Safely tow with a lifted tundra?

GHinson wrote:

BarneyS wrote:
Folks,
Lets try to get the OP's questions answered without all the "smart" remarks. I am referring to the posts I deleted already. Thank you.
Barney

Thanks Barney. Everyone else, I appreciate the constructive comments.

Here are some more specifics:
The lift is a BDS 7" lift (7" in the front, 4" in the back). The following is taken from their website:
4-1/2" & 7" Tundra Lift Kits

Was that to 'level' out the unloaded orientation of the truck?

•Built for daily driving, yet will handle off road

to me, not great at either, but okay for both

•One Piece High Clearance Crossmember

so they replaced the center cross member? Why?

Folks always forget that, yes lifting does gain wheel well clearance
and more height to avoid 'high centering', but do NOT see that the
diff's needs taller tires in order to lift them. Yes see that that
guy has taller tires, but not in the 7" range as the lift kit is

•New Lower Strut Mounts

Wonder if the kept the 'Z' height of the shocks and if they have new
custom shocks, did they engineer the bump stop travel?

Did they supply axle travel limiting straps (cable or chain) ? This
is because of the larger wheels/tires and their added weight will
be tough for the shocks to limit travel as the OEM architecture
of shocks and bump stops being the limiting components

•Ductile Iron Steering Knuckles

Doesn't tell me if they dropped the steering box or not, but think
this knuckle has the drop necessary to work right with the 7" lifted
front...did they also include new links and joints?

•Massive Belly Pan Included for Superior Off Road Protection

I always drop the marketing verbiage to see what is really
there and this says an after market skid plate

Everything else on the truck is stock. He's interested in a Jayco Feather Ultra-Lite 197. Unloaded Weight (from brochure) is 3570 and dry hitch weight is 425. He will not be carrying water nor will he have it loaded with a lot of extras. I know he'll need actual loaded weights, but for planning purposes I don't think he'd ever exceed 4600#.

Stock, so are the drive line angle increases addressed? There is
a 'Z' height differential dialed in for the OEM's choice of U-Joints.
Did they drop the tranny/transfer case to keep that stock 'Z' dimensions?

Hope they did NOT tilt the diff's in the mistaken premise of reducing
the articulation of the U-Joint...been there done that with so many
lift kits to find mystery vibrations later when things wear

'Dry' is not a good metric...best to go out and weigh it and most who
have done that find that it weighs more, some times lots more

I parked my F250 4x4 next to his this morning, and his hitch is actually maybe only 2" higher than mine (stock F250 with 295/65/18 tires), so I "think" he'll be OK with a weight distribution hitch.

Says how much lower it was before the lift kit. Do you know why?

That has to do with sizing of the frame, suspension, etc.

Making it taller does NOT make the frame any stronger, more likely
reduced it's strength in reference to the greater lever arms working
on it

The concerns I have are the same as those posted here: Higher center of gravity and what's the extra weight going to do to the truck components. Of course the dealer told him he'd be fine. Surprise, I know.

Any other comments or observations are welcome. Thanks again for the input so far.

Other things that techie folks understand and look for.

The OEM has designed, tested and certified that vehicle for X years and
XXX thousand miles.

There are lever arms in just about everything and ask if the kit
designers took ALL of those lever arms into account and beefed up
their stuff to make up for longer lever arms that all lift kits introduce
into the OEM frame/brackets/etc?

Does the kit address the increased axle wrap issues? How? Most use
some form of a traction bar, but traction bars reduce ride quality.
Most don't believe and just ask them if there this in the sales
brochures: "ride quality"...does not, minimizes, etc? Why would they
need to address that?

I do NOT ride in any high lifted vehicles. Worst of them are suspension
lifts. Body lifts is not as bad, IMHO

And to the original questions? only the kit manufacturer can or should
answer the ratings questions. As they are the ones who engineered that
kit. If several kits from several DIFFERENT manufacturers...then they
have to answer. Us folks can only off an opinion...