Here is a picture of my truck.
It has 33 inch tires, about 4.5 inches of lift and lots of other add ons and things I believed I needed.
It has 3:55 gears. And your basic bolt on engine mods, ie: cat-back exhaust, open air cleaner, upgraded ignition goodies...
This gives a 0-45 time somewhere around the speed of slow. Mileage in town is about 10 mpg if I drive with a fresh egg between my right foot and the gas pedal.
On the highway, I can reach 13 mpg. Thats (70 mph) with cruise set on a very flat road, minimal payload, no wind from any direction, and tailgate down. Sorry mythbusters, on my truck thats worth about .5 mpg. But I digress. Towing is best done with OD off, and mileage (above 55 mph) drops to about 9-10 mpg.



Now mind you, I like gear/rpm charts, but I do understand there are (and will always say so) that other factors such as adding weight for mods, bigger tires, etc. Those are big factors, ones that most owners don't understand and take into consideration.
Again, if you'r gonna add lift and larger tires, you'll have to retune and regear. And there is a point where you will not recoup any mileage because you've exceeded the physical laws of being able to do so.
Maybe at this point a huge lifted truck is not a good idea for a 45 minute commute.

 

Ya, dsertdog is right on. That's what I was trying to say earlier about the calculators too.

mikentiff,
If all I had was my truck, it was my daily driver, and had to drive a 45 mile commute, I doubt it would look the way it does today. I bought a cheap little gas sipper car that I use as my commuter car. This gave me the freedom to do what I want to with my truck without any second thoughts.

My main advice for you would be this. If you depend on your truck to be your daily driver, don't go too far with it. If you decide to do something, make sure you can 100% live with it, if not - don't do it. When it comes to lifting a truck, it is easy to sink $3000 or more into it by time you buy tires, gears, and lift components. And that is going cheap, just the basics. So you need to make sure 100% that when you go down that road, you can live with it. Otherwise you stand to waste a lot of money. Too often we see guys come on here and post about how their lifted truck is a dog and they hate how it performs blah blah blah. They usually get good advice, but in the back of my mind I'm always asking why the hell they did that to their truck in the first place. Usually it is because they either didn't research it well enough to know what they were getting into and find out later that this isn't what they really wanted, or they didn't do it right the first time, so now they have a mess of a truck. I am only telling you this because you seem very indecisive, and I hate for you to do something that you will regret later.

Good luck on what ever you decide.

 

Oh I know I want to lift my truck...just trying to get all the info I can so I can make the best decision so I only have to do it once lol

 

I guess I'm in the same boat in away, but I have to make the change. My problem is that I got a truck a few wekks ago with 35's on the truck and lifted ( LOVE THE TRUCK ) Odered new tires and got them put on last night. Will post on my tread, but also had to get inspected. Was told needed new ball joints, new wheel bearings and brakes. I now have to install new gears, but I'm not sure if I should go with 4-56 or 4-88's
This is what you will also have to think about when going with larger tires and lifting your truck. ASk yourself can I aford to do all this the right way and at the end be happy with your truck Silver Dodge how do you feel about what I just said? Anu input would be helpful for this your man and myself

 

And let me guess you steering is real loose from side to side I have that problem now that I have to fix haha

 

In no way are we here giving you a hard time, but you are asking questions and we are giving you real world information. I myself have another truck to drive so I don't have to drive my truck to work everyday so please keep that in mind. It all comes down to you have to pay to play. The pay parts can get out of control if you can't do alot of the work yourself

 

No I was asking you about your steering to see and maybe those are the parts I need to replace lol.....I know you guys aren't giving me a hard time....you have given me some great info

 

Bigger tires taller/wider are more likely to follow the road groves/ruts (road wander) more than with small/skinny tires. They will also make any part that is out of spec show up more noticeably. Check all your steering parts. Some tire shops will give you a free front end inspection. So have you picked a lift kit yet?

 

No I want 35's and 4.56 but from what I gather 33's with 4.10 will be better mpg if it's gonna be the same though I want 35's

 

Go with what you really want. The gas mileage really isn't going to be that much different. If you go smaller, you will always wish you had gone larger.