re: Educate me on leveling lift kits

For Fords atleast, anything over 2.5" is pushing it, and even with a 2.5" cheap style spacer kit the cv and joint angles up front are somewhat scary looking. Granted I've had one on a truck for a long time and never had issues, as well as knowing tons of people with the same but 2" is probably the sweet spot.

Not sure about Toyota specifically, but depends on what you want to spend, as there are leveling kits that can cost as much as a full lift. In my experience if you have larger tires or want them, and plan on leveling it, a 4" lift kit is the better option as it will bring your truck back to stock angles and relieve that strain on the angles. Tundras are fairly large to begin with though, but I know an F150 with 35's with a 2.5" level parked next to an f150 with 35's and a 4" lift is nearly the same exact height. Where the 4' lift version has stock angles for the tires. Leveling kit just pushed it up, where lift drops the parts down.

ETA: Finding a Tundra forum Is probably the best bet for getting knowledgable insight. I will add that many of the lift kit manufacturers (not necessarily bad or the "cheap ones") basically use the same size parts for the 4" and 6" lift, so the 6" is gonna end up with angles basically as if it had a 2" level. FWIW. An alignment after any sort of suspension work is absolutely NECESSARY though, and if you do get a level or lift make sure to get it aligned every other oil change or third one. If you get a lift definitely make sure they retorque all the bolts and parts to spec every 5k miles or so.