Did camper shell increase OR decrease your gas mileage?

I've been driving trucks with and without them for over 40 years, it's a wash at most. On a Tacoma it adds about 180 lbs which is offset by better aerodynamics unless your cap has roof racks. Start adding stuff to the top, even empty racks, and you'll reduce aerodynamics. Full size trucks will add about 200 lbs. You'd have to carry the decimal point several places over to note the loss of fuel mileage an extra 200 lbs makes.

 

I like the shell it makes the lite truck feel safer in the snow and ice

 

I could definitely feel the added traction when it was icy/wet/slippery. But I'll also say, having the Double cab with the weight a lil further back was also a huge plus compared to my extended cab, 6ft bed chevy cheyenne I had previously. I'd buy pavers every year for extra weight in the bed of that thing. My parents slowly paved around their house with them

 

A total wash on my 09 AC. I dropped the shell a while back and pulled out most of the gear I keep in it for winter (pulling other people out of snow filled ditches) and noticed that my mileage didn't really change. Too many variables to be sure (summer vs winter gas being the big one) exactly but I honestly think it just about evened out.

 

im really not sure. It adds 200lbs.
the purpose of these trucks is not MPG. So I don’t look at that.

For many reasons it will never get good MPG no matter what you do.
It costs money to operate. For the truck to work for you and offer what it does. That other vehicles don’t.

MPG doesn’t affect gas price or taxes either. I paid $2 for gas a couple years ago. Now it’s $4-5. It would still cost more now even if the vehicle was a sedan.

 

I dropped about 1.5mpg. My SnugTop Hi-Liner is about 220lbs.

 

My camper shell had been on for so long it's hard to know....I get between 22 and 23 mpg highway though.

 

At first it seemed like I got slightly better gas mileage, but now it just seems as crappy as it used to be.

 

I never checked mine to see if there was a difference. I wanted a topper/cap, so the MPG difference didn't matter to me.

 

It didn't make much of a difference at first, then I tossed tools and camping gear in the back and it dropped about 1mpg. Between the shell and gear, ARB bumper, winch, sliders, etc. even on LT265s I only get 14.5mpg.

 

Little to no change

 

i recently added a cab high shell, replacing an aluminum rolling tonneau cover (pace edwards)

my 3 fillups MPG after the shell: 17.7, 18.8, 17.2
my 3 fillups MPG before the shell: 16.3 16.7 17.4

so it helped a little. maybe an extra 10-15miles per tankful.

 

Negligible either way. I think the weight of an average camper shell is barely a factor.

 

I really think to get an accurate answer, you'd have to really do a very well thought out test.

It's probably such a small difference with today's aerodynamic designs that it would be hard to tell because the increase/decrease would be so small it would get mixed up with driving habits.

In my case, between tires and the cap, I don't think my numbers would be reliable.... plus I see my driving habits do change and affect mpgs.


TLDR: It's so small of a change, it doesn't really matter.

 

Gas weighs about 6.073Lb/gallon so 20 gallons of gas weighs 120lbs...so just carry around a 20 gallon gas can and only fill 1 gallon at a time and that will make up for most of the extra weight of the shell...