Wow, the production quality going into these videos in getting insane. Nice work Ronny (and everyone behind the scenes). And as always, top notch advice. I run 31.5 Ko2s on my daily for all the reasons you mentioned. No extra costs, no headaches or reliability issues, and they still work off road when I need them to. Just switching the stock road tyres to decent A/Ts makes a world of difference without changing anything else.
- yep going 31.5" (17" rims)- just brings a 4wd ute up to design specs. (I'm still wearing out a set of 29"s (AT) on 16" rims, I got with my ute - they still work, save the better set for trips. - eventually throw some more mud oriented tyres on the 16"s)
Wow, the production quality going into these videos in getting insane. Nice work Ronny (and everyone behind the scenes). And as always, top notch advice. I run 31.5 Ko2s on my daily for all the reasons you mentioned. No extra costs, no headaches or reliability issues, and they still work off road when I need them to. Just switching the stock road tyres to decent A/Ts makes a world of difference without changing anything else.
Still very much enjoy and look forward to your next video. I started watching you 8 years ago, figured it was cheaper watching you than actually do it, well turns out you gave me the bug for off road! héhé! Bought a 2016 4x4 gmc canyon (1/4 ton) 2,8 diesel took me 2.5 years to desired state, 3'' lift and suspension upgrade, 33'' mud tires, steel back and front bumpers and completely boxed frame with skid plates and 15500lbs winch, aluminium cab that i made all the electrical set up (isolator, 2nd battery, distribution...) it was a way of life for 5 years until I got crank bearing issue, started a year and a half nightmare ended up loosing lots of $$$ now its behind me but do not regret the incredible experience it was and these amazing places we visited that would not have been accessible otherwise, cheers Ronnie!🍻
yaaa... I went through that... *oof* it was very exspensive upgrade to delete and modify stock 17" brakes to a race type system from abs. I ended up with stainless braided line ptfe after my third try of converting modern brakes to carburetor era style brakes with dual piston stock brakes. took 2years to sort out with professional help because of reverse engineering systems and merging old designs.
Went from 29.6 to 31.6 inch tyres on my 2010 dmax. After adjusting for the tyre size in the fuel calculations. I use around 0.2 to 0.5L /100km more. So well and truly worth it. Also fit with no lift of trimming required.
265/70/R17 Maxxis Razor AT, P12 rims , 40 mm lift , airbag man also fitted to my 2023 fortuner gxl . The car went some of the places that i though no way we could get theres . Towing camper nearly 2 tons to get to off grid was abit nervous but we got there. That just show do you really need big massive tyres .
Not bad. Your video is pretty much the best, to explain the problems about changing the tyre size. Even I can understand it. 😊 My "BAIC BJ40 Rainforest Edition" (IFS) has 285/70-17 tires from the factory. That´s according to my tyre calculator a "33x11.22x17" tyre. Now I a running some Toyo-M/T tires. According to your conclusion (16:54") a 32" tyre is good enough for almost anything, and with 33" from the factory I´m already a bit higher than that. I have only changed the gear ratio from 3,45 to 3,88, and a "tuning box" to get a bit better acceleration. After watching your video I completely erased the slightest idea of changing the tyre size. With about 13-18 L/100 km the consumption is already tough enough. Thanks a lot for this detailed clarification about tires. To be honest, I like the tough look of some 35 or 37 tires, but for me it´s not worth all the money and the work. For years I already watch your videos and you gave a lot of good advice for some mods NOT to do with my car. Kepp on with your Hollywood-production videos. They are great.
That’s a lot of solid information there mate. It plays a lot into your vehicle much more than others think it’s does. The other issue you have to consider (different per state) is GVM. Yep bigger tyres robs you of your gvm the bigger you go, especially if you need to carry more fuel or a rear bar to carry that spare wheel on your wagon. As obvious with my profile picture I own a ‘16 duel cab ranger, ideally it’s my jack-all-trades vehicle. It’s my daily, it’s my weekender, it’s my tourer, it’s my dream rig. I’m building mine up to 275/70/17 or 32.2” tyres with 2” lift, diff drop, new UCA and a GVM upgrade to have a rear bar and 122L tank. A bit much just to go that size but being its usage I can mildly justify it. However I can’t exactly justify cheaping out my camping gear on Kings drawers 😅
Built a 2022 Prado VX with a Lovells GVM upgrade @ 40mm. Considered 285/70/17s, but problematic (?). Advice was to go 18" rims with a lower ratio rather than drop a tyre size on 17s and end up with some obscure tyre spec that would be difficult to source - so based choice on 18s for tyre availability. Aimed for 285/65/18s (ROHs -12mm offset was a minimal change from OEM) but no go. Settled for 285/60/18s but that still required 30mm removed from panel under TJM bull bar to relieve space/mitigate rubbing at full lock. Probably need to sort out mud guards too (in time). UCAs centred well enough for now. Uptake of all this: 31.6"/803mm tyres not quite where I'd wish to be and probably at minimum sidewall, but setup has proved to be perfectly fine and fuel economy good. Learned a lot and if had time again would get the build, rims and tyres at one spot with a Prado specialist that understood all the codependent elements better. At the time my advice was "siloed" and I was a bit naïve despite researching.
Hello from Indiana. I have a 2022 jeep wrangler jlu with a deisel. I'm running on an evo stage 2 defender with King shocks. Going on 1.5 years with this setup and it works great. Really like the content.
Don’t forget about increasing rotating mass Rhonny makes a huge difference for sapping power regardless of regearing. A huge point I think you missed with the 4 cylinder vs v8 towing vid. Anyone changing wheels on same tyres will tell you. I thought I had the handbrake on when I got steelies, then went back to factory lc70 alloys differences is incredible there would only be 5-10kg difference per wheel, but difference was enormous. I am surprised you did not notice when going to patriot wheels on your 79
As a tourer / overlander rather than a mountain climber I put 33's on the 300 Sahara with a 2 inch lift. Kept the OEM wheels. Control arms were changed. Same time did a GVM upgrade. Beefed up the suspension as added a lot of weight with bullbar, winch, rock sliders & bash plates. I have a rear bar on order but 6 month lead time. The car is now twin locked & I'd reckon it will go anywhere I would be game to take it. Some of the stuff I see you doing I'd never attempt.
For most overlanders--and off-roaders--a set of 33s will suffice on a front and rear locked rig. 35s will cost you in modifications to the vehicle and the 37s and 40s that Americans put on are often mainly for looks.
Wil my experience I find that 32 and 33 inch tires tend to be the preferred rand for many vehicles when it comes down to Touring and most 4WD situations. Pair that with the right suspension and you are pretty much set. Even some vehicles like.my 1993 WD21 have no problems doing most things with Factory 31's. I guess it really comes down to what you do and what you need for what to get.
@@Jacobtheunwise has nothing to do with where you live, but where you travel when you think about it. Yes I am in Colorado, but if I travel to another state then it's going to matter more for the state I travel in vs where I live
I thought long and hard about my upgrade to my 105, and I’m shaking hands with myself after watching this. 2” lift and 33’s. She looks good and performs awesome. Only additional change was swapping out to an adjustable Panhard rod. Thanks for confirming I made a wise choice
And all these points sit to explain why I still run the stock size tyres on my 02 Pajero. I do have a 40mm lift so could go from 265/70/16 (30.6inch) to 33's without any other mods (as far as I am aware) but it is more wear and strain on my drive line, more fuel and in my opion not worth worrying about. I'm not out to rock crawl anyway so clearance generally is not an issue. I've had so many people tell me to go bigger but I don't feel the need. 33's in NSW with the 40mm lift is also the maximum legal without major mods requiring engineering. That would give me 2 inch suspension & 1 inch tyre lift matching the maximum 3 inch lift.
@Jacobtheunwise that's because I'm not interested in the harder trails. I like to drive to places to see things not just to say I have done some difficult track. My content is not for everyone.
