What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

No, it truly is an apples to apples comparison. You can chuckle all you want but don't discount it so quickly/easily. The only real substantive change was the tire pressure. I am a bit confused by your weather comment tho. The weather was awesome this past weekend, certainly no hail was encountered.

Both directions were an identical route. Yes there was elevation gain and loss. It was not a climb up to elevation then a return trip of coming back down. It was up over passes and then down the over side to reach the destination.

Truck weighed the same both directions (minus a little beer weight).

Speeds were virtually identical both ways as traffic conditions in the various segments were very similar. There was a slight headwind I noticed on the return trip (at sea level) but was only slight and would only has worsend the MPGs on the return segment.

Calculations were backed up by the SC but were done with simple math from fill ups. The same odometer was used in both calculations. Granted, one variable might be the gas pumps themselves but if we start arguing about those, it really is a hopeless discussion.

Of course, you may be correct, this information may be meaningless. After all, the tires did wear down a bit during the trip over. That will throw off the calculations for the return trip.

 

i think his point is that a 1mpg difference over just one tank is not enough evidence to prove your tire pressure really made an impact.

 

Duck tape welds work the best.

 

Not mine, but he's a member here. He's a talented fabricator that lives about an hour away from me. He sold the truck a few years ago. I saw the new owner on the freeway a couple months ago. Beast of a rig.

His company is Dissent Offroad and his username is Dissent86. He does 100 series LC bumpers and bumpers/roof racks for 3rd gens. Some of the best stuff I've seen.

More pics of his 1st gen:
https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/selling-the-double-cab.129182/#post-1625970

 

No, I don't think so. I think he made some inappropriate assumptions.

And 1.6 mpg difference is significant. 10% is 10%. We'll see if it is sustained over the long haul but that takes nothing away from the data set I presented.

 

I thought the numbers were from the Montana trip. Definitely disregard all the weather and elevation blabbering if this was some other trip to constant elevations. I'd still have a hard time understanding that change from the tire pressure...but .

Oh, and if this is some other trip, then I sort of feel like...




And - just to make my point that there are much wider swings due to all kinds of things besides tire pressure - here is my truck for the 5 years prior to any mods - so all stock. Same set of tires, same tire pressure the whole time. Driving was consistent as well - commutes to work and trips; 80% plus highway driving. Still, ranged from 15.x to 20.x mpg. But the average over time (any 4000-6000 mile period) is much more constant - essentially the green dotted line; that's why it's way more important to look at that vs. any tank (or even trip, unless it's a De-Tour length one ).

1.6 (10%) is significant over time. It's not significant over the course of less than 15+ tanks of gas though. It could just be an outlier, as there were in my chart above.

 

Don't get me wrong. I am as surprised as anyone to see tire pressure make that much of a different. Hell, maybe if I go up antoer 5 psi, I'll get another 10%.

 

Do you keep log over time? If not, you should now, just so we can see who's right . I'll buy you your favorite beer or a Tatstrami if you are.

...of course, it might mean driving at both 42 and 47psi for a while again...

 

I should keep a gas log for the cruiser so I can see lucky number 13 appear consistently. Doesn't even matter how I drive it, it's gonna get 13. Although one time I forgot the screw the gas cap on and it got 14. :/ The taco is in the land of why bother anymore, it can get 21 but with the SC I won't let it because that's boring.

 

Oh, I'm leaving it at 47 at the least.

I am going on a road trip at the end of this month. At least 2 full tanks on each direction. I may even go higher PSI on the return... Just cause I can.

 

Don't wear the center of your tires out haha

 

Man...when my KO2s are at 40psi or more it feels like my truck wants to bounce sideways hitting any bumps on the road. I haven't tried that though since my truck was stock so maybe it would do better now with all the weight on it.

 

I'm telling you, e rated tires suck on our trucks. They totally twist what is known about tires. All of this experimenting with pressures is just to get to a point to understand the compromise between MPGs, ride comfort and tire wear.

 

I know, I had them forever, but mine were okay near the end cause I finally got the suspension setup around them well. Now everything is softer than ever on cs haha But oh well it's nice knowing I can go back to E or d whenever I need to without too much loss in comfort. Just more fun work

I don't think you need 700# coils anymore...

 

This is the conclusion I am coming to. I can finally (sort of) understand why someone might be happy with OEM valving on 600# coils. They aren't running c rated BFGs.

 

Yeah it is. Not real sure why it got messed up. Was really tired of working in the heat on the truck so I put it off a day or so. Might dive back into it tonight but I forgot to call them so idk yet

 

I think Dan @drr had a similar issue with one of his napa reman calipers. It seems like he was able to exchange it under a warranty.

 

FTFY

And the net gain is not actually 2,000'. The APRS track didn't show this, but I went over to Brewster on the Columbia river this trip which is closer to 1000' in elevation. Plus, starting from my house is not sea level. It is actually about 400'. So yes there was a net gain on this trip but it was closer to 600'.

As mentioned, this was a small sample size. We'll see how this plays out with more mileage and experimenting.

 

Makes me glad IDGAFF about mpg.

 

I only use it to diagnose engine problems. This is already a known problem though, that Tacomas don't have enough engine for good mpg with big tars haha