by nicebike on Fri, 26 Dec 2014 8:08 +0000
Slippery, if you're going to be towing big weights regularly, I wouldn't be increasing overall tyre diameter significantly. Definitely not good for braking performance.
Are your 265s the standard SR5 265/65/17 or ??
If you go 33s (287/70/17) your 4.1s are doing no more than approximately compensating for the increased tyre diameter, although they will be noticeable better than the stock ratio with the same tyres.
However, I think the 4.1s with the standard tyre diameter would work well, and give you some flexibility in wheel/tyre options.
I agree with Packets that the 4.5s, although great with the tall tyres, will be a bit busy with many tyre diameter choices, and perhaps a bit narrow in their application.
In summary - go 4.1 and keep the tyre diameter down. If you want to step up diameter when your towing trip is done, the 4.1s will still work much better than stock ratios.