My manual px2 ranger was not as good to drive once I put on 33’s with new rims so I got the front and rear diffs from an auto ranger and that got it back close to stock gearing, pretty good! However, while I had that new rear axle out I couldn’t help but put on rear disc brakes and, because I had a rear axle from a px3 ranger, I had to get a patch cable to get the factory rear locker to work, all good still. While I was changing that front diff I couldn’t live without an elocker in there and that got me to a new switch panel in the interior, nice! Of course I couldn’t have it without a 2/12 inch lift and that really works best with adjustable upper control arms and while I was in there I thought why not do some nice super pro lower control arms and then you really need a wheel alignment from somewhere that understands how to set up those adjustable upper control arms . I felt like it would be wrong not to give the front brakes some love so upgraded rotors and pads went in too. Those stock brake lines looked suspiciously short now, so some longer stainless braided ones were best front and rear. And then I couldn’t help but install a diff drop, weld in (because they’re meant to be better on a ranger) and the aluminium bash plate over the front diff did need modification too 😂. Those 33 inch muddies were sticking out well past the guards so on went some good looking flares that definitely look better still with raptor coat tinted to the colour of the front grill on a wild track. Oh, I haven’t done the speedo correction yet….it’s close enough 😊
Along with bigger tires, consider the added cost of body mount chop, regearing and eventually wear and tear of suspension components. Better to go for a stock size modern MT tire. Today they are far better on and off road and some have low noise as well.
Excellent Ronny! 35s were great clearance for the patrol, but the 33s feel so much better overall when handling the vehicle (less bounce, less lean, more stability, more power, etc.).
I went with the biggest tire t could without any major mods. Went from a P255/70/r17 to a 285/70/r18. All I did was a 2" front leveling kit (ifs front) and a canned tune/speedo correction. That's it. It's a big 33" or a small 34" depending upon how you want to think of it. So in total. With the tires, alloy rims, leveling kit and tune. (And my labour) it cost about $3000. Anything else would be "invasive "
Hey buddy. I dropped a 2.5" lift into my LN106 'lux a couple of years ago as the very old 2" lift had sagged (and broken, as it turned out when I pulled the rear springs out) it's way back to stock. Stock tyres on them things were 29" outta the dealership. I had 31" boots on it then and after the lift it looked (to me at the time) a little silly. So I rocked down to my local tyre guy - Bridgestone Kalgoorlie for the win - we looked at it a bit, I wanted big tyres, he's like you won't like it, I'm like nah yeah cocko, he shrugs and rounded up some worn out 35", got them on rims, mounted them on my bus and I went for a wander out bush for half a day. They were great offroad, fantastic even, and I had no issues at all with scrubbing or rubbing. That lift included a tailshaft spacer, extended brake lines, no need for a drop steering arm, I have full articulation all corners, good kit. Thing was on the highway they were, as expected, absolute shit. The LN106 don't make a lot of power to start with and these things were just sucking it out. Deflated for sandy stuff - even worse. So back to the shop, he said told ya so cocko, yeah righto, some umming and ahhing, I rolled out of there with a set of Maxxis RAZR 265/75R16 MT772M's - 33" - as a kinda compromise. Same deal, great tyre and an effective total lift of 4.5 inches. And they have been a fantastic tyre - bloody awesome in fact - so long as you are not driving on the road. On the road, 10l/100km or worse when the rig is loaded up, squirrelly and being so much bigger, takes a lot of middle pedal to pull it up from speed. Just because it can, does not mean you should. I'll drive these current tyres down to the plys like any good ole goldfielder, then flick 'em for some 31 inch tyres. I'll end up at 3.5" total lift - meh, big deal - and consumption and power back where it used to be, which was much better than this. Nah, no turbo. The only better way to wreck a 3L motor is to drop all the oil out of it.
Awesome video once again mate. My personal experience: GU Patrol coil cab, standard suspension handled 33 inch tyres with no rubbing noticed, 2 inch lift handled 35 inch tyres with minimal rubbing: this seemed to be the sweet spot, just springs and shocks upgraded. I've now gone to a 3-inch lift and softer rates to try and increase flex, but got lots of rubbing in the guards when flexing fully loaded. It's since escalated into a large list of suspension mods to make it all work. Coils seem tricky to get right if you want good flex at low speed and bottoming resistance at high speed when touring/fully loaded.
As usual, Ronny makes great vids. Unlike other folks who claim regearing benefits fuel economy etc, the real advantage is just as Ronny said, retaining low range performance.
33’s and a 2” lift for me because I almost never come across a situation where I would need more and the benefits of increased fuel range and reduced wear and tear are very attractive. Thanks for the videos Ronny..
I purchased a Hilux 'N80' in the UK, I have to agree with this video as I wanted to run 33" M/T, I have purchased OME BP-51 with 2inch lift, OME UCA, Kaon diff drop, 17x9.0 ET0 wheels and after all that yes you can easily get 33"s on now.. but they still rub so I've now removed all the interior and dash (I mean everything) to modify the inner arches so I can actually get full articulation from the suspension with zero rubbing... its allot of work just for 33"s... I don't personally see how 35" on a Hilux are possible unless they are just for show and don't fully compress on the front... The other thing is the Hilux and 70series *new one* have same engine and I presume a similar auto gearbox, so bit confused how it could be said that IFS no to 33"s and non-IFS yes.. surely its the ratios that determine how well they will work. The hilux has 3.909:1 ratio, I read the new 70 series has 4.3:1 finals, so clearly if the Hilux was re-geared it would be same. No one in Australia will send me gears of the N80 Hilux as I was happy to re-gear mine but I think only 4.88:1 was available and I thought that was too much for 33"s.. but I could be wrong.. I worked out previously that 4.3:1 would be perfect.. but no one sells this ratio.. in the UK the 2.4ltr engine has a 4.1:1 and that might be what I do as a half way measure... Either way this thing is costing me a fortune.
You can do most tracks on 32's. Spending that much to do a few extreme tracks that you'll only every do once or twice in your lifetime seems a bit excessive. The best drivers I've seen over 30 years on the tracks look like they're in almost stock standard cars. Some of them have blown my mind, like the guy that easily did Spanish Steps at Newnes in a standard looking Prado after all these souped up utes were bashing and crashing their way up having all sorts of trouble. Learning how to drive and pick a line is a better cheaper option. It was a good video RD, thanks.
I've recently put on 275/70r17s (true 32) on my n80 and I reckon that's the limit for me. I've had to do some light trimming to the mud guards and that's it. I can easily see how a 33 would require so much more work. The larger you go, the more exponential the hassle is. My 32s are a sweet spot and often get mistaken for 33s too!
Great vid. Very informative. Would be nice to include 34s (285/75r17) in the comparison as this size is becoming more available with a couple of manufactires eg nitto, bfg, yokohama, offering some tyres in this size. Obviously, comments about availability apply, but tyres are getting much better and tougher these days Also, note that tyre dimensions can vary between brands. For instance, a BFG runs small, so 33 (285/70r17) could fit in that brand where it wouldn't in a different brand.
To put a true 33 12.5 on my NP300 navara apart from suspension, which is obvious, was trim the inner gaurd a tiny bit, and I changed diff ratios to suit. The only other thing I want to do is a brake upgrade, but it stops fine now, it's really just for towing our van.
Big tyres use more fuel for sure but some people forget to factor in that with bigger tyres, the odometer will under read( without correction), thus making it seem like you’ve used more fuel. Compensating for this or using gps or a point to point comparison is the way to be more accurate
I could do 35's if I wanted to do some trimming. As a budget. To do it moderately, I'd need to re-gear (mainly as a drivablity preference like how your hilux loses 6th gear). But re-gearing is "cheap" (especially if you're mechanically inclined to do it at home) and easy as it's a "generic" upgrade. My truck runs factory at 3.42 gears, 3.73 gears can be found in a scrap yard/used if you know what to look for. The biggest expense would be braking... which thanks to GM, is also a factory option that can be done after the fact. But brakes would be a $5000 item (not counting the rims that would need to be a minimum of 18"(might be 20", I'm not certain). Plus the obvious few hundred to have the computer/speedo corrected. (I get that free as part of my original tune/speedo correction)
My old 90 series came with larger size tyres when we bought it. Looked cool, but when I dropped to standard tyre size it drove so much better. It felt happier. If it had a much more powerful engine I think it would have soaked it up. Of course now I have a petrol 120 with somewhere around twice the power I don't want to go any bigger. This thing is thirsty enough.
