If you are just going for the looks; as someone else posted, just limit the uptravel and cut up the body a little bit. With the gas prices being so high, you might consider re-gearing the front and rear diff, so you can push those 38" tires around a little more easily.

Just an opinion.

Lets see some shots when you get it done.

 

x2...drive sensibly people! run them big tires!
but if its for show why have them?

 

I'm not bashing noobs...I'm speaking from experience of seeing tons of these type of "how much lift do i need?" threads. Spending the kind of money it will take to run 38s on IFS will end up being a waste if you're just going to go to a solid axle later. Don't waste your money on an "appetizer". I'm all for you doing what you want with your truck, but there's no reason for something so absurd. Would it be unbearably painful for you to wait, and save up the money to do it right the first time?

I'm assuming you're probably going to do this anyway. So....
First thing you need to think about is that you're going to have to regear to run 38's. You'll burn up the transmission, especially if it's an auto trying to turn those tires on stock gears. I've seen this happen, regearing for such a large tire is a MUST. The problem is, the lowest gear for the rear's I've heard of that is widley used in these toyota axles is a 5.71:1 ratio, which with an automatic transmission and 3.0 will still probably not be low enough, and we're not ready to swap axles yet right? You could get by with the 5.71s but It wouldn't be ideal. Since you're just using this as a street rig, you're not goin to need lockers, but....if you ever decided to go off road, you'll eventually want them. And you'll end up paying for the labor a second time if you have it geared and then go back and have lockers installed. We're looking at 300-500 bucks to buy the parts and have the gears installed for F/R.

Second, you're probably going to need to upgrade your steering. You're axles will be ok since you aren't going to wheel, so 4wd won't be used anyway. I'm not sure on what steering upgrades you'll need, but you're going to be putting a huge increase in strain on the steering system. I figure you could spend over 100 for steering stuff, not counting failure of parts you don't replace. Again, I'm not really sure about all of it, and you may be fine with stock parts, but be prepared for premature wear and trouble from this area.

Third, you have to think about how much 38 inch tires are going to cost. My 31's cost between 500-600, mounted and balanced....You're probably looking at around $1000 bucks, not including the wheels you'll have to buy, so we'll just say $1500, for a easy to work with number. And we'll say that these tires last 25,000 miles. If you only have this one truck think about how long they will last, a year, maybe 2 if you drive very much at all...

Next, let's think about how we're going to fit those big tires and wheels...Well we've got a body lift, at least I believe you do. Now we're gonna buy a braket lift for the front that's 4 or 5 inches....they may make larger, I don't know since I would never buy one for my torsion bar-ed vehicle. Let's just assume you need to spend 600-700 dollars on suspension work to get it high enough to fit the tires, and remember that now it probably rides like a 19th century wagon.

So now you've put 3000 plus dollars into your truck that is just for street use and to look "cool", and It gets poor mileage, won't go fast at all, rides pretty poorly, and the tires aren't gonna last very long, and I believe you said you were in college....so you've got alot of expenses to worry about there too. So you've spent all this money on a vehicle that serves very little purpose, and is still only worth 2 or 3 grand resale, and it's pretty incapable of doing anything.
So do you even have 3000 bucks laying around to throw towards this "appetizer"? If you do then fine, you could do it, but why...most of that stuff will not carry over, or last long enough to be used after you swap in the Solid axle and upgrade the rear.

Here's what would be the best idea. Be patient, and save up until you have 6000 dollars plus to blow on this truck. You'll probably need around that much to do all the upgrades you probably plan on doing. So if you did the stuff you want now, you'll end up spending around 9000 on this truck that's worth 2-3....So, I believe that you should wait, save up and do it all properly and the best possible way at once so that you can save yourself a few thousand bucks, and spend it having a good time or put it towards school. No need to be in a hurry, you've got plenty of time to mod. You're not gonna use what you plan on doing anyway, so it is my advice that you don't waste your money now, and do some more studying and research, and think about it long and hard before you start diving into huge projects.

Sorry I offended you.

 

My final words, promise.

Stock 7.5" ring & pinion gears = Too weak for reliability with any tire 35 or larger. I have only run 35s off-road, many front differential failures. I'm very careful now, but still expect to hear things snap when I'm hammerin' it up a rough trail. I don't know everything about what gears are tougher than which as far as ratio. I won't go back to 4:10s, they where way to easy to chew up. The 4:30s I got in now seem to be handling the load better, they've outlasted the 4:10s under the same type abuse many times over. They were tough enough to survive mashing out my side gears in the front axle, but how long can they hold?

Steering components, I just replace/fix them as needed. Frequently.

Do the 38s, then you tell us what breaks/bends. Make me change my mind. Good luck!

 

Bob believe me you have not offended me. no harm no foul. I was speaking for those that do actually get bashed for asking a question that most folks know the answer to. (I am a moderator on another site, so i see it alot) Like I said I have a project in mind but I am smart enough to listen to fact and reason and include that in my decision. if indeed it is going to cost me 3000 dollars I will not get back then I may just wait. Most of the really good looking lifted trucks are SAS'd and leaf converted andyways. I guess I can be patient. I mean even the people that are showing support are still saying "let me know what breaks" So I guess it is just save and swap in the future then. I mean it looks nice on 33's and BL. It turns heads already around here, I might just get it painted then. I have done some addition myself and I think I might be able to get an axle pretty cheap around here. If thats possible then I could buy all the components piece meal, and put it all together in a week or two. So I guess the concensus is that you could run 38's but in addition to more lift. Steering and gearing must be done. I can see how that could be costly. I think I will let someone else do it.

 

Mudhippy - are you locked in the front? Is is my strong opinion that lockers HELP the diff in the kind of wheeling you do... when you're in the mud and having to skinny it to keep moving and wheels come off the ground and then slam down you transmit A LOT more shock with an open diff than you do locked...