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I may have missed it but what is your MPG now with the 33's? I just bought my truck, it came with 285/70/17 with a 2.5 front lift and 1.5 rear lift. I am averaging 16.5 MPG. If the tune can help get me better MPG, I will risk the warranty.

 

I'm getting around 16-16.5 on winter gas. 17-17.5 during the summer. If I do a road trip loaded and driving 75-80 I get like 15 winter. I got better mileage than stock with the KDmax tune on stock gears. I don't notice any difference between tunes as far as mpg now that I'm turning 4.88. The KDMAX was a vast improvement to band aid the stock gearing

 

So I have a new issue I am researching. I now have 225lbs constant weight from a cap and bed mat. I love the way it rides normally but the suspension is at the limits of what I think it should be for an unloaded truck. When I load up for camping I have enough weight that I bottom out quite a bit on any sort of highway dip or speed bump at low speeds. I want to fix that, because it's really a bummer trying to bounce across the country. I know my goals are somewhat conflicting but I will spell out what I want in hopes of getting close.
1. I would like stock ride height.
2. I would like similar to stock ride unloaded.
3. I would like to be able to carry a full load without riding on the bump stops.
4. I would like full range of suspension travel.
From my research so far I see a few options. I can install air springs. This seems ideal but I have heard it can limit your travel. I can install helper springs but this will raise the truck and stiffen the ride. I can install sumo springs but this can also stiffen the ride and cause the rear to "buck". The icon rxt looks like a nice option, but also will raise the truck. I have done quite a bit of work to make my 285/70/17 tires fit without a lift because I like the reliability of stock height and also the ease of access to the bed. I would rather lift than sacrifice ride quality. If air bags won't screw anything up I would be inclined to go that direction but I had some on a lowered truck years back and they caused all sorts of problems

 

I appreciate your write-up here! Did you ever make a decision about what you'll go with? I'm also looking at the RSI SmartCap and eventually the Decked drawers. Plus we tow a small 1600 lb trailer in the summer as much as we can. Anyway, your goals of stock ride height and whatnot are the same as mine. Did you land on anything for the suspension?

 

I bought Durobump bump stops front and rear. It was cheap and there are some great reviews. So far I love the fronts, but the rears are very intrusive at stock height. I haven't had a full load with them yet to see the results of greater weight. I have no idea if this is my imagination, but it does seem like they have become softer over the first 1000 miles and I don't notice them as much now. I think I may just break down and buy a lift at some point. The way the leaf springs sit flat don't seem to be conducive to holding much weight

 

Just got back from a 3000 mile tour of New Mexico and Arizona. The truck had my family of four and a 70 pound dog along with all our camping gear. The Durobumps really impressed me. I do notice them in daily driving with no weight but they made a night and day difference while loaded. The driving experience was way better than our last trip with a full load. I was even able to do some light off road with all that weight going up to devil's bridge in Sedona. That would have never been possible before the new bump stops.
Something I can't figure out, I averaged 15 mpg headed west and I was getting 21 mpg going east through NM. I guess the 35mph wind at my back helped.

 

I haven't updated in a long while. I've made a few changes. The first is the tune. I spent most of the spring and summer on the stock tune. With the 4.88 gears I don't have any shifting problems and the power is pretty good. I was running the Kruiser 6.0 and the throttle was just too abrupt and a few of the shifting scenarios didn't feel refined. I heard really good things about the updated KDmax Pro+ so I upgraded and it is way more refined. The super light throttle version is like stock throttle for the first part of the travel but feels more linear as you press harder. I have a ton more power (even though I rarely need it) and the shifting is spot on. I just upgraded as the weather turned cold, so I don't have any real measure of what it did to gas mileage. If I had to guess, I would say it is slightly better. I got to tow about 4500lbs and the tune was a major help there.
Speaking of towing....I got a new camper in the spring/summer. It is from Tiny Camper. It is basically a hard sided tent with an axle under it and a closet. It's perfect for the kind of trips we like to do. Basically no set up and tear down and it gets you out of the wind and rain and dirt. I think it weighs around 1200 lbs. I get around 12mpg on the stock tune pulling it across the country at 70.