Thanks Ronny - because I don’t rock hop, do sand slamming or deep water/mud exploring with my 2010 Hilux all I’ve done is fit white Sunraysia wheels including a spare and a set of Yokohama Geolandar ‘truck’ tyres still at 31” factory specs - no suspension issues, no drive line or acceleration issues with an insignificant change in fuel economy 10.5 l/100km average - I do have to fit wheel arch body kits (A$250 plus painting) to keep it legal in my state - the grip is so much better than my original factory A/Ts in all conditions and they’re wearing really well and very quiet - total wheel/tyre budget A$2200 fitted.
Got a 3500 Kg GVM upgrade on my PXIII Ranger with adjustable UCAs. Went from OEM wheels and tyres to a 17" with 33s (285/70/17). That's very close to a 2" lift, 1" on the body and 1" on the pumpkin. Happy with that because there's no intervention required for the drive train.
Very helpful Ronny. Dream car for me would be a 90 series on 31" BFGs, factory alloys and a 1-1.5" lift. Nice and cheap with easy to find tires. But I wouldn't do anything as serious as Ronny.
Lot of work going into this video. Quality. I've got a 2010 Cab Chassis Patrol, 3.0l, heavy steel tray, toolboxes, tools... Daily driver, use it for work everyday. It needs a tune and probably a few engine mods and repairs just to get out of its own way not to mention tyres and other work... I guess fitting 33s with better steel rims is the way to go, stick some flares on the front and a 2-3" lift engineered with a GVM upgrade and we'll see if there's still money for a house in a couple years, lol.
Great video. The best way to save money is HAVE A PLAN. Don't start with 31's, then go to 33's then to 35's etc. Figure out what you want and build to it.
Great vid, another point is driving at highway speeds. I run 275/65r18 on my n80, and 6th gear is illusive. Long drives can become annoying as it will hunt between 5th and 6th. I’ll usually use the gear selector to lock it in 5th to preserve my sanity
This is one of the best videos I have seen from a 4wd channel. No jokes. Well explained and reasoning, plus awesome production. I think I’ll stick with my 33’s (which I’m sure you convinced me of in a video a few years ago 👌🏻)
Great video Ronnie on the brake down of the costs involved to do any of these mods, your pricing is in Australian dollars which are generally allot higher than there in North America, the process is all the same, some commenter said here in North America the big tires are for looks only, WRONG, they are used off road on a regular basis, 37's ,39's and 40 and 42's are that more more common nowadays, lots of over landers and off roaders using them now, even from GM you can buy a mid size truck Colorado or Canyon with 35's from the factory, you just have to pay the enormous price which is easily over 50k actually closer to 55-60k if you add options, the new Tacoma nice rig will start at 40 plus to get a decently equipped model that is before taxes or any extras we are still cheaper than Australia, the catch is allot of insurance companies now won't cover you at all or you have to pay an enormous separate rider policy almost equal to your annual insurance cost for the unmodified vehicle, Germany with the TUV laws you can't do any of this at all, people ask all the time and its a no go , I camp, canoe and hike lots of places for my photography hobby that a vehicle won't take me to anyways and it is still the experience at a lesser cost with the same results, and i have owned and sold loads of vehicles able to do all this and yes its fun and does cost a shitload of money, and i love tall sidewall tires, more ground clearance, better ride and they are only 1 inch taller so theres no major cost, not $56000.00 👍 I still love the look of these units and always thumbs up to the owners that use them as intended
Lifts and bigger tires are completely legal in Germany, you just have to get them engineered and follow certain rules. My 80 series is on 36s with a 3" lift, all TÜV-approved.
Excellent vid Should be mandatory for every 4wd owner to watch. One thing people don't understand when they don't re gear the engine runs at a lower speed. Most untrained people think this is a good thing. Wrong Everything runs slower, your fan, oil pump, water pump even alternator and a.c. , however you are robbing your engine of air induction cycles through the engine. Expect high EGT not just because of the additional load, but you are effectively increasing your fuel to air ratio. Your brake mean effective pressure increases inside the cylinder putting more strain on head to block sealing integrity. Also brakes will not work as well due to increase in rolling mass. You are going down a rabbit hole moving up tyre size.
I was thinking a long time about 33s vs 35s inch wheels on my troopy. In the end I stayed with my 33 (285/17 r16). I love the look of the 35 (315/75 r16) but it would have cost too much and for traveling 285/75 r16 is hopefully easier to get As I changed from All Terrain to mud terrain I took a slightly bigger tire. The Toyo Open Country is a bit bigger than the BFG, so in the end, its a good compromise 😊. Thanks for that video! It confirmed my decision 😅
Tire size and how much you're willing to spend to fit them all comes down to what trails and obstacles you want to run. I've been happily wheeling everything in my area on 33s for 15 years. But now I want to finally check the Rubicon Trail off my bucket list. It's 35s or stay home so it's time to start cutting!
Thank you for this informative video. I have a manual MR Triton and as is, with after market 18" alloys and 30.5" all terrains performs great for what I do, mostly sand driving but occasionally it sees a bit of mud. I did watch your steel v alloy video and think I made the wrong choice. I think now a set of steel 16" (maybe 17"?) rims with 30.5" tyres would be the go for me, without any suspension or inner guard mods. That would certainly give me a bigger 'footprint' when pressures are down and certainly allow for some mild rock crawling, not that I'll be doing too much of that. It would be pretty easy to sell the alloys anyway. Cheers!
I love your content Ronny, always clear explanations and real life experience to share. The only thing is that not only tyres raise your axle, portal axles can also do that. Keep on the great content👏🏻
Awesome video! and the production level is off the roof! (I'm a long time follower). One thing I would add is that, although changing the diff ratios can compensate for the difference in gearing and help with fuel efficiency. More roll resistance will still be evident... I own a few 4x4 vehicles with tyre sizes ranging between 29" - 44". My 76 stays on 33", currently on a 2" lift and with rear track correction. but even without the lift and correction, 33's fit (almost) perfectly. It's just the sweet spot for these wagons in my opinion.
Toyota got it right first time with the Troopy - comes with 225/95R16 - a tall skinny A/T tyre - 32.6" and incl steel rim only weigh 29kgs. Heaps of sidewall, airs down easily and takes little time to reinflate. Best fuel consumption. A set of 5 new ones costs $600 on Marketplace - owners taking them off their new vehicles. Bargain of the century. Just lacks Testosterone.
Really good video.. except that on IFS suspension lift at any height doesn't clear tyres, as up travel remains the same regardless of lift, all you lose is down travel
For remote travel I want the weakest link in my driveline to the Traction of the tyre on the road better to break traction than anything mechanical! No one talks about wheel bearings and Wheel studs and the detriment effects of bigger and heavier tyres and wheels a seventy Series needs wheel bearings service every 20K or annually. Add big wheels and water crossing or spacers and I would replace bearings every year and carry a full set of wheel studs and nuts
Portal axles saves the day. By dropping the wheel relative to all mounting points you avoid the geometry problems, get real ground clearance under the diff that regular lift doesn't get you and they will often be geared to compensate bigger tires. Downsides are cost and fuel efficiency/maintenance
When I first bought my 80 series it was still on original Springs which had sagged 2 inches in the rear and a bit over 2 in in the front. It's still fit 33s easily with a 2-in sag. It now has a 2 inch lift and I have 33s for regular driving and I can chuck on a set of 35 if I want easily.
The other possible expense with upsizing is the new garage you have to build in the backyard to keep your pride and joy safe, cause it doesn't fit in the house garage anymore.
Great content, Mate! Had to lift, regear, body mount chop to put 33x12.5 MT on FJ Cruiser. We don’t have very many solid axle SUV options here in the states (unless you want a Jeep). A Land Cruiser 300 is a Lexus LX600 $100,000 vehicle. We don’t know much about the new 2024 Land Cruiser except it is a Prado.
One thing to also consider is wheel bearings. Bigger wheels=more weight that the bearings have to deal with which can lead to more early failure. More weight also means handling is effected for more daily driving on roads due to more unsprung weight
The j150 prado/gx460 will fit 33s with minor trimming if you go with 255/80/17. Also, lift doesn't actually create clearance. A lot of those lifts are going to include a bigger bump stop in order to prevent rubbing. It's all about wheel well clearance. The wrangler can fit 37s without a lift because it's crazy easy to create the additional wheel well space.
