Added weight VS. M.P.G.

Thank you for the kind words, ive worked on power equipmwnt for a living but have learned ALOT about turning wrenchs by trying to restore this truck to "brand new".

make sure you take all the advice with a grain of salt. I like to "live" outta my truck for as many days of the year as I possibly can and I look at it this way;

16mpg is horrible for a daily driver. But is AMAZING for a "house on wheels" I track my mpg for every tank.. i think everyone should, but only to use it as a gauge for the overall health of the truck ... so long as i avg about that amount im good. When I see a major drop in that number than I know i need to do maintenance

 

I'm gonna be doing long trips as well to diff. mineral collecting localities, so I know what you mean. It looks like maybe we are not too far from oneanother actually. Makes sense, lots of driving in the open West, right? I'm putting on the ARB front bumper, best to my knowledge it's about 110lbs with all the hardware. Another 124 lbs in bubuilt front IFS and bellypan skids ( and rear crossmember, the 3 pc.). I hear you, I'm gonna stash the stock bumper away. Also, apparently, the 2% reduction per 100lbs is most likely a low estimate. My wife's from Montrose, we used to go up to Grand Mesa/Cedar Edge quite a bit.

 

You went w/budbuilt skids right Poncate?

 

Like f'n Christmas come early bro! Just read your post again, congrats! You'll have to show us before and after, maybe tell me what manufacturers for all that bad-ass hardware/armor.

 

Yes, the BudBuilt aluminum front skid

 

I got a 4x4 auto single cab Ima add sliders and rear quarter panel sliders, I get 16 city no ac on, with ac on 13mpg city, sliders tbh i dont believe theyll kill me with gas, the front and rear bumper im holding off on till next month, idk what the front bumper weighs or what the rear bumper weighs, im having a local welder make me a simple pipe bumper real soon

 

This math is incorrect.

1.8 MPG is a 10% loss. You are losing .45 MPG per 100 lbs.

.45÷18 = .025, or 2.5%, so you are losing 2.5% per hundred lbs.

This whole concept is flawed as weight is just one factor that affects MPG.

 

look at the bright side gas is cheap in mostly every state of the USA, and theres a glut of oil production so start driving and don't worry how many MPGs your getting cause your doing a patriotic duty by help the US economy driving more

 

There is also a difference in adding sprung weight (which is what you’re adding) and un-sprung weight, like wheels and tires and such. I didn’t notice any difference to speak of with my front bumper, winch and rock sliders. The rear bumper, pack rat pullout drawer, camper shell, tools and all of that plus a supercharger at the same time, that was a noticeable difference. I’m still 16.5-17.5 mpg depending on the way I drive and if I tow my trailer or not. I’m running 93 octane e-10 though. I’ve got as much as 18mpg with the truck like it is with 93-non ethanol.... but that’s with a very light foot and didn’t put the engine in boost even once through the whole tank. If any of you are supercharged with a boost gauge, you know how difficult and delicate it is to keep the engine in vacuum. Of course that’s my summer month mpg’s, let’s not talk about my winter time mpg’s.

 

Thank you for the correction!

 

I went with 4xinnovations for skids and sliders Relentless fab for bumpers and the winch is warn 9.5 s

 

that is correct until you get to places where every MPG matters. In 2014 I did a trip to Alaska and one place hadn’t open yet for the year and so the extra 10 gals I had made a difference of making it to the next town. OR if you want to do a trip like the AZ Strip, north of the Grand Canyon, you’ll need about 600 miles of fuel, so those extra MPG can mean a lot.

Just driving around town or most trips in the US, there is a station close by, so MPG are not as important, but there are trips that it really can matter.

 

The best thing you can do for mpg’s is have a daily driver.
Between my truck, daily #1 and daily #2 I average About 30 mpg.

 

I don't think your math is right.

2% per 100lbs is not the same as 6% per 300lbs. Also, I suspect your bumper shape would cause more of a difference than the weight of it.

I love the look of aftermarket bumpers especially with the ends cut high. Tacomas have such a terrible drag coefficient I can't imagine how much worse swapping bumpers would make it.

The 3d gen has a cd of 0.39 which is the same as the aerostar.

 

I think the same way.
For a camper it’s pretty good!
Also good to monitor and good for knowing your range for going to remote areas that don’t always have a lot of refueling options.

 

Ha! I haven't seen an Aerostar in a while!

 

At the time of release, the Ford Aerostar was actually had the best (lowest) drag coefficient vehicle that Ford produced


I love vans

 

Don't overthink this. I don't believe added weight has that much effect on fuel mileage even if Google says so. Aerodynamics matters. How you drive matters. Adding aftermarket bumpers, roof racks, and winches may throw off aerodynamics. But you've got to add a LOT more than 100 lbs to see any decrease in fuel mileage. I've made multiple long road trips in my Tacoma and other vehicles. Some were with just me and my wife and a small amount of cargo. Others involved us, and 1 or 2 other passengers along with enough camping/hunting gear to cause the truck to sit low in the rear.

On trips where we were taking in the sights and driving at, or under the speed limit fuel mileage was great. On other trips, (usually hunting trips), where time constraints made getting to Colorado and back home in a hurry meant driving as fast as I felt I could get away with meant fuel mileage suffered.

In 2016 we took my wife's sister with us to the Grand Canyon from GA. From there we hit most of the NP's in Southern Utah before coming home through Colorado. We were loaded heavy along with an extra person. With the 180 lb cap on my truck along with camping gear we were probably pretty close to maxing out payload. With 3 people and everything else I had an extra 1000 lbs on the truck.

The average fuel mileage for the entire trip was just over 20 mpg. Off the interstates in NW Arizona and SW Utah where speeds were around 60 mph and the terrain just hilly enough to allow lots of downhill coasting I got 22-23 mpg on a couple of tanks. On the way home we hit a steady headwind in Denver that didn't let up until Kansas City. I only got 16 mpg on 2-3 tanks. Other than those 2 extremes I was pretty steady at 20 mpg on every other tank. Which is actually a little better than I normally get on shorter drives on the highway even running empty.

 

Nice rig, and nice upgrades. I too was contemplating simple pipe rear bumper. Good luck w/your build

 

I hear you. We live in the middle of nowhere. At times there are many miles between gas stations. Like you say 10 gallons count