Miles per gallon lost

[Odinsink]

So in August I bought a stock 1 owner, 55k miles, clean car fax Toyota FJ Cruiser. Went all out spent a bunch of money on an overland build. New bumpers, winch, tent, roof rack, custom cabinets, dual battery, fridge, skid plates, custom cabinets etc. Truck is completely done. I killed myself in terms of gas mileage. I will be lucky to get 220 miles to tank.

How bad did your build set you back in MPG? I know that with what we are doing that isnt a priority, but I dont want to have to worry about my fuel constantly

 

[RoarinRow]

With my 2500 with lift, bull bar, hitch tire carrier, with 35's all round, camper shell, with gear on top and inside, I still get about 10-13 mpg. I usually fill up at around half a tank and I'm about 200 miles or less around that point. But then again I have a 45 gallon gas tank. I do have extra FuelPax that connect to my tire carrier just in case.

 

[smritte]

My 04 TJ went from 16-18 to about 7-9. All of my vehicles dropped at least a little.
The biggest killer is tire size and gear ratio. If you increase the tire size, you mess up the power band and lose torque. Regearing helps but you still have heavier tires to turn. Then add in increased weight.

 

[EXPO_D1]

My "over-loaded" discovery gets 220MPT(23gal tank....9 to 10 mpg). My solution is to carry extra fuel when it is needed

 

[MOAK]

Toyota’s get horrible MPGs. Period. It’s not a priority for them. If one wants good mpgs get themselves a Prius. My 80 series, tank that it is, gets 12 mpg. averaging 65 mph. Loaded, empty, etc etc, that tractor engine doesn’t care and gets 12. Once I actually got 14mpg. driving around our county at under 50 mph. If I crank it all up to 70 + mph it drops to below 10 mpg.. I’m happy with 12, which is a lot better than most campers.

 

[smritte]

My 80 series, tank that it is, gets 12 mpg. averaging 65 mph.

Part time kit and a new motor with slightly higher compression. I went from 12(ish) to 15(ish) as long as I stay 55-60 mph.

 

[LONO100]

What size tires are you running? How much bigger are they over stock? Steel bumpers, bigger tires plus the entire roof setup will do a number on your MPG. Your roof setup catching air at freeway speed is a huge impediment to your MPG, there's just no way around that since you need thst gear for camping.

On my truck I run thule aeroblades and a thule roof basket with a wind faring. I have run experiments where I will do my normal commute through the week with the basket up there, and then again without it. I can consistently get 23 miles more per tank when the basket is off, and that's with the basket empty. Your setup is probably doing a number on your mileage. It's the price we pay for loading out our rides!

 

[Louiston]

Yeah, that's why I intentionally left off the aftermarket bumpers. I put on a 3" OME lift, Aluminum skids and a RTT with an Aluminum Front Runner roof rack. I also run the stock Trail Teams 265/75R16 tires. I managed 300 miles on a tank of gas on a recent Fly Fishing trip.

Weight kills gas mileage, regardless of the "brand" of truck, diesel powered trucks are typically much better in this regard, and Yes, Toyota trucks have never been known for great gas mileage.

The 19 gallon tank is the killer. The FJ's sold overseas have an auxiliary gas tank option. The US CAFE standards played into a lot of this., resulting in "one" of the reasons the FJC was discontinued in the USA.

With that said, I'll never sell my FJC.

 

[LostInThought]

Toyota’s get horrible MPGs. Period. It’s not a priority for them. If one wants good mpgs get themselves a Prius. My 80 series, tank that it is, gets 12 mpg. averaging 65 mph. Loaded, empty, etc etc, that tractor engine doesn’t care and gets 12. Once I actually got 14mpg. driving around our county at under 50 mph. If I crank it all up to 70 + mph it drops to below 10 mpg.. I’m happy with 12, which is a lot better than most campers.

I'm gonna guess that no one wants to hear that my mostly stock 4runner Off-Road averaged 22.9mpg over the last two tanks. 400-460 miles per tank is pretty typical. Nothing special, just letting it roll.

 

[Tango Tiger]

Yeah, that's why I intentionally left off the aftermarket bumpers. I put on a 3" OME lift, Aluminum skids and a RTT with an Aluminum Front Runner roof rack. I also run the stock Trail Teams 265/75R16 tires. I managed 300 miles on a tank of gas on a recent Fly Fishing trip.

Weight kills gas mileage, regardless of the "brand" of truck, diesel powered trucks are typically much better in this regard, and Yes, Toyota trucks have never been known for great gas mileage.

The 19 gallon tank is the killer. The FJ's sold overseas have an auxiliary gas tank option. The US CAFE standards played into a lot of this., resulting in "one" of the reasons the FJC was discontinued in the USA.

With that said, I'll never sell my FJC.

