I ran 33x12.50s on 20x12s with Cognito UCAs and Rough Country 2.5” keys in the front with longer 5100 Bilstein Shocks for 3 years. And I had no problems. You can easily run 35s if you keep the wheels up under the truck, if you want 20x12s or wider wheels with big offsets you’ll have to get more lift for 35s or run 33s like I did, or cut a lot to clear the 35s when turning.
I had to NorCal and trim the front wheel well liner and valance just a little bit, no one could tell that’s how little I trimmed. I actually had to trim more off the front valance with my 7” lift I have now then I did with the level, and that’s with the same wheels and tires.
The way the 00-06 front bumper and valance curve back into the wheel well in the front causes it to hit a 33” tire when lifted just the right amount.
I did a little sketch to show what I mean. See how the front of the wheel well/bumper curves back at the tire. And see how I demonstrated with the lines below showing the gap size between the tire and bumper. Stock has a small gap making it hard to run a bigger tire without cutting. If you cut back to where it’s straight up and down you almost double the gap size. Or you can match the tires size and curve with the curve in the wheel well and not cut anything. Key is getting the right amount of lift to keep that part of the bumper that sticks back into the wheel well either above or below the center line of the tire enough so it clears.
We can see that if the amount of lift used places the widest part of the tire, the center line, in that pocket in the front then you won’t need to trim unless it hits when going through suspension travel. Are trucks don’t have much travel with a leveling kit so you are usually good at that point. With my leveling kit setup the 33s fit right in there. Only had to NorCal the backside of the fender because it scrubbed at full lock. But when I lifted the truck 7” all I did was bring that point on the front that sticks into the wheel well up in line with the center of the tire, which caused it to now hit when I turned.
Honestly the internet and aftermarket shops talking about you can’t run 33s or 35s on a leveling kit is dumb. Yes you can you just have to mod the fenders a little bit and get the torsion keys set just right. They push that crap by telling people you have to hack up the truck with just a leveling kit, you need a 6” lift to clear those tires. That way people buy lift kits but the truth is you have to mod and cut just as much off with a 6-7” lift as you do with a leveling kit, atleast when running 33s on 12” wide wheels. See I don’t even need the NorCal mod at all with the new lift, there is plenty of room between the tire and backside of fender at full lock, but the lift brought the bumper and valance up to a point where they hit more than they did before. So a leveling kit with 20x12s and 33s you need to do the NorCal and trim a little on the valance and fender liner. With 6-7” lift 20x12s and 33s you need to cut about 2” off your valance and the fender liner and cut out the front diff mount to mount the new diff drop. Seems about the same amount of cutting to me. Both involve modifications that can’t be un-done without a lot of money and time. I’d say find the look you want and make it work, it’s all the same.