Now I just need to fix the weak rear spring issue

 

Really like how you have written this. I'm also after suspension changes as I think my Sport is way to stiff off AND on road. I'd like to not lift it as I really like how it sits as is. Not sure I'll carry the weight you do... so that creates a dilemma unto itself if you know what I mean.

Sweet looking truck.. can't wait to see what's next for it.

 

LIFT DAY!!!!

I went with the 2.5 inch stage 2 kit from Iron Man 4x4. This is the lift I have been looking at for almost a year. If you read the rest of this thread, you have picked up on the fact that I didn't want to lift. I was actually really proud of the fact that I fit my tires without the lift. I just couldn't stand the way my truck would ride the bump stops every time I put a sack of groceries in the bed so a rear spring upgrade was needed.
I picked this lift for a few reasons. The first reason was the factory style ball joint on the UCA. I have no desire to have to track down some wild proprietary thing ten years from now when it goes out. The second reason I went with this lift was the shock design. The high end fox/Icon/King/Radflo shocks require too much maintenance with a rebuild every 20,000-30,000 and the only real advantage is finer dampening adjustment that I don't need in the least bit. This design is a foam cell design that eliminates the need for high pressure nitrogen in the shock. This theoretically will lead to exceptionally long life and the ability to rebuild them easily in my garage. Another reason I chose this lift was the fact that the struts are extended travel. With the lift I lose about 2.5 inches of down travel but since the struts are extended travel, I make back a little over an inch of that back. Then finally, the main reason I went down this rabbit hole is the leaf spring upgrade. They are good from 0-400lbs extra weight according to the website. I figure I have between 250-300 with my topper, bedmat, and rack.
I got about 2.5" of lift all the way around. The right rear is about .5" lower but the rest is even. That is way better than the stock setup. I had 1 1/4 inch lower in the back right and an inch on the front with that. I guess that means I got a 3.5" lift on that wheel.
The install went pretty smoothly, but the UCA bolts are absolutely a pain in the butt. You hear people mention it, but it is really a kick in the stones. If I was going to start over, I would just buy two more bolts and cut the existing ones. Then you can put the new bolt in backwards. The only other problem I ran into was that I almost ran out of slack in my rear brake lines while trying to install the rear leafs. I was able to carefully adjust things and it wasn't a problem but I did manage to pull the connector apart for my rear locker before I notice I had a problem.
I only drove about 5 miles before I ran out of time and had to stop playing around but the ride is vastly improved. I didn't bang off the bump stop going down the driveway. The body roll around corners is drastically reduced. (I did keep my sway bar). Brake dive was a big problem for me before and it is all but eliminated. The ride is hard to describe. When I hear people describe their ride after a lift, they always say it is firmer but in a good way. I always thought that was just a way of feeling better about paying for a crap ride but now I get it. The initial impression is that you feel more of the finer bumps but the ride actually is smoother because anything bigger than a pebble is soaked up by the upgraded shocks. It is way smoother on stuff like a curb because I'm not banging the bump stop.
The truck pulls to the left slightly after the lift. I expected the camber to be visually off but it's not bad enough I can tell by eye. I will drive it around a bit so the suspension can settle and then get it aligned and try to post the print out.

 

I don't know if it's the entire suspension setup or the new shocks but the ride is vastly improved with the lift. It feels more connected but not in a harsh way. I always felt the sport suspension was soft when it was supposed to be hard and hard when it was supposed to be soft. If you just wanted a better ride, I bet upgraded shocks would really help.
I wanted to be able to hold a bit more weight. I did think of a cheaper alternate setup.
I installed the rear springs first to see what the rake would look like and how it would ride. It was actually not bad. I forgot to get a picture though. The ride was basically stock with more of a truck feel from the rear. It's not 1 ton truck kinda firm but it feels like a truck instead of a car. If you wanted a cheaper setup, I would go with just the heavier rear leafs and a .5" spacer up front. The spacer is just small enough that you don't use the shock as a bump stop and it would be high enough to even out the look a bit. I think with that setup you wouldn't run into the normal lift problems.

