2017 LC Upgrades: Order of Operations Questions (1 Viewer)

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Feb 20, 2013
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I have a new to me 2017 LC 200 with a leveling kit and 33” KO2s. I have several things in mind for upgrades on the vehicle, but need some help deciding the order of operation for them.

Rigged, notice sag--same for lighter trailer loads as well:

VhNQDFB.jpg


Major Uses of Truck, in order of most use:
  1. Daily driving in large metro areas;
  2. Family weekend ranch trips, driving on washboard caliche roads usually with light trailer—approximately 3000 Lbs.;
  3. Seasonal hunting trips, lots of gear and 17’ trailer with UTV. Encounter mud, rocks and some water crossings; and,
  4. Yearly family vacations, long distance driving, etc., but would like to rent and pull large travel trailer for extended range travel.

Planned upgrades:
  1. I want to upgrade the tires and add airbags or other suspension components to get rid of the towing sag;
  2. New tires. The KO2s don’t balance well, but I do like their offroad performance;
  3. Suspension upgrades to Icon, OME or other for increased performance offroad, towing, etc.
  4. Long range gas tank addition. See here: Long Range America aux fuel tanks
  5. ARB Twin onboard compressor.
  6. Bumpers, winch, dual battery system.

Questions about order of operations:

  1. I’d like to take the rake back to OEM and fix the sag in the towing. Do I just remove the leveling kit and add airbags to the stock suspension? Proper towing is probably my main concern now, but I want to future proof any solution so I can pull rated weight.
  2. If I’m going to do any major suspension upgrades, is there something that fixes the rake and sag together? With a trailer, the LC is slightly nose high and it creates some low frequency buffeting at speed that’s annoying.
  3. What tires are recommended for this mixed use that are premium quality, but don’t suck offroad? With my 4Runner, I only had Michelin LTX A/T2s on there. They were not aggressive, but excellent tires.
  4. Is there a smaller spare tire option that someone has found if I need to move my spare to the bumper or cargo area? I’m thinking of a Truck sized “donut” like you would see in a compact car spare. There are two options for the Long Rang fuel tank, one that displaces the spare or one that is half the capacity.


Thanks in advance!
 
1. Keep the spacers! They do more than level, adding 1" to the overall suspension travel by adding droop travel
2. Easiest fix is to add a 20mm spring spacer to the rear coils to add back a bit of rake and a nice mild 1" overall lift. All without affecting stock suspension performance and ride. Add in an airbag if you feel like you want added adjustable load support for really heavy loads or really heavy trailers.
3. I think you might find this info from a professional tire tester useful. Take this link to find more insightful info relative to your KO2s.
JOE BACAL
2 days ago
@Robert Haven After looking at my data and what seems to be important to you, below is a top 3 list of tires on how they performed in comparison. I can tell you that you will be hard pressed to find all areas in one tire. You have trade off's like the aggressive lugs and outer appearance. The Toyo AT3's in P-Metric may not meet your expectations on a cosmetic outer look since they are a bit more mild than the LT version. However, the Toyo is a pretty quiet smooth overall tire.

Ranked 1-3
Ride Comfort - 1) Falken AT3W 2) Hankook Dynapro 3) Michelin LTX
Quietness - 1) Michelin LTX 2) Yokohama AT 3) Toyo AT3
Frequency Vibration - 1) Falken AT3W 2) Hankook Dynapro 3) Michelin LTX
Wet Handling - 1) Michelin LTX 2) Falken AT3W 3) Yokohama AT
Semi Aggressive Sidewall - 1) Falken AT3W 2) GY Duratrac 3) BFG K02

I am thinking you may be most happy with the Falken according to my data? and your requirements in a tire. I am not sure how they compare on tread wear numbers. I hope this is somewhat helpful.
4. I have the LRA 12.5 tank and I have a 33.2 x 12.5 tire underneath. I'll likely be replacing it with a narrow tire that best approximates the overall diameter of my next tire as the LRA tank pushes things down ~1". That couple with my wide tire pushes things down further than I prefer.
 
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Thanks for the insight. I was worried about the LRA tank and the spare. Please update your response with the final solution to your spare. I'm thinking you could get away with a pretty thin tire with a small diameter. I wonder if anyone's ever tested this with a much smaller wheel than the others? I wouldn't mind having an ARB on board compressor with a donut for backup and full sidewall blowout.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the insight. I was worried about the LRA tank and the spare. Please update your response with the final solution to your spare. I'm thinking you could get away with a pretty thin tire with a small diameter. I wonder if anyone's ever tested this with a much smaller wheel than the others? I wouldn't mind having an ARB on board compressor with a donut for backup and full sidewall blowout.
Depending on how far you'd have to drive with a "donut" not sure it'd be adviseable. On a truck you can get away with it since most are selectable 4wd and you can move the donut to a non drive location. The LC is full time 4wd, so having a big difference in diameter across the axle wouldn't be the smartest choice. Only way I can see this not causing issues is you'd have to turn off Trac control and VSC so that it doesn't try to keep stopping the smaller spare from spinning more than the rest of tires.
 
Depending on how far you'd have to drive with a "donut" not sure it'd be adviseable. On a truck you can get away with it since most are selectable 4wd and you can move the donut to a non drive location. The LC is full time 4wd, so having a big difference in diameter across the axle wouldn't be the smartest choice. Only way I can see this not causing issues is you'd have to turn off Trac control and VSC so that it doesn't try to keep stopping the smaller spare from spinning more than the rest of tires.

Yeah, may be better to have same size wheel/tire, but have the tire be thinner for better storage.
 

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