I have been searching online for awhile now in regards to a question I have, and it seems the more that I search and read, the more unsure I become as to discovering an answer.

My question involves whether the 89-95 stock IFS (along with other stock front end components) can handle 37" tires. My searches for answers online (multiple toyota truck forums) result in a near 50/50 divided outcome. So I am posting this question here in hopes of reading replies from anyone who may have actual personal experience (or knows first hand from a personal acquaintance) if these model year trucks with IFS can handle these sized tires. And if the result was bad, what part failures or issues resulted from 37" tires? And is there a heavier duty part that solved the issue? I intend to keep the IFS in place and not SAS it for a few reasons, so this question applies only to IFS trucks of course. I have given thought to it and have settled on keeping it IFS.

One thing which I believe will allow me to safely run 37" tires on my truck (1990 extended pickup 4x4) will be my intended usage for the truck which I am hoping will prevent me from experiencing any part failures or issues. My intended use for going with 37" tires is to get me through deep snow when my primary vehicle (this truck is my winter/backup truck) will not be able to. I have no intentions of ever wheeling hard with this truck, and wish only to be able to get through deep snow for work or emergencies. I may also rarely use it for very light trails as well. Emphasis on very light trails.

So with regards to my intended usage for this truck, I would so greatly appreciate any feedback/suggestions/opinions and especially any feedback on anyone who personally runs or has ran 37" tires on their truck or knows someone who has. I have searched this question for awhile now and become more confused with each search. Hopefully with listing my intended usage for this truck here, I may be able to find the answers which I couldnt find so far through my searches. Thanks a lot.

 

I've read an article somewhere that the toy ifs front ends can handle 35-37in tires. One question though do you really need 37's to get where you need to go?

 

Thank you very much for your reply JasonYota.

I have chosen to go with 37's for the piece of mind that a larger tire may bring me for traveling deep snow. I have debated with myself for months as to choosing either 35's or 37's, and I have decided to go with 37's provided it wont cause major issues with regards to my intended usage for the truck which will be very light usage and no hard wheeling of any kind.

Thanks again for your reply!

 

JasonYota, do you perhaps remember if that article which you refer to was an article by Petersons on Toyota IFS setups? I just found a Yotatech post here dated back from 2006 where someone mentioned a Peterson article which praised the Toyota IFS as being very strong and capable of handling 37 inch tires. Just wondering if you recall it being an article by Peterson. Wish I could find that original article, but so far all I can find is a post about the article. Just wondering if that is what you were refering to. Also hoping they were talking about the 3rd gen toyota IFS. Thanks again.

 

Yea it was Petersons. I believe I found it on the Internet

 

Thank you sir! Do you recall if they were discussing the 3rd gen pickup truck which my 1990 truck would fall under? Thanks.

 

They can handle it, but just realize you will most likely be doing a lot of maintenance to keep the steering parts in check.
Idler arms and tie rods will go quickly.
Since you won't be wheeling hard, I'd say you probably won't have to worry about the strength of the CV's.

 

Want to say it covered the 86-95 ifs.

 

From what I see it seems these bigger tires do cause extra wear on the power steering pumps.

For snow tall skinny tires are the best.

 

mis-post

 

I thought wide was best for snow? For flotation?

 

When I lived in AK I knew a guy who had ditch witch tires (short and very wide) mounted on his 3rd gen Toy pickup. I think the truck was otherwise pretty much stock. He lived off the maintained road system and used the truck for getting back and forth to a maintained road over (deep) packed snow during winter and bad mud during breakup. I don't think it was really drivable / legal as a street vehicle, and I'm not sure what wear issues he had, if any.

 

Flotation yes, but are you sure you want to float? Or would you rather have your truck dig down and find the hard surface to get traction? I guess it all depends on what sort of road conditions you'll be faced with. If you'll be driving on a road with even as much as a foot of snow, I think you'd be more impressed with say a 33x9.50 tire than a 37x12.50.

 

As long as the maintenance is kept up, you should be ok.

 

It's totally possible to pull this off, but why not just stay with a more moderately sized tire under 35" and instead invest your money in traction devices/lockers and/or gears? 37" tire isn't going to help you at all when you're spinning single tires from open diffs. Plus, do you have enough lift to clear a 37 or are you going to use a cutoff wheel?

 

My friends up north run 33 9.5 or 32 9.5 with moderate success. A good snow tire plus 4Hi will do wonders. Add snow chains, bit of weight in the rear, and your truck won't even try to slide off the road. 37s are useless unless you're driving through crazy deep snow banks or something..

 

Said no one ever.

 

Hahaha, I'm sorry! In the context of average snow use, yes. Everything else? Not at all.

 

I'll keep that in mind, thanks a lot Scuba. Great info.

 

Thanks for the replies everyone, I really appreciate it.