Dobinsons shocks & springs, JBA OffRoad front upper control arms, 1" spacers with stock wheels, Toyo open Country A/T 275/65/18.

Really frustrated at this point. Installed the tires on stock suspension about a 7 months ago knowing I would be lifting it when it came due to replace the suspension. Did some trimming, still had rubbing issues though. Figured the lift would solve the rubbing problems up front.

Installed the shocks and springs. Still had some rubbing. Originally ordered Freedom OffRoad upper control arms, but they had shipping delays and after 3 weeks still couldn't give me an arrival date. Canceled the order and ordered some from JBA. Got here in under 2 weeks. Got them installed and got the truck aligned and now it seems there is even more rubbing. Trimmed the rear running boards more, cut out the front bottom portion of the fender liners, but the wind noise is horrible now. Fronts still have some rubbing with more rubbing on lean in while cornering. I'm really not sure what to do at this point. I'm looking at moving down to 17" wheels and tires, but really didn't want to spend the money on new wheels right now. Plus the Toyo's are kind of sketchy in the rain. Also, the radiator started leaking and failed the pressure test at the dealer when I took it to get aligned. Ordered an all aluminum radiator for $300. If I'm going to do drain the coolant, may as well replace the water pump, hoses, thermostat and replace the gasket known for failure under the intake. Plus there's an oil leak at the front of the motor I'm going to have tackle next year. The leather on the front seats are really showing their age and need replaced (thanks Lexus for choosing almost white leather). All this at 137,000 miles. My 100 series Land Cruiser went over 160k miles and needed nothing aside from timing belt/water pump and spark plugs.




- End Rant

 

Ordered the same size tires assuming Toyo AT3.
What tire would be considered better for the rain?
Also waiting for my Dobinson 2.5 front and 1.75 rear.
What specs on your lift? Looks great btw.

 

Lift is the basic Dobinsons load with level option for the front. Ordered the shocks and springs from Apache OffRoad and got them in less than a week.
Upper control arms are from JBA Off-road direct and quality is excellent.
Install went smooth aside from one bolt for the rear track bar where it attached to the axle. Axle shifted to the right 3/4" after the shocks and springs were on and I had to spend $50 for a heavy duty ratchet strap and axle loop just to move it over and get the bolt lined up.
Tires are Open Country A/T that I picked up for $500 from a guy who only drove on them for less than a month.
Pretty much decided I'm going to downsize to 17" wheels and tires. Looking at a tire with more directional siping in the tread pattern instead of a true block pattern with a full AT tire.

 

Do you have wheel spacers? 99% of people have very little to no rubbing (myself included) with 275/65/18's (stock wheels).

 

1" spacers all around. I'll pull them off tonight and see if it makes a difference

 

Looks Great! Does the 275/65/18 fit in the spare tire location? Do you have hitch? Have you had any problems since adding this size? Thinking about going to this size as well. I just need the spare to fit with my class IV hitch.
Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thank you

 

Did you ever get the 275/65/18 to fit in the spare tire location with hitch? I have a class IV factory hitch on my 2011 GX and wanting to do the same tire size. Any feedback is greatly appreciated

 

I have stock wheels and rims. Added a hitch and had issues fitting the full size spare. Had to deflate the spare a little,

 

When I bought our 275's i didn't have enough info to validate if one would fit in as a spare, so i just got 4 tires, if we get a flat that cant get fixed i'll just have it towed and buy new tires, knock on wood but we have had luck so far. when we need new tires i'll probably keep the best of the 4 on the vehicle and stuff it on the spare wheel. We also don't have a hitch on ours.

 

Great thread with a lot of information. I am currently on trd off road wheels with 265/70r17 Falken wildpeaks stock suspension. Have some rubbing in reverse and at full lock but I have not done any trimming yet. Have the side steps removed since I have slee sliders. The spare fit deflated new and inflated after 5k miles.

Has anyone tried running 285/75r17s? Toyo has them in C rating and was looking at them for my next set. I really like the 255/85r17s but they only come in E rating which seems too stiff.

 

Sounds like a nice setup. Would you be able to post some pics of your GX and the tires/wheels so we can check it out?

 

Here are a couple recent pics from a trail nearby. I am sorry I can't find a regular driveway picture. I am on IG as @trailadventurz where I got more pics and videos of how this performs offroad with a stock suspension.

 

I was preparing to purchase spacers for my Lexus GX460 tire upgrade however, after installing the Michelin Defender LTX 275/65 R18s - spacers seem much less necessary. The Michelin Defender physically and visually fills the wheelwell quite well with no rub. Very pleased with the performance.


Michelin Defender LTX

Installed.

 

@JBowers Looks so good! Did you also purchase a spare in the same size? If so, was it able to fit underneath?

 

Believe it or not, my tire guys recommended keeping my old spare because it was unused and would only be on/off for short term usage during flats.So it saved me $100+.