If you want toget technical tyre arent the only way to increase diff clearance, you could install portal axles. But the cost of that means its basically out of reach for most people
After watching this, I'm thankful that the Ford Bronco Sasquatch comes from the factory with both IFS and 35" tires. Nothing else to do to it after spending the $5000 price of that package. Too bad they won't be sending any of them to Australia, since you guys drive on the "wrong" side of the road. 😉
As a fellow perth boy you might have experienced the theft of wheels. On 2 occasions I have interrupted bastards stealing my muddies. I can't park on the street anymore. No one wanted my stockies.
In the US ifs vehicles are starting to have portal axles on them. Gets 3 inch lift and reduction gears in them and keeps the factory angles for suspension so the ifs or irs axles aren’t being stressed as bad from the angles. So basically it’s like factory ride on lifted vehicle. The only downside to them is the price 15-20k usd.
Meanwhile in America, here i am with a cut off wheel to my body mounts in my garage to fit 35x12.5s on my FJ Cruiser with out having to worry about the law. I didn't even weld a plate back in place. Love the looks and the performance over rocks or high speed desert running but it's been several years since I've installed 35s and now I'm starting to eyeball 37s. Can never be satisfied.
Hey Ron, I have one question,I drive a hilux rogue 33s with -10 offset at the moment. In fact I didn’t do anything to fit those except a 2”lift and front mud plate remove, and car isn’t rubbing anything. I don’t know either I did it wrong or just because the extra 140mm wheel track works??
Regarding the fuel efficiency info given in your "big wheel short" - did you allow for the odometer / speedo variation when changing from smaller to larger tyres - most people fail to realise the percentage difference in speed / distance travelled. ie. my ute - is about 4-6% under speed (over measuring by odometer) with standard tyres (~29s) and (pretty much) bang on the money with "not excessively massive" larger tyres . (29s are 8% under circumference vs 31.5s - for example - ratio of diameters and circumferences - with different sizes is "the same") Using the trip computer to tell anything really useful tends to be a mistake, unless corrected for the variation. (of course "gps correction" is the easiest to do without ?? calibrated rollers/ dyno/speed trap.)
You can do 95% of tracks in Australia on 33s and a 2 inch lift touring on 37s is the biggest waste of that hard earned you can do. I also just fitted 32.8 inch tyres to a stock height next gen ford ranger FYI no rubbing.
Being that I drive a 9th Gen Ford F-350 92-97 OBS truck and mine is diesel I don't see the need for going bigger than a 33 inch tire for daily driving/ mild trail riding. With 33's you will only need a 1-2 inch body lift or trim 4 inches out of the front and rear fenders and add pocket style tire flares. Bigger than 33's will be a headache requiring a 4-6 inch suspension lift depending on tire size.
On my Ram 2500 diesel I went from stock 31’s to 33’s to 35’s to 37’s. I noticed a big difference in smoothing out terrain going from 35’s to 37’s. I was surprised by the difference. It was worth it.
Thats one thing I do not miss about owning a Toyota. The amount of modifications you need just to fit 33s on most midsize Toyotas is just stupid. My Chevrolet had 33-inch tires as optional and can easily be fitted and clear everything from factory. Also, with the chevy trucks, it only takes a leveling kit to fit 35s. I currently have a 2.5-inch lift (50-60mm) lift with 33s and the 33s look freaking tiny, and I don't even have a large chevy. 33s with the 4.56 gear ratio, mechanical lsd, and a decent amount of suspension travel, make my truck so much better on and offroad with 33s than my fj cruiser was, which could barely handle the 33s when on the highway going speeds of 75mph (120kph). I currently have more than enough room to fit 35s without anymore modifcation, and I can use factory wheels with 35s because they wont rub. Either way, love your content, Ronny!!
I should add that with the shorter wheelbase chevy trucks, like my tahoe, 35s are also the largest tire you can fit unless you have more than 6 inches of lift due to the squared-off wheel wells that chevy (not so) brilliantly uses. The longer wheelbase pickup trucks and suburbans have the ability to cut the wheel wells to a wider size so you can fit 37s or 38s
Excelente video Roony, i have a question. I live in central america and have a N80 hilux with the 2.4 liter engine (2GD) with a 6 speed manual transmision. This version comes standard with tire size 225/70R17. Do i need to regear to fit a 265/65R17 tire? TIA
Great breakdown Ronnie, although I don't think the split between IFS and Solid Axle is the most accurate here - it seems to be more between full size and mid size vehicles, given you had to call out all the full size SUV's as being comparable to the Landcruiser for cost and modifications.
Fantastic video and in depth analysis of this issue, amazing how much people will spend to cost themselves more money in the long run. Sometimes just to cover up the deficit in their ability.
I've watched this channel grow and grow I'm not totally happy with the new format but totally understand what you gotta do to make your hobby a dream job that makes money...even though it's now apart of your job to product test and also sell due to commitments of sponsors...I like this video because you do show and are honest you can do mods on a budget and still be good reliable quality gear....and that you don't need to go all the way.....
toyota tacoma in the US can run 35s with just cutting, trimming and some hammering. lift isnt needed for IFS if you're actually wheeling cuz shock geometry stays the same, you're still going to rub same areas whether you're on a lift or stock height. Now if you go long travel IFS, thats a different story, tons of clearance then.
I put 33s in my GMC sierra and I regret it. It was good in some off road situations but very bad in braking. Anways, after 430km it is time to replace it. Maybe a Patrol y61 is a good option (they still sell them here).
Great info. Going up in tyre size will incorrectly make the vehicles calculation/display of fuel economy higher by the percentage increase in rolling diameter. (Physics) Lots of people do not realise this when commenting about increased tyre size and economy. Have you factored this in when saying your fuel economy is impacted?
Got the new 76 on order. Worth upgrading to 31-32 or should I just go for 33. Sounds like a happy median considering you get a large lift without having to do suspension upgrades.
Mate, wonder how many people realise too late that they have gone too far! Already down the rabbit hole and no looking back $$$$ 2inch and 33 seems very smart but can you still perve on your vehicle?? Great video again, keep it up 👍
Wow, the production quality going into these videos in getting insane. Nice work Ronny (and everyone behind the scenes). And as always, top notch advice. I run 31.5 Ko2s on my daily for all the reasons you mentioned. No extra costs, no headaches or reliability issues, and they still work off road when I need them to. Just switching the stock road tyres to decent A/Ts makes a world of difference without changing anything else.
- yep going 31.5" (17" rims)- just brings a 4wd ute up to design specs.
(I'm still wearing out a set of 29"s (AT) on 16" rims, I got with my ute - they still work, save the better set for trips. - eventually throw some more mud oriented tyres on the 16"s)
Wow, the production quality going into these videos in getting insane. Nice work Ronny (and everyone behind the scenes). And as always, top notch advice. I run 31.5 Ko2s on my daily for all the reasons you mentioned. No extra costs, no headaches or reliability issues, and they still work off road when I need them to. Just switching the stock road tyres to decent A/Ts makes a world of difference without changing anything else.
@@URAGAN-es9mg wtf is this bot shit?
Still very much enjoy and look forward to your next video. I started watching you 8 years ago, figured it was cheaper watching you than actually do it, well turns out you gave me the bug for off road! héhé! Bought a 2016 4x4 gmc canyon (1/4 ton) 2,8 diesel took me 2.5 years to desired state, 3'' lift and suspension upgrade, 33'' mud tires, steel back and front bumpers and completely boxed frame with skid plates and 15500lbs winch, aluminium cab that i made all the electrical set up (isolator, 2nd battery, distribution...) it was a way of life for 5 years until I got crank bearing issue, started a year and a half nightmare ended up loosing lots of $$$ now its behind me but do not regret the incredible experience it was and these amazing places we visited that would not have been accessible otherwise, cheers Ronnie!🍻
Honestly im abit old school i prefer the 33s on a 2" lift its definitely the sweet spot.
