Upgrade suspension for towing.

Hello all!

I am going to be towing a good bit with my 07 tundra that currently has stock suspension, wheels, tires and around 165k miles on it.

I am at the point where I will need to get new tires in the next few months so I figured it would be a good time to upgrade suspension and level my truck so I can possibly fit slightly larger tires on it before buying new tires.

I don’t know the exact weight of the trailers I will be pulling, but I do know they will be close to the limit of what you can tow with a Tundra.

What I would like to know, is what I should go with to upgrade my suspension?

I have heard a lot about Bilstein being the way to go, but not sure what setup I should go with?

I am pretty sure that I will also want to put airbags on it, but I am also not sure about that.

Like I said I also want to put on slightly larger tires, but nothing too extreme, just something to give it a slightly more aggressive look. Possibly 295/70R18?

So basically I really have no clue what to do to my truck so I would love everyone’s input on it!

Also as a side note, I don’t have a ton of money to dump into it, and I am planning on doing the suspension myself if it’s doable.

Thanks!!

 

I’m no expert, but a few thoughts, larger tires are going to change your final drive ratio giving you a little less towing power unless you also change the trucks rear gearing. If the tires are only a little taller it may be a mute point.
I use air bags and I am very happy with them, allows handling the tongue weight without having heavy duty springs all the time if the towing is intermittent.

 

I’m with ColoradoTJ. You have a few very very opposite demands.

You want to tow near the tundra’s max, but don’t want to spend a ton modding the truck.
Big tires and towing means you need to regear. That’s expensive.

If this were me, i would just get some nice tires in stock size, do the bilsteins on setting 1 and put the rest into the trailer.

 

Yup. Load distributing hitch (I think there may be a more proper technical name).

 

I meant put the rest of the $$$ into buying the trailer

 

Depends on how much is left over. Might need the trailer to haul around the cash!

 

Good LRE tires. Not mud tires. Cooper AT3 XLT is what I would go for. 265-70-18. TRD sway bar. Airbags. Brake controller. BW GN hitch and GN trailer for 10K. Make sure to have a LRE spare tire and wheel for the truck. Put your truck spare with a floor jack in trailer.

 

Thank you everyone for your input! This is exactly why I come here. I am going to be pulling a 14” dump trailer quite a bit, I already have the trailer so no need to save money for that.

 

It is for personal use.

 

I run 35x12.5x18 tires on a 6" lift on my truck. I live in a very " flat " state Indiana but I have no issues pulling my camper. Close to 7500# loaded just this weekend . I was watching my gages and running at 50mph was in the 1500 to 2000 rpm range. Like others have said is it the " best no but these truck have the power to do so. If you just level and a little bigger I dont think you will have any issues. Post picks when it's done.

 

So if I am going with the Bilstein shocks what is going to be the best setup for towing? 6112/5160 combo? Or is there something better? I really don’t have a clue about this so suggestions are very much appreciated!