and am glad I didn’t go any bigger due to how the truck sits. Plus anything I can do to minimize any loss of upward travel or over-extension on downward. I also had some concerns on the CV angles, but less so now that I have been under it. Its still there, but ¼ inch of washer has me less concerned. More pictures to follow on the Diff drop thread.
Rake: At 1.75” leveler lift , the rake is non-existent, and I am contemplating going down .25 to .5 inches more in the front or even lift the rear .5” to 1” when add-a-leafs come out for the twins so I can get some rake back.
Gas Mileage per Gallon: With the removal of the front lip and adding a lift and tires, I have noted a very limited impact on my MPG. Unless you re-calibrate to your new size, the calculation difference in tire circumference will carry over to mpg as well. Even with some degree of error, I have seen less than a Mile Per gallon impact.
Spacers: I had a cousin who had a friend whose brothers dads car exploded in the driveway when he tried to install them on his car. Ok, outside of that and all joking aside, I never really liked spacers nor adapters if you can fully avoid them, and I would never use them if they are not hub centric. BUT, Canyons hubs extend 12 mm out and if there is a 5mm spacer on them, I am still getting the most out of the actual hub without having to go to a full on hub centric spacer. Diatribes on how evil spacers are, or how quickly I will die in a ball of fire, please set up a new thread.
DynaBeads: Or most other well designed Balancing beads. Love them, love them, love them. No one ever used to install them for me in the past and I almost stopped using them, but they have become very common if you show up to the tire shop with them and I will take them over lifetime balancing any day.
Tires: (here’s the big one) : Coming from the 285/70R17 MT Baja ATZ (33” Tall, 11.5 wide) I knew that these tires run big. But knowing I was at 3” I had thought I had room to spare. Being so big, the interior rubs on front sway, the back interior does not rub, but on any flex, it will a lot. Fender room is good on the highway, but it would never be able to fit in the well on 3” upward movement. What I noticed immediately, is that I lost the mid-size truck feel and it felt like a full size truck in tire weight, and reaction on the road. Steering wheel felt sluggish, and performance was more lethargic, and was reluctant to flex the truck offroad. I love the actual tires, 37” Baja ATZ will be going on the Jeep soon, but on this truck, I didn’t like the ride home from the tire shop.
I went down in size (lightning strike for effect).
I moved to the 275/70R17 BF Goodrich KO2 (32.2” tall 11” wide) nearly .8” smaller and .5” narrower and 4lbs lighter than my earlier set. I regained the nimbleness of the mid-size truck, and got a bit more travel on the upward movement on the flex. I even got an extra centimeter back so I could push the tires out a few millimeters more flush against the fender and to keep it off of the sway bar (which was still rubbing).
Leveler Lift: I know its no comparison to 2.5 coilovers, but I am relatively impressed with the response. I went with a 1.75” and am glad I didn’t go any bigger due to how the truck sits. Plus anything I can do to minimize any loss of upward travel or over-extension on downward. I also had some concerns on the CV angles, but less so now that I have been under it. Its still there, but ¼ inch of washer has me less concerned. More pictures to follow on the Diff drop thread.
Rake: At 1.75” leveler lift , the rake is non-existent, and I am contemplating going down .25 to .5 inches more in the front or even lift the rear .5” to 1” when add-a-leafs come out for the twins so I can get some rake back.
Gas Mileage per Gallon: With the removal of the front lip and adding a lift and tires, I have noted a very limited impact on my MPG. Unless you re-calibrate to your new size, the calculation difference in tire circumference will carry over to mpg as well. Even with some degree of error, I have seen less than a Mile Per gallon impact.
Spacers: I had a cousin who had a friend whose brothers dads car exploded in the driveway when he tried to install them on his car. Ok, outside of that and all joking aside, I never really liked spacers nor adapters if you can fully avoid them, and I would never use them if they are not hub centric. BUT, Canyons hubs extend 12 mm out and if there is a 5mm spacer on them, I am still getting the most out of the actual hub without having to go to a full on hub centric spacer. Diatribes on how evil spacers are, or how quickly I will die in a ball of fire, please set up a new thread.
DynaBeads: Or most other well designed Balancing beads. Love them, love them, love them. No one ever used to install them for me in the past and I almost stopped using them, but they have become very common if you show up to the tire shop with them and I will take them over lifetime balancing any day.
Tires: (here’s the big one) : Coming from the 285/70R17 MT Baja ATZ (33” Tall, 11.5 wide) I knew that these tires run big. But knowing I was at 3” I had thought I had room to spare. Being so big, the interior rubs on front sway, the back interior does not rub, but on any flex, it will a lot. Fender room is good on the highway, but it would never be able to fit in the well on 3” upward movement. What I noticed immediately, is that I lost the mid-size truck feel and it felt like a full size truck in tire weight, and reaction on the road. Steering wheel felt sluggish, and performance was more lethargic, and was reluctant to flex the truck offroad. I love the actual tires, 37” Baja ATZ will be going on the Jeep soon, but on this truck, I didn’t like the ride home from the tire shop.
I went down in size (lightning strike for effect).
I moved to the 275/70R17 BF Goodrich KO2 (32.2” tall 11” wide) nearly .8” smaller and .5” narrower and 4lbs lighter than my earlier set. I regained the nimbleness of the mid-size truck, and got a bit more travel on the upward movement on the flex. I even got an extra centimeter back so I could push the tires out a few millimeters more flush against the fender and to keep it off of the sway bar (which was still rubbing).
Net/net, what I found was the levers did have enough of an effect on the rake that it did impact the “factory feel” that every leveler lift company says isn’t changed by their product. It does a bit, not horribly, but noticeably. Tire size for my setup, and many like it, cannot handle 11.5” width tires without spacers pushing it out of Factory backspacing. Any lift saying it can fit 285s without rubbing, I can’t see how it can get past the sway bar on full turn unless the actual tire size is even thinner than 11 actual inches wide. At least on my vehicle. I don’t know how others are doing it even by going larger on the leveler lifts, but do yourself a favor, do a full turn on your vehicle, and then get under it and measure hopefully your truck will be like everyone else’s and you can somehow make it work.
Eventually I may go to the Fox 2.5s, but I am in no rush and don’t expect to go above 2”, eventually I may go to 285s but not on factory rims and not without fender flares and cutting, but for now I am happier having moved to smaller tires and lifts.