High RPM/Bad gas milage 'normal'?

I am thinking that I committed gas mileage suicide when I installed a new set of 32" TOYO Open Country M/Ts from the bald highway tread 31" tires I had on.
I am also going to be putting a canopy on in a couple of weeks which I am now dreading because of the added weight.
While I am on the highway the RPM bounces around quite a bit and seems extremely sensitive. While I am driving 65-70 it likes to stay between 2300-2500 and sometimes it stays in low 3000's and won't go back down unless I take my foot completely off the pedal and slowly push back down.
Is this just a 4 cylinder characteristic?
And fuck, going up hills sucks of course. If I were to keep it in low RPM range i'd be going 30mph.
I have been wanting to change the header and exhaust for shits and giggles. and... I was planning on ordering off road bumpers.. which would ultimately weigh the truck down more, correct? but they look so wicked.
I have been reading about "Regearing"? I am not quite sure how that works - is it worth it, and how costly is it, and is that related to what I am talking about?

thanks for any input, you all are awesome and I love this place.

 

Higher RPMs certainly aren't helping your situation. Try using Cruise Control if you have it.

What kind of mileage are you getting? And is it mostly City or Highway?

 

Your truck is downshifting on hills to get the engine in the power, which just so happens to be at a high RPM.

The fix is to regear the differentials to a lower gear ratio, making the engine not have to work as hard to push the truck.

Look into east coast gear supply for regearing options. I would recommend going to 4.56:1 at least or if you don't do much highway driving, 4.88:1.

Just fair warning, its going to be expensive.

 

I am getting 15.5 - 18 mpg these past few weeks. Super bummer. And I don't really gun it either. I do about 50/50 highway and city when I am home but I have been doing mostly highway trips getting 17ish mpg.. or 240-250 miles per tank.
I do have cruise control, BUT, the cruise control jumps around RPM more than without it, making it seem useless to me. I may be wrong.

4.56:1 huh? Is it worth it?

 

I went to 4.88 to regear back for performance from my heavy 285/70r17 MTR kevlars.

Regained a little spunk, but no mpgs.

16.5 city highway commute, fully corrected.

 

Honestly if you're that worried about MPG I would go down in tire size. With that 4 cylinder paired with an automatic transmission the truck will be slow and get bad mileage with bigger tires.

If you want to run big tires and get decent mileage, you pretty much need a v6. I was getting 18 with my old 33" tires.

 

re-gear is so worth it (4.56's) plan on spending about $1700.00 said and done (if your having a shop install it)

 

You are probably getting better than that if you haven't factored in that the speedo/odometer is way off with the larger tires.

But, big tires ruin gas mileage. There's not much you can do about it.

 

32's put the speedo dead on generally.

They normally read fast with the stock 31's.

 

bud.... get a 3.4L

 

I have a V6 but did not notice much of a difference with the addition of a shell. On the highway, the added weight is offset by improved aerodynamics, in the city you might be a little worse because you're accelerating with more weight. Plate bumpers will not help your cause. They look cool but they are generally heavy. Some manufacturers make aluminum versions that weight very little. Typically the idea is to add plate steel for protection, just just for looks... If you're really concerned about MPG's, I wouldn't be considering plate bumpers unless you need the protection.