Fitting larger tyres, especially 35’s will also reduce braking performance - so brake upgrades are, in my opinion, also required
yaaa... I went through that... *oof* it was very exspensive upgrade to delete and modify stock 17" brakes to a race type system from abs. I ended up with stainless braided line ptfe after my third try of converting modern brakes to carburetor era style brakes with dual piston stock brakes. took 2years to sort out with professional help because of reverse engineering systems and merging old designs.
Went from 29.6 to 31.6 inch tyres on my 2010 dmax.
After adjusting for the tyre size in the fuel calculations. I use around 0.2 to 0.5L /100km more.
So well and truly worth it.
Also fit with no lift of trimming required.
A lot of us men (yes, men) need a giant project to get us away from our families and soak up our excess time before we wind up in the old folks home
Our main enemy is when there is nothing to do (boredom).
What excess time?
All 3 comments above are relatable 👌
Legend. Thanks mate. 33inch tyre with 2 inch lift on solid axle all the way
I’m contemplating a 2 inch lift to fit 37s.
Ronny, from the other side of the planet - I admire and appreciate your well presented information. All the best from Tennessee, USA.
265/70/R17 Maxxis Razor AT, P12 rims , 40 mm lift , airbag man also fitted to my 2023 fortuner gxl . The car went some of the places that i though no way we could get theres . Towing camper nearly 2 tons to get to off grid was abit nervous but we got there. That just show do you really need big massive tyres .
Yup, my Triton runs similar size tyres and lift, and I'm always surprised at the places it'll take me with a bit of careful line choice.
Another awesome video! The shot at 1:33 is WAY more work than most would have even noticed! The time-lapse split with Ronny talking. Great work team!
Not bad. Your video is pretty much the best, to explain the problems about changing the tyre size. Even I can understand it. 😊 My "BAIC BJ40 Rainforest Edition" (IFS) has 285/70-17 tires from the factory. That´s according to my tyre calculator a "33x11.22x17" tyre. Now I a running some Toyo-M/T tires. According to your conclusion (16:54") a 32" tyre is good enough for almost anything, and with 33" from the factory I´m already a bit higher than that. I have only changed the gear ratio from 3,45 to 3,88, and a "tuning box" to get a bit better acceleration. After watching your video I completely erased the slightest idea of changing the tyre size. With about 13-18 L/100 km the consumption is already tough enough.
Thanks a lot for this detailed clarification about tires. To be honest, I like the tough look of some 35 or 37 tires, but for me it´s not worth all the money and the work.
For years I already watch your videos and you gave a lot of good advice for some mods NOT to do with my car. Kepp on with your Hollywood-production videos. They are great.
Can’t believe how far this channel has come in the last few years! Awesome video!
That’s a lot of solid information there mate. It plays a lot into your vehicle much more than others think it’s does. The other issue you have to consider (different per state) is GVM. Yep bigger tyres robs you of your gvm the bigger you go, especially if you need to carry more fuel or a rear bar to carry that spare wheel on your wagon.
As obvious with my profile picture I own a ‘16 duel cab ranger, ideally it’s my jack-all-trades vehicle. It’s my daily, it’s my weekender, it’s my tourer, it’s my dream rig. I’m building mine up to 275/70/17 or 32.2” tyres with 2” lift, diff drop, new UCA and a GVM upgrade to have a rear bar and 122L tank. A bit much just to go that size but being its usage I can mildly justify it. However I can’t exactly justify cheaping out my camping gear on Kings drawers 😅
Built a 2022 Prado VX with a Lovells GVM upgrade @ 40mm. Considered 285/70/17s, but problematic (?). Advice was to go 18" rims with a lower ratio rather than drop a tyre size on 17s and end up with some obscure tyre spec that would be difficult to source - so based choice on 18s for tyre availability. Aimed for 285/65/18s (ROHs -12mm offset was a minimal change from OEM) but no go. Settled for 285/60/18s but that still required 30mm removed from panel under TJM bull bar to relieve space/mitigate rubbing at full lock. Probably need to sort out mud guards too (in time). UCAs centred well enough for now.
Uptake of all this: 31.6"/803mm tyres not quite where I'd wish to be and probably at minimum sidewall, but setup has proved to be perfectly fine and fuel economy good. Learned a lot and if had time again would get the build, rims and tyres at one spot with a Prado specialist that understood all the codependent elements better. At the time my advice was "siloed" and I was a bit naïve despite researching.
Hello from Indiana. I have a 2022 jeep wrangler jlu with a deisel. I'm running on an evo stage 2 defender with King shocks. Going on 1.5 years with this setup and it works great. Really like the content.
$$$$$$$😅
Don’t forget about increasing rotating mass Rhonny makes a huge difference for sapping power regardless of regearing. A huge point I think you missed with the 4 cylinder vs v8 towing vid. Anyone changing wheels on same tyres will tell you. I thought I had the handbrake on when I got steelies, then went back to factory lc70 alloys differences is incredible there would only be 5-10kg difference per wheel, but difference was enormous. I am surprised you did not notice when going to patriot wheels on your 79
As a tourer / overlander rather than a mountain climber I put 33's on the 300 Sahara with a 2 inch lift. Kept the OEM wheels. Control arms were changed. Same time did a GVM upgrade. Beefed up the suspension as added a lot of weight with bullbar, winch, rock sliders & bash plates. I have a rear bar on order but 6 month lead time. The car is now twin locked & I'd reckon it will go anywhere I would be game to take it. Some of the stuff I see you doing I'd never attempt.
For most overlanders--and off-roaders--a set of 33s will suffice on a front and rear locked rig. 35s will cost you in modifications to the vehicle and the 37s and 40s that Americans put on are often mainly for looks.
Wil my experience I find that 32 and 33 inch tires tend to be the preferred rand for many vehicles when it comes down to Touring and most 4WD situations. Pair that with the right suspension and you are pretty much set. Even some vehicles like.my 1993 WD21 have no problems doing most things with Factory 31's. I guess it really comes down to what you do and what you need for what to get.
Depends where you live. Most of my local tracks you physically won't be able to drive without atleast 35s due to the ruts being so deep
@@Jacobtheunwise has nothing to do with where you live, but where you travel when you think about it. Yes I am in Colorado, but if I travel to another state then it's going to matter more for the state I travel in vs where I live
I thought long and hard about my upgrade to my 105, and I’m shaking hands with myself after watching this. 2” lift and 33’s. She looks good and performs awesome. Only additional change was swapping out to an adjustable Panhard rod. Thanks for confirming I made a wise choice
And all these points sit to explain why I still run the stock size tyres on my 02 Pajero. I do have a 40mm lift so could go from 265/70/16 (30.6inch) to 33's without any other mods (as far as I am aware) but it is more wear and strain on my drive line, more fuel and in my opion not worth worrying about. I'm not out to rock crawl anyway so clearance generally is not an issue. I've had so many people tell me to go bigger but I don't feel the need. 33's in NSW with the 40mm lift is also the maximum legal without major mods requiring engineering. That would give me 2 inch suspension & 1 inch tyre lift matching the maximum 3 inch lift.
No offence I used to be subbed but most of the 4wding you put on your channel could be done in a X-Trail or RAV4, you basically only drive fire trails
@Jacobtheunwise that's because I'm not interested in the harder trails. I like to drive to places to see things not just to say I have done some difficult track. My content is not for everyone.
My manual px2 ranger was not as good to drive once I put on 33’s with new rims so I got the front and rear diffs from an auto ranger and that got it back close to stock gearing, pretty good! However, while I had that new rear axle out I couldn’t help but put on rear disc brakes and, because I had a rear axle from a px3 ranger, I had to get a patch cable to get the factory rear locker to work, all good still. While I was changing that front diff I couldn’t live without an elocker in there and that got me to a new switch panel in the interior, nice! Of course I couldn’t have it without a 2/12 inch lift and that really works best with adjustable upper control arms and while I was in there I thought why not do some nice super pro lower control arms and then you really need a wheel alignment from somewhere that understands how to set up those adjustable upper control arms . I felt like it would be wrong not to give the front brakes some love so upgraded rotors and pads went in too. Those stock brake lines looked suspiciously short now, so some longer stainless braided ones were best front and rear. And then I couldn’t help but install a diff drop, weld in (because they’re meant to be better on a ranger) and the aluminium bash plate over the front diff did need modification too 😂. Those 33 inch muddies were sticking out well past the guards so on went some good looking flares that definitely look better still with raptor coat tinted to the colour of the front grill on a wild track. Oh, I haven’t done the speedo correction yet….it’s close enough 😊
Nice, keep the moneybucket rolling down the road buddy 😉
Along with bigger tires, consider the added cost of body mount chop, regearing and eventually wear and tear of suspension components. Better to go for a stock size modern MT tire. Today they are far better on and off road and some have low noise as well.
