Brand New 2006 CTD Mega Cab 2500. Im now regreting the things Ive done to my truck. front leveling kit, two new front shocks(all skyjackers), 33" mud grapplers, and the deepest 20" jesse james wheels. People are telling me about ruining my paint job due to the tires sticking so far out, my gas mileage is just horrible(10 mpg). Have I ruined my truck in any way? If I put my old stuff back on will it be the same as what it was before? My main concern is if I put my stock tires back on and take off the leveling kit will it be thev same,worse,better? Should I leave the shocks or the leveling kit on with the stock tires? All inputs will be greatly appreciated.

 

Don't overreact! The larger tires cause the ODO to read off - which in turn causes the fuel mileage indicator to be off. So you are likely getting better than what the gauge shows. The mud grapplers do have a more aggressive tread pattern, which does reduce mileage some - but the biggest issue really is that you cannot trust the mileage display on these Dodges. Now if you had the 3.73 rear before you did this, the type of driving you do could have put you in a position of having too little RPM's at the points where you need more - which could also cause a reduction in mileage. But again, a substantial portion of the problem is with the computer that calc's the mileage - it can show way more than you actually get, way less, or exactly what you do. Better to check it the old-fashioned way (fill to same point every time and take at least five tankfulls to calc) before bailing on your upgrades.
And, since the ODO is off, if you are running up to the same INDICATED speed as prior to larger tires, you are now going faster and these CTDs are notorious for having a logrithmic drop in mileage at higher speeds (big difference if stock from 55 to 60 to 70) - remember as with anything other than the imported aerodynamic speedsters, you are pushing a big box with minimal aerodynamics through the air - and it requires a lot more energy at higher speeds...
(and shocks will have nada to do with mileage - and they will soften the effets of the poor road surfaces so many states seem to enjoy nowadays!)

 

I put a leveling kit on my last 2 wd, didn't affect the mielage though, I'm considering putting one on my 06 CTD. I know for a fact that the bigger tires will affect fuel mielage. I put 33's on my old Z71, and it had a pretty good affect on it, they were just so heavy and knobby, just not very effecient for the engine to turn over. Thats probably your problem right there, not to mention what bigger tires and rims do to your front end,, ball joints, alignment, bushings, etc. What kind of leveling kit did you put on? A friend told me about them but I havent looked in to them yet.

 

Oh yes Arctic - I had 33's on 20's on my '04 4WD CTD, and in 65K miles I hadn't worn the pant off yet. But that can depend on where you run - some material those tires throw up can blast the paint off - so if so, get some fender lips similar to what they use on the Power Wagon option.
And did you have the front end aligned when you put the levelors on? You need to - and if you didn't, you can be reducing the mileage AND prematurely wearing out those meats.

 

yep, ramtradxb it absoutley right about the comp, and the fuel mielage. mine is off by about 5mpg. so better to do it by hand.

 

I did the 33"s and I did loose a solid 2 mpg, however i'm at 15.5~16 mpg... I put on the ATS flares to protect the sides better, it helps alot. There are ways to bring the milage back, the best thing to do is to stick with it for at least 20k~25k miles and see where you are then. If you open up the intake or exhaust or both, you'll kill your milage. The best milage I've had on my truck in recent weeks has been ~17.0 mpg with the stock air box and open exhaust (edge on 1).


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what do u mean by open the intake or exhaust? I dont know anything. I used one of your forum postings as one of my examples on mpg effects. you said you lost 2 mpg w/33's so I was like I can sacrifice 2 mpg since I was averaging 18 everyday. but my computer dropped me down to 10.5-11.0. Now its at 13 on avg. still thats 5 off. i filled my tank up and tripped my odometer. Im reading 284 now and I need to put some gas or else Im done. not even 300, thats incredibly pathetic! thanks for all the help guys. Would the Bully dog do any good? what about a tornado?

 

when ppl refer to opening up the intake and exhaust they are referring to aftermarket intake systems, and either cutting off the muffler, catalytic converter, and going with a straight pipe, or just replacing the OE muffler with a free flow. I put the K&N intake, freeflow muffler, and Bully Dogs Tripple Dog programmer. Mielage is about 17mpg on the highway @ 85mpg, so I'm not complaining. One thing that I have noticed though, is that every truck on here responds a little different to each different setup, Ex., what works for my truck may not work for yours. Its like each engine has it's own different personality.

 

How many miles on your truck?
what else did you do to it?

I know mine tanked all the way down to 14's until it finished breaking in (my opinion) and now it's up there around the high 15's to low 16's.

what I ment by opening up the intake & exhaust is that if you put a huge air filter on it your going to loose some low end torque, also if you do a straight thru muffler and cat delete, you'll loose low end torque. the more low end torque you have the better your milage. had this affect on my 2000 gasser & again on the 2005. so if you want milage, dont open the intake or exhaust too much. you can do a performance intake & exhaust, just dont go hughe. an example would be an afe stage 2 with the pro guard filter. it's got a 6" inlet to the torque tube... that is hughe. a straight thru exhaust is not going to provide any backpressure so the turbo is gonna spool up much faster when combined with the intake. if you want better milage while your breaking it in, put the stock airbox back on and put whatever box you added on it's lowest setting.

if I put the edge on #2 or #3, i'm down to the low 14's...

 

steve,
what box should I get?