Fuel Mileage with 3" Lift?

I was thinking about getting a 3" inch lift and wanted some feedback on how much this would effect my fuel economy. I know it will go down but was wanting to know how much before pulling the trigger. The lift I am planning on getting is the TOYTEC 3" spacers in the front with the rear add a leaf spring. I was planning on running 17" 285/70 tires, keep my stock tires, or going up one size on my stock 17 inch sport rims. I have always heard that the tire size makes more of a difference on fuel ecomony than the lift itself so was curious from the field. I just wanted some more opinions from some people running similar set ups before taking the plunge.

 

+1

 

I have a 3" lift but haven't put any rims or tires on it yet and last night I got 22mpg. Really 21.7 mpg.

 

on my truck i have a 3" lift with aal and 1" block in the rear. im running 265/70R17's on it and i average around 17-18mpg. i got a scangauge a week ago and ive ,mamaged to increase my mpg to about 18-19.5 with it. i just ran a 250 mile trip last night and watched my scangauge mpg and managed to get 21.4mpg! not bad at all since my truck is the 6 speed manual.

 

3" Toytec spacer AAL lift with 285/75 16 tires (32.8" tall). With my scangauge I could tell I was getting consistent 17-18 mpg. After switching the air filter to an AFE Pro Dry I've gotten 20.2-20.3mpg according to the scangauge for the last 2 tanks.

 

Thanks for the input. I am glad the fuel mileage loss is minimal on a 3" lift. I think I am going to pull the trigger shortly and buy my TOYTEC lift.

 

the lift doens't affect you that much, its the tires. i have a 2.5" lift and 32" tires (stocks are 30" or 31", cant remember) My mileage has gone down about 1 mpg but when you factor in the larger tire covering more ground i probably only lost around .5 mpg. on my trip to NC this weekend i got 21.1 mpg on the highway, and thats not compensating for the tires so i probably got closer to 22

 

Agree with nd, it isn't the lift so much as the tires that affects mileage. Bigger tires = decreased mileage as a general but pretty reliable rule. The lift will increase wind resistance just a tad, but the mileage hit from that will be minimal whereas the tires, depending on what you end up with, can make a significant difference.

 

Don't forget to adjust calculations for larger tires. If you calc mpg based on the odometer or trip meters while running larger tires you will see a drop. However, it may not be accurate. I run 285/75 16's that are 2" larger than stock. My odometer calculations say 17-18 mpg, but my scangauge says 19-20. Right now the odometer reads just over 18mpg while scangauge (and calculations based on the 7% increase in speed due to the tires) read just over 20mpg.

So figure out how much the tires throw your speedometer and odometer off and adjust your calculations before saying larger tires drop your mpg by X amount.

Think about it: larger tires = less revolutions for the same distance = lower speed and distance readings.

 

3" lift, running 285/70/17 BFG MT KM2's - 14.8 mpg
If I account for the difference in speedo with the lift and tires, that jumps up to a whopping 15.5.

Lot of stop and go city driving and the 6400 ft elevation probably doesn't help either. For the record, I have never been above 19mpg, even in stock form.

 

I never got over 19 (or rather 18.8ish) myself either until I switched to the AFE Pro Dry filter! Since then the last 3 tanks have been the highest ever over the last 2 years! Last 2 complete fill ups (18gal) have been 20.2-20.3mpg according to the scangauge!

 

I need to get a scangauge as well....as I am sure that will help with a more accurate reading. I'm running the TRD CAI and exhaust as well, with a URD MAF calibrator (I could always tune the maps for better MPG).

 

With a 1st gen w/3" lift and 33's, I lost maybe 1 mpg.

 

since i got my scangauge ive been getting the best gas mileage in my truck ever. its definately gonna pay for itself in no time. i got 21.4 to home, 19.6 back to college. this is on a trip that i used to get between 17.8 and 18.7 mpg with one trip home making 19.1 mpg. so, its made a 1.8-2.3mpg increase, or about 10%. that can be shown as paying 10% less for my gas and @ $3.69 a gallon thats $.37. it'll translate to about $259 a year at my 14,000 miles a year i tend to drive.

 

second gen with 3 inches lift kit and 33x11,5x18....i was sure to see a bigger difference on the mileage but not that much...maybe 1 or 1.5mpg....no regret !