Excellent Ronny! 35s were great clearance for the patrol, but the 33s feel so much better overall when handling the vehicle (less bounce, less lean, more stability, more power, etc.).
Maxxis Razr AT 235/85r16 on ROH Steel Rims are the perfect combination for me and my 78 series
I went with the biggest tire t could without any major mods. Went from a P255/70/r17 to a 285/70/r18. All I did was a 2" front leveling kit (ifs front) and a canned tune/speedo correction. That's it. It's a big 33" or a small 34" depending upon how you want to think of it. So in total. With the tires, alloy rims, leveling kit and tune. (And my labour) it cost about $3000. Anything else would be "invasive "
Hey buddy. I dropped a 2.5" lift into my LN106 'lux a couple of years ago as the very old 2" lift had sagged (and broken, as it turned out when I pulled the rear springs out) it's way back to stock. Stock tyres on them things were 29" outta the dealership. I had 31" boots on it then and after the lift it looked (to me at the time) a little silly. So I rocked down to my local tyre guy - Bridgestone Kalgoorlie for the win - we looked at it a bit, I wanted big tyres, he's like you won't like it, I'm like nah yeah cocko, he shrugs and rounded up some worn out 35", got them on rims, mounted them on my bus and I went for a wander out bush for half a day.
They were great offroad, fantastic even, and I had no issues at all with scrubbing or rubbing. That lift included a tailshaft spacer, extended brake lines, no need for a drop steering arm, I have full articulation all corners, good kit. Thing was on the highway they were, as expected, absolute shit. The LN106 don't make a lot of power to start with and these things were just sucking it out. Deflated for sandy stuff - even worse.
So back to the shop, he said told ya so cocko, yeah righto, some umming and ahhing, I rolled out of there with a set of Maxxis RAZR 265/75R16 MT772M's - 33" - as a kinda compromise. Same deal, great tyre and an effective total lift of 4.5 inches. And they have been a fantastic tyre - bloody awesome in fact - so long as you are not driving on the road. On the road, 10l/100km or worse when the rig is loaded up, squirrelly and being so much bigger, takes a lot of middle pedal to pull it up from speed.
Just because it can, does not mean you should. I'll drive these current tyres down to the plys like any good ole goldfielder, then flick 'em for some 31 inch tyres. I'll end up at 3.5" total lift - meh, big deal - and consumption and power back where it used to be, which was much better than this.
Nah, no turbo. The only better way to wreck a 3L motor is to drop all the oil out of it.
Awesome video once again mate.
My personal experience: GU Patrol coil cab, standard suspension handled 33 inch tyres with no rubbing noticed, 2 inch lift handled 35 inch tyres with minimal rubbing: this seemed to be the sweet spot, just springs and shocks upgraded.
I've now gone to a 3-inch lift and softer rates to try and increase flex, but got lots of rubbing in the guards when flexing fully loaded.
It's since escalated into a large list of suspension mods to make it all work.
Coils seem tricky to get right if you want good flex at low speed and bottoming resistance at high speed when touring/fully loaded.
As usual, Ronny makes great vids. Unlike other folks who claim regearing benefits fuel economy etc, the real advantage is just as Ronny said, retaining low range performance.
To quote the great James May : "keep it STANDARD"
33’s and a 2” lift for me because I almost never come across a situation where I would need more and the benefits of increased fuel range and reduced wear and tear are very attractive. Thanks for the videos Ronny..
And it keeps everything legal if you get pulled over . And insurance purposes
I purchased a Hilux 'N80' in the UK, I have to agree with this video as I wanted to run 33" M/T, I have purchased OME BP-51 with 2inch lift, OME UCA, Kaon diff drop, 17x9.0 ET0 wheels and after all that yes you can easily get 33"s on now.. but they still rub so I've now removed all the interior and dash (I mean everything) to modify the inner arches so I can actually get full articulation from the suspension with zero rubbing... its allot of work just for 33"s... I don't personally see how 35" on a Hilux are possible unless they are just for show and don't fully compress on the front... The other thing is the Hilux and 70series *new one* have same engine and I presume a similar auto gearbox, so bit confused how it could be said that IFS no to 33"s and non-IFS yes.. surely its the ratios that determine how well they will work. The hilux has 3.909:1 ratio, I read the new 70 series has 4.3:1 finals, so clearly if the Hilux was re-geared it would be same. No one in Australia will send me gears of the N80 Hilux as I was happy to re-gear mine but I think only 4.88:1 was available and I thought that was too much for 33"s.. but I could be wrong.. I worked out previously that 4.3:1 would be perfect.. but no one sells this ratio.. in the UK the 2.4ltr engine has a 4.1:1 and that might be what I do as a half way measure... Either way this thing is costing me a fortune.
You can do most tracks on 32's. Spending that much to do a few extreme tracks that you'll only every do once or twice in your lifetime seems a bit excessive. The best drivers I've seen over 30 years on the tracks look like they're in almost stock standard cars. Some of them have blown my mind, like the guy that easily did Spanish Steps at Newnes in a standard looking Prado after all these souped up utes were bashing and crashing their way up having all sorts of trouble. Learning how to drive and pick a line is a better cheaper option. It was a good video RD, thanks.
32-33 for mid size on 16 or 17 wheels. 33-34 for full size on 17 or 18 wheels.
If you think that you obviously don't do many hard tracks. You wouldn't even be able to drive most ruts on 32s without dragging a diff
@@Jacobtheunwise I've done most of the "name" tracks in 5 states mate. Roothy had 32's on Milo.
I've recently put on 275/70r17s (true 32) on my n80 and I reckon that's the limit for me. I've had to do some light trimming to the mud guards and that's it. I can easily see how a 33 would require so much more work. The larger you go, the more exponential the hassle is.
My 32s are a sweet spot and often get mistaken for 33s too!
Great vid. Very informative.
Would be nice to include 34s (285/75r17) in the comparison as this size is becoming more available with a couple of manufactires eg nitto, bfg, yokohama, offering some tyres in this size. Obviously, comments about availability apply, but tyres are getting much better and tougher these days
Also, note that tyre dimensions can vary between brands. For instance, a BFG runs small, so 33 (285/70r17) could fit in that brand where it wouldn't in a different brand.
To put a true 33 12.5 on my NP300 navara apart from suspension, which is obvious, was trim the inner gaurd a tiny bit, and I changed diff ratios to suit. The only other thing I want to do is a brake upgrade, but it stops fine now, it's really just for towing our van.
Big tyres use more fuel for sure but some people forget to factor in that with bigger tyres, the odometer will under read( without correction), thus making it seem like you’ve used more fuel. Compensating for this or using gps or a point to point comparison is the way to be more accurate
I could do 35's if I wanted to do some trimming. As a budget. To do it moderately, I'd need to re-gear (mainly as a drivablity preference like how your hilux loses 6th gear). But re-gearing is "cheap" (especially if you're mechanically inclined to do it at home) and easy as it's a "generic" upgrade. My truck runs factory at 3.42 gears, 3.73 gears can be found in a scrap yard/used if you know what to look for. The biggest expense would be braking... which thanks to GM, is also a factory option that can be done after the fact. But brakes would be a $5000 item (not counting the rims that would need to be a minimum of 18"(might be 20", I'm not certain). Plus the obvious few hundred to have the computer/speedo corrected. (I get that free as part of my original tune/speedo correction)
My old 90 series came with larger size tyres when we bought it. Looked cool, but when I dropped to standard tyre size it drove so much better. It felt happier.
If it had a much more powerful engine I think it would have soaked it up. Of course now I have a petrol 120 with somewhere around twice the power I don't want to go any bigger. This thing is thirsty enough.
