Bigger Tires, Lift Kit, or Skid Plate

Recently bought a 2019 double cab long bed, and she is looooooong long long. It has stock 18" wheels on it, but I'm slightly concerned about ground clearance once summer rolls around and I start taking it to the mountains more (I live in denver, CO). I don't do any crazy off roading, just whatever is necessary to get to various trailheads (trying to do all the 14ers and them some other side quests) throughout the state. This is also my daily driver so I need to not destroy it, and I'm not sure the best way to protect it. I think the bigger tires and/or getting it lifted would probably look the "coolest" (not a huge deal to me) but since it's also my daily driver I'd rather not be getting 10 mpg if possible (even though my daily commute is only a few miles). Would it maybe be best to put a skid plate on it and just huck and pray?

 

Read over the 2.5 gen mods and lift forums to learn about and decide what you might like. Setups, pros/cons, pics, details on MPG and much more can be learned easily.

 

lift and tires don't necessarily mean 10mpg. I'm lifted, with wheels and tires, and loaded down with steel and a RTT and I've never dropped below 15mpg on a tank even with a lot of city driving

 

Ope, sorry. Still relatively new here and learning my way around. Thanks for sharing this! I'll go check it out

 

Wht you describe is going to be fine, not doing any major crawling…
Go up a size in tire, throw a level kit /coilovers
Retain the stock skid plate, the 19 was wider than the 20/21.

 

For the type of off road driving you are describing you’d be fine stock. I’ve beat my truck pretty hard and still haven’t upgraded the skids. My OEM splashguard looks like someone ran it over, but it’s still there and I’ve never taken damage because I didn’t have real skids. If you’re going to start putting armor on, I’d look at sliders first. Might need custom fabricated with that long bed!

Lifts and larger tires will definitely reduce fuel economy. It’s all a compromise. I average about 12-13 mpg with 35’s and a 3” lift.

 

Did you move to CO from the midwest?

 

Same truck. You really need to go and assess before making a decision.

But here's my rationale. I don't DD the truck, nor depend on it for anything, so I can be more liberal with mods. Saying that, and knowing I wanted light off-road capability, you have to put in the biggest tires for the fireroads/trails you're planning. I went 37s because while it was early days for Tundras fitting them when I tackled the job, I saw a few other guys on here had successfully done so. That size tire makes a surprising improvement for DCLB capability but you're back to all of the tradeoffs you already know. I did make a skid plate and with the light driving I've done it's yet to take a hit. A lift generally goes with bigger tires but it doesn't have to be terribly tall if you're willing to BMC and find the right rim offset.

Check the link in my sig to reference everything I'm trying to summarize.

 

hell yeah another long bed bro. I'm throwing some 17 inch wheels with +25 offset on, and based off reading through almost all the 17 inch wheel and tire posts here, sounds like 285/75/17s will fit on stock suspension with minor trimming. maybe the 30 minute drive home after install will do that for me. will get some pics and make a thread when done