This isn’t Nitto’s fault: this is purely my own fault for picking the wrong tire for my application. I got my head wrapped around a tire size that is very uncommon and I paid the price. I also wrongly selected the beefy 10 ply model which is why the tire was so heavy. For a dedicated trail rig, the Trail Grappler would be an excellent tire and one you should consider. But for a daily driver that is almost purely driven on the street, it’s too heavy in 10 ply form, and too loud. Instead, I should have gotten a leveling kit for the front of my truck and moved to the 285-75/16 tire size. This is much more common and there is a huge range of tires available, like the Nitto’s Ridge Grappler that Mike has had on his Tundra for some time. Both are much lighter than the heavy duty 10 ply Trail Grappler in this size and are much better suited to daily driving duties than the Trail Grappler. After some of the issues we faced when lifting the VehiCross, I was hesitant to do this again on another daily driver. But a leveling kit is much milder than a full lift kit and won’t have the same issues we had with the 3” kit we used on the VX.
Finally, it’s important to note that this exact setup only works on the TRD Off-Road. The Off-Road has a slightly taller suspension than the lower model Tacomas and the TRD Sport. However, this setup should be perfectly fine on a TRD PRO as those have even more lift than the Off-Road. In fact, you could even fit the 285-75/16 tire that is much easier to find.