View attachment 172749

You pretty much summed up my feelings about my 4Runner. I accept the fuel mileage is bad; I just wish it came with a larger tank. Yes, I realize I can add an auxiliary tank, but that’s really not a “need” for me. Consequently I’ve decided against purchasing an auxiliary tank and instead have opted to complain about poor fuel range to strangers in a forum. It’s part of the healing process.

 

[Louiston]

You pretty much summed up my feelings about my 4Runner. I accept the fuel mileage is bad; I just wish it came with a larger tank. Yes, I realize I can add an auxiliary tank, but that’s really not a “need” for me. Consequently I’ve decided against purchasing an auxiliary tank and instead have opted to complain about poor fuel range to strangers in a forum. It’s part of the healing process.

Well, rest assured, we'll be getting mediocre gas mileage long after most other brands of trucks are getting 0 mpg in a scrap yard.

 

[07V84WD]

Was getting 17 mpg until I added the lift and tires ( Yokohama Geolander a G003 MT 255/75/17) now it's down to 14.5. I'll see if it goes down more when I put the boxes up top and gear on the back for Rondevous in the Ozarks!

 

[smritte]

I'm gonna guess that no one wants to hear that my mostly stock 4runner Off-Road averaged 22.9mpg over the last two tanks.

My completely stock 2019 Tacoma gets 21-23. I'm resisting the urge to mod it. I need at least one vehicle that gets good mileage.

 

[LostInThought]

Was getting 17 mpg until I added the lift and tires ( Yokohama Geolander a G003 MT 255/75/17) now it's down to 14.5. I'll see if it goes down more when I put the boxes up top and gear on the back for Rondevous in the Ozarks!

Does anyone have experience with whether changing the diff ratio recovers some of the MPG?

 

[smritte]

I regear most of my vehicles for the tires. It helps if your going to a significantly taller tire.
With the stock tire, the torque range is between two points in the RPM band. The taller tire changes this.
Regearing puts the torque band back where it suppose to be. You still have more tire mass to move (rolling resistance) and increased wind drag. There is also power loss from the lower gear in the diff. Diesel vehicles and large V8 gas engines aren't as affected as bad due to the amount of low end torque.

 

[slomatt]

My lifted 3rd gen 4Runner can get 19-20 mpg on the freeway (18.5 gallon tank).
My lifted 2nd gen Tacoma can get 17-19mpg on the freeway (21 gallon tank).

Anything that adds weight (especially rotational), or puts the engine out of its target rev band (larger tires), or increases wind resistance (wider tires, front bumpers, things on the roof) can really drop the gas mileage.

 

[MOAK]

Part time kit and a new motor with slightly higher compression. I went from 12(ish) to 15(ish) as long as I stay 55-60 mph.

Yes, if I was able to keep it at 55-60 I might squeeze 14 out of it, fully loaded. Two years ago the head was off for new valve stem seals. The power went up and the mpgs went up from 10-11 to 12ish. Who did your motor? I’m at 326,000 and may be doing a new driveline as a PM in the next couple of years.

 

[rho]

Gears will help a bit, Getting the weight down helps too.

Our GMC, even with a big V8, will get over 450 miles to a tank @ 20mpg on road trips. Its lifted and has 33's, but its 2wd, reg cab and short bed. So its pretty light. My JKU on the other hand gets around 18-19mpg on road trips and around 330 miles to a tank. The jeep is much more built, winch, sliders, cage, skids, 3" lift, 35's, gears, etc but gears helped the motor get back to its sweet spot for load/power. Overall the jeep is built fairly light as well, no rack or RTT or drawers or fridge.

Getting the motor back to its power band is a HUGE thing for letting the trucks be as efficient as they can be...

 

[Alanymarce]

We get about the same as before modifications (15-17 L/100 Km, higher in steep mountains and in sand):

Weight additions - winch, roof rack, snorkel, refrigerator, drawers, sand flag, UHF radio, bed frame and bed, second spare wheel, sand ladders, lightweight shovel, 44 L Frontrunner potable water tank, Side and rear awnings, plastic extra fuel cans (and hence a bit moree fuel than standard, however full only when necessary, which has been about 1000 Km in the last 70,000 Km.

Replacements - about the same as original - suspension upgrade and lift, AT tyres.

Weight reductions - front valance (where the winch is fitted), second row seats, third row seats.

WInd resistance - No RTT so no wind resistance , second spare wheel mounted horizontally so not much more wind resistance, the roof rack adds a bit.

 

[janders]

My F250 with the 7.3L diesel doesn't seem to give a shit what I put in it or on it. I typically get 18MPG on freeway slogs. Just added a roof rack, RocketBox up top, big heavy plywood bed platform with drawers in the back, new canopy, 20 gallon water tank and ended up getting 19MPG on the last tank. The caveat is that I'm still running stock tires and gearing. I'm about to swap out to 35's so that's should put a dent in my fuel budget.