Thanks Ronny - because I don’t rock hop, do sand slamming or deep water/mud exploring with my 2010 Hilux all I’ve done is fit white Sunraysia wheels including a spare and a set of Yokohama Geolandar ‘truck’ tyres still at 31” factory specs - no suspension issues, no drive line or acceleration issues with an insignificant change in fuel economy 10.5 l/100km average - I do have to fit wheel arch body kits (A$250 plus painting) to keep it legal in my state - the grip is so much better than my original factory A/Ts in all conditions and they’re wearing really well and very quiet - total wheel/tyre budget A$2200 fitted.
Got a 3500 Kg GVM upgrade on my PXIII Ranger with adjustable UCAs. Went from OEM wheels and tyres to a 17" with 33s (285/70/17). That's very close to a 2" lift, 1" on the body and 1" on the pumpkin. Happy with that because there's no intervention required for the drive train.
Think I'll stick with 32s on my IFS vehicles.
Very helpful Ronny.
Dream car for me would be a 90 series on 31" BFGs, factory alloys and a 1-1.5" lift. Nice and cheap with easy to find tires. But I wouldn't do anything as serious as Ronny.
Lot of work going into this video. Quality.
I've got a 2010 Cab Chassis Patrol, 3.0l, heavy steel tray, toolboxes, tools... Daily driver, use it for work everyday.
It needs a tune and probably a few engine mods and repairs just to get out of its own way not to mention tyres and other work... I guess fitting 33s with better steel rims is the way to go, stick some flares on the front and a 2-3" lift engineered with a GVM upgrade and we'll see if there's still money for a house in a couple years, lol.
Great video. The best way to save money is HAVE A PLAN. Don't start with 31's, then go to 33's then to 35's etc. Figure out what you want and build to it.
Great vid, another point is driving at highway speeds. I run 275/65r18 on my n80, and 6th gear is illusive. Long drives can become annoying as it will hunt between 5th and 6th. I’ll usually use the gear selector to lock it in 5th to preserve my sanity
This is one of the best videos I have seen from a 4wd channel. No jokes. Well explained and reasoning, plus awesome production. I think I’ll stick with my 33’s (which I’m sure you convinced me of in a video a few years ago 👌🏻)
Great video Ronnie on the brake down of the costs involved to do any of these mods, your pricing is in Australian dollars which are generally allot higher than there in North America, the process is all the same, some commenter said here in North America the big tires are for looks only, WRONG, they are used off road on a regular basis, 37's ,39's and 40 and 42's are that more more common nowadays, lots of over landers and off roaders using them now, even from GM you can buy a mid size truck Colorado or Canyon with 35's from the factory, you just have to pay the enormous price which is easily over 50k actually closer to 55-60k if you add options, the new Tacoma nice rig will start at 40 plus to get a decently equipped model that is before taxes or any extras we are still cheaper than Australia, the catch is allot of insurance companies now won't cover you at all or you have to pay an enormous separate rider policy almost equal to your annual insurance cost for the unmodified vehicle, Germany with the TUV laws you can't do any of this at all, people ask all the time and its a no go , I camp, canoe and hike lots of places for my photography hobby that a vehicle won't take me to anyways and it is still the experience at a lesser cost with the same results, and i have owned and sold loads of vehicles able to do all this and yes its fun and does cost a shitload of money, and i love tall sidewall tires, more ground clearance, better ride and they are only 1 inch taller so theres no major cost, not $56000.00 👍 I still love the look of these units and always thumbs up to the owners that use them as intended
I think you don't realize that we don't use the US dollar here bud, that's 56,000 AU dollars which comes to $36,500 American.
Lifts and bigger tires are completely legal in Germany, you just have to get them engineered and follow certain rules. My 80 series is on 36s with a 3" lift, all TÜV-approved.
Nice Vid Ronny and yep you are right had 35's on my patrol and hated them now have 285/33 drives better, more efficient and less effort to move
Excellent vid
Should be mandatory for every 4wd owner to watch.
One thing people don't understand when they don't re gear the engine runs at a lower speed. Most untrained people think this is a good thing. Wrong
Everything runs slower, your fan, oil pump, water pump even alternator and a.c. , however you are robbing your engine of air induction cycles through the engine. Expect high EGT not just because of the additional load, but you are effectively increasing your fuel to air ratio. Your brake mean effective pressure increases inside the cylinder putting more strain on head to block sealing integrity.
Also brakes will not work as well due to increase in rolling mass.
You are going down a rabbit hole moving up tyre size.
I was thinking a long time about 33s vs 35s inch wheels on my troopy. In the end I stayed with my 33 (285/17 r16). I love the look of the 35 (315/75 r16) but it would have cost too much and for traveling 285/75 r16 is hopefully easier to get
As I changed from All Terrain to mud terrain I took a slightly bigger tire. The Toyo Open Country is a bit bigger than the BFG, so in the end, its a good compromise 😊.
Thanks for that video! It confirmed my decision 😅
Tire size and how much you're willing to spend to fit them all comes down to what trails and obstacles you want to run. I've been happily wheeling everything in my area on 33s for 15 years. But now I want to finally check the Rubicon Trail off my bucket list. It's 35s or stay home so it's time to start cutting!
Dont forget the regular wheel bearing adjustments and reliability with 35 inch tyres
Thank you for this informative video. I have a manual MR Triton and as is, with after market 18" alloys and 30.5" all terrains performs great for what I do, mostly sand driving but occasionally it sees a bit of mud. I did watch your steel v alloy video and think I made the wrong choice. I think now a set of steel 16" (maybe 17"?) rims with 30.5" tyres would be the go for me, without any suspension or inner guard mods. That would certainly give me a bigger 'footprint' when pressures are down and certainly allow for some mild rock crawling, not that I'll be doing too much of that. It would be pretty easy to sell the alloys anyway. Cheers!
Wow! This is a well put together and informative video. Well done and thanks!
I love your content Ronny, always clear explanations and real life experience to share. The only thing is that not only tyres raise your axle, portal axles can also do that. Keep on the great content👏🏻
Awesome video! and the production level is off the roof! (I'm a long time follower).
One thing I would add is that, although changing the diff ratios can compensate for the difference in gearing and help with fuel efficiency. More roll resistance will still be evident...
I own a few 4x4 vehicles with tyre sizes ranging between 29" - 44". My 76 stays on 33", currently on a 2" lift and with rear track correction. but even without the lift and correction, 33's fit (almost) perfectly. It's just the sweet spot for these wagons in my opinion.
Great video! Some really good info here not a lot of people consider. I'd go 32" pizza cutters and negative offset rims on a 2" lifted IFS vehicle
Toyota got it right first time with the Troopy - comes with 225/95R16 - a tall skinny A/T tyre - 32.6" and incl steel rim only weigh 29kgs. Heaps of sidewall, airs down easily and takes little time to reinflate. Best fuel consumption. A set of 5 new ones costs $600 on Marketplace - owners taking them off their new vehicles. Bargain of the century. Just lacks Testosterone.
Great video! Got 255/ 85/ R16 ( narrow 33 s) on a LR defender flat deck, no mods needed. Agreed with all said 👍
Really good video.. except that on IFS suspension lift at any height doesn't clear tyres, as up travel remains the same regardless of lift, all you lose is down travel
For remote travel I want the weakest link in my driveline to the Traction of the tyre on the road better to break traction than anything mechanical! No one talks about wheel bearings and Wheel studs and the detriment effects of bigger and heavier tyres and wheels a seventy Series needs wheel bearings service every 20K or annually. Add big wheels and water crossing or spacers and I would replace bearings every year and carry a full set of wheel studs and nuts
Portal axles saves the day. By dropping the wheel relative to all mounting points you avoid the geometry problems, get real ground clearance under the diff that regular lift doesn't get you and they will often be geared to compensate bigger tires. Downsides are cost and fuel efficiency/maintenance
Great video - one missing thing - the 200 will need offset wheels for 33” (well in my case 32.7”) or larger.
Great video Ronny. Very informative.
When I first bought my 80 series it was still on original Springs which had sagged 2 inches in the rear and a bit over 2 in in the front. It's still fit 33s easily with a 2-in sag.
It now has a 2 inch lift and I have 33s for regular driving and I can chuck on a set of 35 if I want easily.
