Wheel weight. Does it really matter?

Short answer: yes.

Long answer: Mileage and power will suffer a bit, wheel bearings will wear out sooner, stopping distance will increase. You won't care offroad, but you will notice everywhere else you use your truck.

 

The 4spd auto is the economy killer on the 1st Gen DC. The truck is only rated at 15/18 mpg vs the 2nd Gens 5spd auto at 16/21 mpg, with more power. I had a DC 1st Gen and loved it on the trails, but it was a bit tight as a family vehicle and moved to a 2nd Gen.

To improve mpg on your 1st Gen keep the wheel tire combo as light as possible, consider running a earlier Tacoma 15” wheel and looking at 31x10.5” tires rather than metric (depending on the size you are running). Keep things out of the air stream, avoid heavy accessories and stay up on maintenance. But even with all that best case scenario is the 18mpg highway.

 

How are you calculating that loss on MPG? By the difference in the circumference of the tire?

That's not why you loose mileage. You should account for the difference in circumference when doing your mileage calcs anyway. It's the added weight and contact patch (friction) that cause a loss in mileage.

 

Yeah, this is the first auto vehicle I've driven in 30 years. Aside from my daily driver Prius, which really can't be considered a vehicle.

The auto sucks on this thing. I hate it. But the 5MT swap is beyond my (alone) capabilities. I desperately want to do it.

 

What I was trying to say is if you didn't account for the difference in circumference when calculating your milage (most people don't), the amount the larger tires decrease your milage isn't as bad as you think.

 

Some of my weeks are 1000 plus miles
As Long as the mileage stays between 10 and 12 mpg I am happy .

Once it drops to 9mpg time to use the bigger Truck..

We all have different Goals

 

Stock, I was getting 18-19. Moved up to 265/70/17 e rated mud tires on heavier aftermarket wheels, skids, armor, and I'm now getting 16-17.

 

True that.

10-12 would be brutal for me.

 

2019 TRD off road auto.

I dropped 7 pounds per wheel of weight switching to scs f5's on stock tires. I noticed right away the truck seems to tolerate driving around in a high gear at low rpm's better. That 45 mph 1100 rpm thing the truck seems to do was immediately improved.

As far as gas milage I didn't pay much attention to it, I tend to avarage 20.5 in mixed driving and recently drove 190 miles with cruise set to 75-80 mph and got 21.3. If I keep it at 60-65 I've returned 25-26.

If I ever got heavier larger diameter tires I don't think I'd ever do it without rehearing personally, sadly no one makes a 4.5 final gear.

 

If your adding weight, it's better to keep it closer to the center of the wheel. What I mean is you'll notice it less.

 

Buy what you want and screw weight, if your worried about mpg buy a civic. If anyone is worried about 1-3 mpg they shouldn’t even be driving a truck of any sort.