 

 I got my alignment done. The first sheet was an alignment I had done a couple months back before the lift. The second sheet is from today. I told the guy I wanted max caster up to 4. It didn't get there. The truck has a noticeable pull to the left now. I'm not sure why he couldn't get both sides close. I'm gonna have to find an offroad shop I guess

 

I couldn't find a shop without a few weeks wait time so I went to the dealer. They wouldn't give me extra caster but the guy said I had plenty of adjustment left. The previous guy bent my cam tabs over adjusting the camber. It's ugly but I got that bent back. I hate having other people touch my truck. I have a cracked windshield that I won't fix because I'm paranoid they will screw it up. 

 

I installed the 400w anytime harness from Caliraised this morning. It went in easily in about 30 minutes. Maybe less. I plan on running a cheap dorm fridge back there on certain trips and I need somewhere around 280 watts for start up of the compressor. It was too cold to test the fridge though. The inside was cold so it wouldn't kick on.

 

Ironman sent some traction boards with my lift. I finally got around to mounting them. The smart cap already had prethreaded holes on the interior roof so I bought a couple of threaded rods and some plastic handles from Amazon.  

 

I ended up paying for something that I said was a ridiculous bit of flair that people with too much money pay for. I bought the steel powder coated tailgate cover from snail armor. I found a discount code that made it under 200 dollars. I was going to make my own, but metal prices are stupid high for individual pieces like that. Then I have to cut it and paint it. I was going to just use a plastic sheet, but that was going to be $90 and others have complained that the plastic warps in the sun. This came ready to rock with counter sunk hardware and I just decided to be silly and pay the money. It installed quick and it looks great. Now I can use my tailgate to cook on when I go back to Utah in April.

 

Just got back from vacation. Trying to drop a few photos. I'm still waiting on some cool ones on my wife's phone but who knows if I will be motivated enough to track them down.
The trip started here in St. Louis and we went south through OK all the way to Page, AZ. That was really the starting point. The first picture is at Horseshoe bend. Afterwards, we went to check out lake Powell. I think the spot was called Island Rock, but the water was so low that it wasn't an island anymore. I ended up testing out my 4wd and driving skills trying to get a picture in deep sand with my truck in trailer by the water.
We left Page by way of Cottonwood Canyon road which is not up to the label of fire road. It is a 42 mile trail that goes from around Page up to Kodachrome park. It started pouring rain about halfway so I was once again thankful for my locker, 4wd and bigger tires as I tried to drive out of that.
We stayed on the side of that road with a great view of the mountains before heading up to Kodachrome park the next day. Kodachrome is a five star facility for camping if you have never been. $25 and the shower house was cleaner than my place and had a rain style shower head in a huge tiled shower stall. It even had some sort of citrus air freshener. Not your typical camp situation. I had to take a picture of Coch Rock before I left the park.

 

Just hit 80,000 miles. Decided to bite the bullet and change the spark plugs. I followed the advice of many on YouTube and it took almost exactly 1.5 hrs. 1 for the driver side and 30 minutes for the passenger side. I used every one of my extensions and a pencil magnet to get it done. It wasn't bad at all compared to some of the 90s front wheel drive v8 motors I have worked on but you need a minimum of two 6 inch extensions and two or three shorties.
I didn't expect to see any change but the truck does seem to be smoother than before. The manual says 60k miles and I stretched it to 80k. I suppose my 4.88 gears should have shortened the interval also since I rev higher. Anyway, here is a pic of the plugs.