The other possible expense with upsizing is the new garage you have to build in the backyard to keep your pride and joy safe, cause it doesn't fit in the house garage anymore.
I did a 2 inch lift on pb51 shocks 33inch tires baha boss 17 rims . Unbelievable it’s amazing. 76 series
Great content, Mate! Had to lift, regear, body mount chop to put 33x12.5 MT on FJ Cruiser. We don’t have very many solid axle SUV options here in the states (unless you want a Jeep). A Land Cruiser 300 is a Lexus LX600 $100,000 vehicle. We don’t know much about the new 2024 Land Cruiser except it is a Prado.
One thing to also consider is wheel bearings.
Bigger wheels=more weight that the bearings have to deal with which can lead to more early failure.
More weight also means handling is effected for more daily driving on roads due to more unsprung weight
The j150 prado/gx460 will fit 33s with minor trimming if you go with 255/80/17. Also, lift doesn't actually create clearance. A lot of those lifts are going to include a bigger bump stop in order to prevent rubbing. It's all about wheel well clearance. The wrangler can fit 37s without a lift because it's crazy easy to create the additional wheel well space.
I’m totally with you. I’m the lone guy with 33’s on my JKU, but I’m not a rock crawler, I’m an overlander.
If you want toget technical tyre arent the only way to increase diff clearance, you could install portal axles. But the cost of that means its basically out of reach for most people
35" illegal on most 4wd's in Queensland. You can go 50mm more from standard.
After watching this, I'm thankful that the Ford Bronco Sasquatch comes from the factory with both IFS and 35" tires. Nothing else to do to it after spending the $5000 price of that package. Too bad they won't be sending any of them to Australia, since you guys drive on the "wrong" side of the road. 😉
But they get the ranger raptor for like two years before us
As a fellow perth boy you might have experienced the theft of wheels. On 2 occasions I have interrupted bastards stealing my muddies. I can't park on the street anymore. No one wanted my stockies.
In the US ifs vehicles are starting to have portal axles on them. Gets 3 inch lift and reduction gears in them and keeps the factory angles for suspension so the ifs or irs axles aren’t being stressed as bad from the angles. So basically it’s like factory ride on lifted vehicle. The only downside to them is the price 15-20k usd.
Y62 for me with 295s (34.5 inch) was just zip tying the inner guards back.
Meanwhile in America, here i am with a cut off wheel to my body mounts in my garage to fit 35x12.5s on my FJ Cruiser with out having to worry about the law. I didn't even weld a plate back in place. Love the looks and the performance over rocks or high speed desert running but it's been several years since I've installed 35s and now I'm starting to eyeball 37s. Can never be satisfied.
Just did the same to my fj in Australia but I welded the plate. FTP.
Hey Ron, I have one question,I drive a hilux rogue 33s with -10 offset at the moment. In fact I didn’t do anything to fit those except a 2”lift and front mud plate remove, and car isn’t rubbing anything. I don’t know either I did it wrong or just because the extra 140mm wheel track works??
Anyone can help me with it?
Regarding the fuel efficiency info given in your "big wheel short" - did you allow for the odometer / speedo variation when changing from smaller to larger tyres - most people fail to realise the percentage difference in speed / distance travelled.
ie. my ute - is about 4-6% under speed (over measuring by odometer) with standard tyres (~29s) and (pretty much) bang on the money with "not excessively massive" larger tyres . (29s are 8% under circumference vs 31.5s - for example - ratio of diameters and circumferences - with different sizes is "the same")
Using the trip computer to tell anything really useful tends to be a mistake, unless corrected for the variation. (of course "gps correction" is the easiest to do without ?? calibrated rollers/ dyno/speed trap.)
You can do 95% of tracks in Australia on 33s and a 2 inch lift touring on 37s is the biggest waste of that hard earned you can do. I also just fitted 32.8 inch tyres to a stock height next gen ford ranger FYI no rubbing.
Being that I drive a 9th Gen Ford F-350 92-97 OBS truck and mine is diesel I don't see the need for going bigger than a 33 inch tire for daily driving/ mild trail riding. With 33's you will only need a 1-2 inch body lift or trim 4 inches out of the front and rear fenders and add pocket style tire flares. Bigger than 33's will be a headache requiring a 4-6 inch suspension lift depending on tire size.
Can I put 33' on 5th 4runner without any modifications?
On my Ram 2500 diesel I went from stock 31’s to 33’s to 35’s to 37’s. I noticed a big difference in smoothing out terrain going from 35’s to 37’s. I was surprised by the difference. It was worth it.
Thats one thing I do not miss about owning a Toyota. The amount of modifications you need just to fit 33s on most midsize Toyotas is just stupid. My Chevrolet had 33-inch tires as optional and can easily be fitted and clear everything from factory. Also, with the chevy trucks, it only takes a leveling kit to fit 35s. I currently have a 2.5-inch lift (50-60mm) lift with 33s and the 33s look freaking tiny, and I don't even have a large chevy. 33s with the 4.56 gear ratio, mechanical lsd, and a decent amount of suspension travel, make my truck so much better on and offroad with 33s than my fj cruiser was, which could barely handle the 33s when on the highway going speeds of 75mph (120kph). I currently have more than enough room to fit 35s without anymore modifcation, and I can use factory wheels with 35s because they wont rub. Either way, love your content, Ronny!!
I should add that with the shorter wheelbase chevy trucks, like my tahoe, 35s are also the largest tire you can fit unless you have more than 6 inches of lift due to the squared-off wheel wells that chevy (not so) brilliantly uses. The longer wheelbase pickup trucks and suburbans have the ability to cut the wheel wells to a wider size so you can fit 37s or 38s
35s and a 2 inch leveling kit! That's what I run on my 07 tacoma! Regear, twin locked makes a hell of a time!
Excelente video Roony, i have a question. I live in central america and have a N80 hilux with the 2.4 liter engine (2GD) with a 6 speed manual transmision. This version comes standard with tire size 225/70R17. Do i need to regear to fit a 265/65R17 tire? TIA
Great breakdown Ronnie, although I don't think the split between IFS and Solid Axle is the most accurate here - it seems to be more between full size and mid size vehicles, given you had to call out all the full size SUV's as being comparable to the Landcruiser for cost and modifications.
Fantastic video and in depth analysis of this issue, amazing how much people will spend to cost themselves more money in the long run. Sometimes just to cover up the deficit in their ability.
agree 100%, even putting 33's on the hilux cost a lot to do it properly!
Very nice blend of the tire deflation timelaps and Ronny talking in real time😮
I've watched this channel grow and grow I'm not totally happy with the new format but totally understand what you gotta do to make your hobby a dream job that makes money...even though it's now apart of your job to product test and also sell due to commitments of sponsors...I like this video because you do show and are honest you can do mods on a budget and still be good reliable quality gear....and that you don't need to go all the way.....
toyota tacoma in the US can run 35s with just cutting, trimming and some hammering. lift isnt needed for IFS if you're actually wheeling cuz shock geometry stays the same, you're still going to rub same areas whether you're on a lift or stock height. Now if you go long travel IFS, thats a different story, tons of clearance then.
I put 33s in my GMC sierra and I regret it. It was good in some off road situations but very bad in braking.
Anways, after 430km it is time to replace it. Maybe a Patrol y61 is a good option (they still sell them here).
Great info.
Going up in tyre size will incorrectly make the vehicles calculation/display of fuel economy higher by the percentage increase in rolling diameter. (Physics)
Lots of people do not realise this when commenting about increased tyre size and economy. Have you factored this in when saying your fuel economy is impacted?
ive put the measuring tape away and im going from 33's back to 31s. The extra 15mm clearance is not worth the loss of power towing
Got the new 76 on order. Worth upgrading to 31-32 or should I just go for 33. Sounds like a happy median considering you get a large lift without having to do suspension upgrades.
Very informative video thanks Ronny. You didn't mention the reduced braking performance. I had o do a brake upgrade going up in tyre size
Mate, wonder how many people realise too late that they have gone too far! Already down the rabbit hole and no looking back $$$$
2inch and 33 seems very smart but can you still perve on your vehicle??
Great video again, keep it up 👍