Fuel mileage with lift

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Dean2

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Lift and larger tires you are going to lose gas mileage, no two ways about it. That said, I have never cared what my pickup got for gas mileage but it has also never been my daily driver that I put a lot of miles on. Gas mileage is a top of mind issue because we fill our pickups two to three times a week but in reality it is one of the smaller costs of owning a vehicle. If you buy a 60,000 pickup and double the mileage from your old truck, from ten to 20 mpg, it is going to take you near 400,000 miles to get back the cost of the new truck in gas savings. You would be far better off to buy a fuel efficient car for commuting and rig the truck for the use you want it to do. A 20,000 car getting 35 mpg would only take 100,000 miles to pay for itself, and you aren't miling out the much more expensive pickup.

My vote, do the mods and buy a second vehicle to commute.
 

62Blazer

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As said above you will lose MPG with a lift and tires....just no way to get around basic physics as you are increasing the aerodynamic drag (wind resistance) of the truck with the lift and increasing the rolling mass and rolling resistance with the larger tires. The affect of the lift will show up more on the freeway at higher speeds versus if you are just running around town. One thing I would highly recommended doing is making sure you have it calibrated for the tire size, and gearing if you upgrade those, in order to get accurate numbers.
I went to a commuter car years ago to make the 60 mile round trip to work. Gas mileage is only a small part of the reason (even though my current car gets almost 3 times the MPG as my truck). The biggest factors are maintenance and simply the vehicle replacement cost. On my car you get 50k+ miles on tires that cost under $700 for a good set, versus being lucky to get 30k+ miles out of my truck tires that cost close to double to replace. Then the vehicle replacement cost. My brand new, mid size and mid trim level (well optioned) car cost less than half of what a new truck costs. My last commuter car that I bought used with 50k miles (and before used car prices went crazy because of Covid) cost me less than 20% of a new truck. I'm actually on my 3rd commuter car and all of them combined cost less than replacing my Power Wagon.
 

Socalramfan

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After reading all the responses regarding OP's question on fuel economy has got me thinking as well.

Hope this isn't reaching too far into his posting, though I do think it will help in his question.

Personally I'm not too worried about the mpg, but taking a look at the "effecientcy" of all parts put together has got me thinking more about a "Tune" and "gearing", as you do really have to look at the "Big Picture".

I'll start a new thread for this for those who can add some feedback too. (Cag Cheechdoog)
 

itsRamminTime

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14 ram 1500 3.92 5.7l
stock ~13 in city, 15 highway
37s 91 tune, royal purple, cai ~11 in city, 13 highway
don't really care about mpg though
 

JC4041

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I haven't driven the 09 in almost a year, the boy has been driving it. But this is my logs from last year. 6" on 35's with 3.55's (yes I know I need to regear)

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Dean2

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That's a cool looking app :waytogo:
It is an free app called Fillup. Just down load it from Apple or Google. I use it for my vehicles too. Sort of an electronic log book, though for true maintenance tacking their are better options. I still use a paper log book for the maintenance items.
 

NOV87

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As said above you will lose MPG with a lift and tires....just no way to get around basic physics as you are increasing the aerodynamic drag (wind resistance) of the truck with the lift and increasing the rolling mass and rolling resistance with the larger tires. The affect of the lift will show up more on the freeway at higher speeds versus if you are just running around town. One thing I would highly recommended doing is making sure you have it calibrated for the tire size, and gearing if you upgrade those, in order to get accurate numbers.
I went to a commuter car years ago to make the 60 mile round trip to work. Gas mileage is only a small part of the reason (even though my current car gets almost 3 times the MPG as my truck). The biggest factors are maintenance and simply the vehicle replacement cost. On my car you get 50k+ miles on tires that cost under $700 for a good set, versus being lucky to get 30k+ miles out of my truck tires that cost close to double to replace. Then the vehicle replacement cost. My brand new, mid size and mid trim level (well optioned) car cost less than half of what a new truck costs. My last commuter car that I bought used with 50k miles (and before used car prices went crazy because of Covid) cost me less than 20% of a new truck. I'm actually on my 3rd commuter car and all of them combined cost less than replacing my Power Wagon.
Not buying a truck and sticking to an electric vehicle, yields even better money savings! Why even bother with a truck? Personally, if I spend a lot of time driving, might as well enjoy it and not sitting inside of a pos car. Life is short.
 

Dean2

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Not buying a truck and sticking to an electric vehicle, yields even better money savings! Why even bother with a truck? Personally, if I spend a lot of time driving, might as well enjoy it and not sitting inside of a pos car. Life is short.
Most of the cars I have owned are WAY more fun to drive than my pickups. I own a pickup to do specific jobs a car just can't but for playing Ricky Road Race the truck does not hold a candle to a GS430, or any other sporty car with lots of go. That, and in the city I can't even get my truck into most parakades let alone some of the narrow one ways. I would never suggest a guy drive a pos, car, truck, motorcycle or anything else but you can buy some real high performing cars 3 years old for very little money and still get triple the mileage of a pickup as well as lower replacement and overall operating costs. My comuter cars have all been sport focused.
 
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MartyZ

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5 inch front, 3 inch rear, 37x13.50R20 Toyo MTs, 10.5 MPG if I'm not caring and having fun. 13 MPG If I'm easy on the gas.
I have ARH Long Tube Headers and High Flow CATs so this could be affecting my numbers a bit.
Having a loud exhaust makes me use my my Gas Pedal too much but I have no regrets.
 

RedSRT4Me

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5 inch front, 3 inch rear, 37x13.50R20 Toyo MTs, 10.5 MPG if I'm not caring and having fun. 13 MPG If I'm easy on the gas.
I have ARH Long Tube Headers and High Flow CATs so this could be affecting my numbers a bit.
Having a loud exhaust makes me use my my Gas Pedal too much but I have no regrets.

What transmission and gearing?
 

RedSRT4Me

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6 speed Trans and 3.73 gearing. (I know that is my downfall and power loss. Eventually I'm going to go with a 5.13 ratio to reclaim my lost power.)

All good. The question was geared more towards the guys who would build something similar that gives some expectation to the mpg drop.
 

Socalramfan

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6 speed Trans and 3.73 gearing. (I know that is my downfall and power loss. Eventually I'm going to go with a 5.13 ratio to reclaim my lost power.)

All good. The question was geared more towards the guys who would build something similar that gives some expectation to the mpg drop.

You both have awesome Rams. Definitely have given me a vision in the past to shoot for as well.

Well done :waytogo: :waytogo:
 

Daleo

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If you prefer to drive a sewing machine that's your prerogative, but why troll others? I honestly will never purchase a soul less appliance because YES life is short so why are you
wasting your "valuable time here? Seek out other ways to use all the time your apparently have available.
 
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