LEER topper weight? Mpg difference?

just picked up the A.R.E. MX topper yesterday. went to the local truck scale, filled the gas tank, weighed the truck. drove to the dealer, had MX with 2 windoors, and tilt down front slider window installed on the '09 dc sport long bed. returned to the truck scale and filled the gas tank. ( 17.9mpg round trip) weighed the truck and topper this time. cap weighed 204 pounds. will try to keep up with posts and report gas milage as it develops in the future.

 

If you get more mpg with the tailgate up, then youll get more mpg the the can o'peas door up too!!
arright alright I was kidding.

 

Does anyone know if putting on a Topper will sag leaf spring prematurely? Also will it drop the rear end making it sit nose high basicly a reverse rake.

 

I doubt it will make any difference in the leaf springs. The toppers only come in at 150-200 lbs. Nor do I notice any reverse rake in the truck, however I did just have the add a leaf tsb done on mine.

 

mine wieghed about 180 lbs.. definitely will help some in snow just like putting sandbags in the back. . i didnt feel any power loss or anything and it added atleast 1 mpg for me on my old 05 2WD.. .

 

So the 150-200lbs is for the 6ft bed toppers or 5ft bed toppers?

 

My Leer RCC is the commercial model of the 100R , it weighs in at approx 180 lbs , I have a DCLB and noticed no difference to my fuel economy after putting it on .

 

How much does a Leer 100R weigh? I’m trying to find a way to store it and I can’t find the weight anywhere on Leers website

 

You will be hard pressed to find this information. Leer will not tell you, and the internet is just full of WAGs. I've looked too. You weigh things on scales. Unless someone has been over a scale with and without the shell, the numbers mean nothing. Manufactures are great at "guessing" that their products weigh way less than they actually do. Fiberglass, by the way, is not light weight. Very thin hand laid glass or CF can be pretty light for the strength, but the blown in resin/chopped mat used in these shells is anything but light.

 

I didn’t notice any mileage loss from the cap.

 

Maybe the mileage you would lose with the added weight you gain with aerodynamics? Just throwing it out there...

 

I have a Leer on my DCSB, I found this thread by Googling how much it weighed. I’m considering taking it off to see how much difference it makes to gas mileage etc. as well as just general use of a truck being a truck.

 

With my topper on I got the same mpg. With the rack attached to the topper it got 4mpg less. I was on 265/75/16

 

I don’t have a rack but it’s interesting to hear that you don’t find any difference in mpg. Maybe I won’t jump at the first opportunity to remove it just yet...

 

@eli_sha , Yep. Granted mine is a supersport made by Snugtop. It feels like it weighs 180-190lbs with the rack.

 

@DayTripper85 mine is by Leer and sits flush with truck body. I’m going to say mine is roughly the same (I’ve never weighed it but by guess it’d be ~200lbs). I actually slept in it last night at a rest stop driving from San Jose to Los Angeles and it makes it nice to keep items/camp in but I’m considering removing it as I carry my bike/s and also to try and get more mpg.

 

@TRDsport253 , it will make your truck look level. No it doesn't sag, and no it doesn't prematurely wear the springs out. I sold my Topper today and the truck looks like it just rolled off the lot. As in it has a forward rake to it.

@eli_sha, the only time I think it would lessen the mpg is if you were driving up mountian passes. We all know weight is weight so it may get .5 mpg less. I didn't notice a shift when I took it off and put it on over about 4 four hundred miles trips.

On my PreRunner I had a busted tailgate from a stupid mistake I made while pruning trees and I ran a tailgate net on the truck for about six months until I found a matching replacement for my tailgate. The mpg was 25-26mpg with the net, 23-24 with tailgate.

This 4wd I have got 16mpg when I received it with 265/75r16's. I changed the plugs and performed a tune up and it jumped to 19-20mpg. Wether the top was on or not it stayed the same.

 

Where a topper helps the most for gas mileage is when you are towing a trailer. Makes a noticeable difference.

 

I've had mine 12 years. The truck weighs 180 lbs more with the cap on it. My springs haven't sagged. I get at 19-20 mpg hwy with the cap and have gotten as much as 22. I ordered the cap the same day I bought the truck and only drove it a few weeks without it, but if anything fuel mileage is better after adding the cap.


There have been literally dozens of tests on this including tailgage up, down, off, caps on, off, tonneau covers on, off etc. going back to the gas shortage days of the 1970's. They have all consistently shown less than 1 mpg difference any way you want to roll.

Same with tires. My current E rated LT265/75/16's that weigh 53 lbs still give me exactly the same fuel mileage I got with the 38 lb factory P265/70/16 tires. How hard you stand on the skinny pedal and the air pressure in your tires will determine fuel mileage far more than anything else.

 

My ARE weighs 180lbs and it doesn’t affect power, and actually netted me a gain of about 3/4 of a mpg.

With it and 265/75/16 ko2’s that weigh 54lbs each I get about 19mpg combined keeping rpms under 2000. Good mixture of 70mph driving and some city driving. If I was able to get out on a flat highway and go 55 I’m sure I could do 21-22 mpg.