When I purchased my 04 I really wanted to do a 6” lift with 35s. However I knew I would be daily driving this truck, hauling my snowmobile trailer all winter long, loading and unloading an atv in the bed, and hauling my mustang on an 18’ open trailer from time to time… so the more I thought about it the more I realized the 6” and 35s may not be my best option…. I didn’t want to lose much mpg and power/performance so I opted for a front 2.5 leveling kit and 33’s. I also didn’t want to re-gear. I looked into the skyjacker 3” front kit but after reading some problems others were having I decided to just go with an autosprings 2.5” spacer and so far could not be happier. After installing my autosprings kit I see why people were having problems with the 3” skyjacker. I too called skyjacker and they told me that their 3” was fine and no problems what so ever….. but even with the 2.5” lift when the truck is off the ground on a jack, the upper a-arm is hitting the coil spring and was also a pain in the butt to get the spring in and the upper ball joint to mate with the upper a-arm… cant imagine if I had another ˝” added to it.

I went with 18x9.5 wheels (now wish I went with 20” wheels) and 33x13x18 (325x60x18) Nittos. They give the perfect stance and about 1.5” – 2” of the tire is hanging out past the fender… makes it look tough!! I really wanted BFG all-terrains but the 18” where on national backorder.

Right now I am getting around 14mpg city, 16-17 highway but I have not re-cal'ed my speedo yet. Anything larger and wider will effect your mpg and performance someway....

 

I Know you were looking for 20's, but i put weld 17" x 8" Stone Crushers with 33 x12.50 x17 Procomp AT's and they stick out about 1 1/2". No noticable power loss with the 33's and the fit great with just the Daystar 2.5" leveling kit.

 

The guy's an idiot. If anything, a coil-over lift helps keep the drivetrain geometry closer to stock than a spacer. As for the ride quality, it has a lot to do with your choice of shocks. Mine rides on a Rancho 4" with adjustable shocks and 35" M/Ts, and is smoother/softer than it was stock.

You WILL lose MPG by lifting and going to a larger/heavier tire. How much, depends on wheel and tire choice. My 4" lift and overly heavy (100 lb) 35" Toyo M/Ts cost me 2-3 MPG, and the 4.56 gears cost another .5-1 MPG. When these tires wear out, I will replace with a much lighter tire (BFG M/Ts are closer to 60), and I will probably get back 1-2 MPG, but ultimately, you can't change the physics of it. Lifting you truck increases wind resistance, and repalcing your wheels adds rotational mass that takes gas to turn.

As long as you know the look you're going for, you should be able to figure out the offset you need based on the width of the wheel. As for the tire size, the height and width will, to a degree, be dictated by the offset of the wheel and the lift height. To some extent, you can make up for one by adjusting the other as everything must work together. To get started, take a look on the web at wheels available for your truck (6x135 bolt patten). One place you can look is discounttiredirect.com. Once you find the wheel with the correct offset, make sure that you will be able to get a tire that you're happy with to fit on it (most tire mfg list allowable rim widths on their sites).

Like someone else suggested, you're best bet is to try to other trucks similar to what you're looking for, and get feedback from those people. Good luck

 

PURPONY & DMITRY,

Thanks guys for all the info. I am kinda confused at both of your responses in light of the skyjacker 3" lift and the leveling kits. Purpony says his upper arm sometimes hits the coil springs w/ just a leveling kit on. Dmitry is saying that a leveling kit or the 3" skyjacker is a pretty much okay with nothing hitting or rubbing. I'm not aware of specs with the 3" skyjacker, but that guy at the shop told me that w/ the skyjacker kit there would be problems w/ the control arms somehow. He may not have a clue about that kit, I'm not sure. I thought the 3" skyjacker kit sounded pretty good. Beats a leveling kit in height, plus it raises the rear up another inch or so w/ add a leafs. I just don't want to put an inferior quality product on this truck and find out the hard way after it's done. The manufacturer is always going to tell you it's good and no problems, but I think some people have problems maybe because their stuff wasn't installed right or something. Sure wish I knew this stuff well or at least knew a great mechanic.

You said the toyo MT's are heavy, I wonder how heavy the nitto's are?

 

I would think that Skyjacker wouldn't make a coil spring that hits...no sense to it.. It looks in certain pics of the Skyjacker strut that they may have a smaller diameter coil spring than the stocker...anyone know for sure? It would seem to be an easy way for clearance...

 

Backspacing is measured like this: Lay the wheel, with the outside, on the floor. Next lay a straight edge across the wheel(on the back side). Now measure straight down from the straight edge to the center part of the wheel where the lug bolt holes are. This distance is your backspacing. An average distance is 5.5". A wheel with 3.5" back spacing will stick out 2" farther than the 5.5" one will. The wheel diameter has nothing to do with backspacing. First pick a tire size you like, then find the recommended wheel width for that tire, then find a wheel with the backspacing your looking for. Like someone said earlier, the best way is to copy someone else. If you see a setup you like, go check it out, most guys like talking about their wheel setups. Backspacing is generally used to prevent rubbing at full turns.

 

I'm going to keep trying to check into the skyjacker lift, I really like the idea of it as long as it won't cause any problems. It's a good company I think, popular name in lifts. I'll try to find out more on any problems it might cause.

 

Im still interested in the Skyjacker as of right now I just want to know how it performs offroad and on-road compared to stock.

 

At current I am getting about 11 MPG, I have put into it an Airaid Intake, Flowmaster 40 series, and Troyer Performance Excalibrator.

I have the 325/65/18 Nitto AT, on Pro-Comp Extreme Alloys 18/9 with the bolt pattern 6 on 135 with very little weight to balance. Each tire's aproximate weight was around 59-63 lbs.
I went with the Fabtech system, with duel stablizers and am very happy with this set up.

I too was concered about the towing performance and the drivabilty. I tow a boat in and out of slick ramps and backwoods trails, along with using it for my business day in and out. I haul of lot of products around the South. and put some miles on the truck. It was done everything I have asked it to do.

I can see your frustration and dilema about what to do. For what you want to run, you do not need the 6'" lift. As for the 20's the reason I did not go with them was because I needed some more sidewall. I was not going to run anything bigger than 35's.

I do not know if this will help you any but at least it gives you another opinion on the set up. Like I said before this systems works very well for me and my environment.

 

Just for clarification because it seems like there might be some confusion, I was talking about the skyjacker 3" lift that skyjacker is calling a suspension lift w/ coilovers and add a leafs.

THUMPER,
I am still interested in it too, hopefully someone will read these posts that has the lift and fill us in on it, especially since I've heard from different sources that it sucks and also that it's good w/ no problems.

 

This calc is waaaaay better;

http://www.csgnetwork.com/speedocalibcalc.html