Your cap and mpg

Just cleared 400 before the light went on and almost made 410. Might have got to 420 but 2 steep hills at the end cut mileage and the light comes on early when you're not level.
The light came on just before the top of the hill after 409.9. Will post mpg tomorrow after fillup. It usually comes on ~17 gal down. I took the Thule bars off last week and this is the best I've done since e last time they were off by at least 25 miles. Unless you like throwing money away take rack bars off when you're not using them.

 

At 411.8 mi put 17.7 gal in it for 23.3. Still not as good as pure highway driving but no rack and a minimum of traffic really helps. I'll need to put it back on to carry a squeeze plank but a major reason for sticking with these rack bars was they're much easier to remove than my previous full lumber rack. I'm just too old and weak anymore to swap a lumber rack for a shell twice a year.

 

I will post up tomorrow. Picking up a are cap and have a 3 hr drive home

 

I noticed a 1-1.5mpg increase

 

Try removing the antenna.

 

First tank after installing a Snugtop on a DCLB OR was 22.7 mpg. All highway miles up thru central Idaho into Montana with a bunch of up and down but averaging 55-70 mph. Previous tanks were in the 20-21 mph range, but not a fair comparison as that was a mix of in town and highway miles. Other than the canopy the truck is stock.

 

Got my new 2018 F150 XLT 3.5 Ecoboost early Sept 2018 and got around 19 mpg on I10 in TX at 80 mph. Added a Westin winch grill guard and mpg dropped to around 18 mpg on the same route just opposite direction. Got a LEER XL cap fitted and on the way back, same route same speed, mpg dropped to 16 mpg. Anyone else had similar experience? Don't really have time to redo a bunch of testing that have already been done over many years. But a bit disappointed in the drop in mpg so may take down the cap and grill guard to verify my observations. Hoping to get some insight from y'all.

 

The weight of a cap would never cause and issues with mileage. Wind resistance maybe but that depends on where/how you do a majority of your driving. Highway would make more of a difference as you are driving faster and therefore wind resistance makes a greater difference. Slow speed or city driving it shouldn't matter

A cap will change how air flows around the vehicle

 

No such thing as free lunch. A cap weighs a few hundred pounds and that takes energy to move. It's offset by better air flow so freeway speeds will be relatively better than in town or on hills where aerodynamics don't help but added weight still hurts.

 

I just took my campershell off my 2014 Tacoma. Less than 2 years it flattened my leaf springs.

 

This is why I bought the 2.7L.



Worked out to ~24.5 mpg which ain't bad considering today I had ~250lbs of hogwire strapped to the roof rack, yesterday had ~150 bdft of green lumber up there plus 10 sacks of gravel in the bed and the day before 5/16's 4x4 green redwood plus 6 sacks of redimix. At no time did it feel underpowered or struggle on grades.

 

^^^ Is that right? $72.01 for a tank of gas? Dang commiefornia

 

I just paid 3.90USD/gallon for 87 octane.
Don't EVER let environmentalists take over your state.

 

A few years ago it was well over $4. That was when I decided my next truck would have to do better than 16 mpg. I remember the pollution of the '70's with less than half the population, no desire at all to breath that shit again.

 

how are you people averaging over 20mpg on these trucks? mine barely gets 18 stock at 65 mph

 

4-banger with stock 215/70R/15 on stock steelies. I've averaged 27 over 350 miles at 70 mph and never less than 21 on any tank fill. I don't leave the rack on the roof unless I'm actually using it but I haven't driven it without the shell. Drag and traffic seem to have greater adverse affect than weight in the bed unless you're in the mountains. I see a lot of drivers using both gas and brakes when neither is really needed. Keep up yes, but it's not neccessary to accelerate into brake lights or stop lights. Other than that there's a subtle distinction between riding the gas pedal indiscriminately and feeling the break point where you maintain speed with the least amount of pedal pressure. YMMV is a real thing though, it's entirely likey that I'd get different mileage in another truck with the same setup. Could also be the percentage of city driving you do since any stop light = 0 mpg.

 

im talking all highway, I get 17-18.. But, its a 4wd sport. 1 size bigger tires than stock. I think that is a big difference when you see this type posts, nobody says much other about what their truck is or has on it. With stock tires I noticed my speedo would read high too.. With the 70s im exact.. according to the little signs that flash your speed and tell you to slow down.. haha. back and forth to work and running errands, I average about 17. Highway I can only get 18 or a little over. Ive been debating getting a cap, so that's why im here. also debating a lift, and a rack.. seems like racks cause a lot more wind drag than you would think.

 

I've seen posts of 6 cyl's getting 24 or better but yes, anything that lifts the truck will create more drag at highway speeds which is where most people seem to be concerned. Not sure about exact percentage but rotational weight(wheels and tires) counts several times more than just the weight difference and knocks you back at all speeds. The I4 can get great mileage but it also gets hit harder by anything that requires more power since it has less to spare. I'd like to get some lighter alloy rims and keep the steelies for winter/camping where extra grip plus a smidge more diff clearance might come in handy.

Do you calculate mileage based on actual tire size or just odo as that will bump you up?

 

No difference with my shell. Big difference with lift (2-3in) and bigger tires though

 

Drove up to Nice, Clear Lake to pick up some taco parts~152 miles including previous distance and filled up there since it was .30/gallon cheaper and calculated 27.2 on 5.58 gallons to fill. Beautiful morning for a drive and took 101 up and 20 across rather than 175 which would be more fun on a bike or sports car. The burns are very evident but the lakes are still there, full, and beautiful. This is the first vehicle I've had that consistently exceeds the 21/24 mileage ratings for city/highway.

Personally I'm a bit skeptical about mileage claims(especially my own) on the first 1/4-1/2 tank since "full" depends on when the pump shuts off and a short fill would artificially inflate mileage so I continue to monitor to see how many miles to cross the F mark after the fill. A short fill would show up as less range to that point. In this case though range to F went from 80-85 up to 95-100. This makes sense since about 1/3 of the 152 included bay area and Richmond bridge traffic along with the gradual climb to Nice and the return was all open road back.

It's rare that I get to do a drive as completely enjoyable and by Memorial Day it will be altogether different. If you get the chance to head up on off-travel days I encourage you to do so, 101N in the spring is a treat and the road itself is in great shape.