Easy way to increase gas mpg

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Jukelemon

Jukelemon

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Dec 29, 2003
Threads
283
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2,381
Location
Louisville, KY
Get rid of the damn mudders!!

With my 31x10.50 BFG mudders, I would average, consistently, 19mpg. I removed them about a month ago and replaced them with some 235/15's and my mpg jumped to 22.6 mpg on average. Not bad fellows. Gives me another 50 or so miles on the tank.

Just for fact's sake, the timing chain replacement did nothing to increase mpg. I thought it would a little but no.
 
I've said it time and time again but I'll say it again for the purposes of this thread.

My 91 regular cab 4WD 22RE 5sp on 235 w/ steel wheels got me 400 miles to the tank. Exactly 100 miles to each 1/4 mark.

As soon as I went to the very heavy 30" BFG AT I lost just over 100 miles per tank.

I was straight highway driving from Richlands NC 75 miles a day, 900 miles a week to Wilmington NC.
So I checked it regularly.

I never would have thought going from a light weight 29" street tire to a heavy BFG 30" AT would have resulted in that. Just imagine what it would do with aluminum wheels and light weight street tires :bang:


As cheap as wheels and tires can be you need two sets. One set of aggressive tread for off-road. They tend to weigh more than light weight street tires and the street tires will last longer. And one set of street tires. Shuffling the two will result in them both lasting longer.

I was and will be doing this for a winter AT type tire and a summer light weight street tire.
 
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400 to a tank???? Damn man that is 27 mpg and filling it up right before empty i.e. 14.8g.

You have a 15g tank right?

I drive 90% highway so maybe, maybe, I could get another 2mpg on 100% highway.

The weight difference between the tires are extreme-at least between the ones I took off and the ones on.

As well, with the 235's, I felt like I had gained about 25hp-especially noted on hills where I needed to downshift before.
 
Interesting thread. I plan to keep my pickup on stock rims with 235s, thank you very much! The increase in acceleration is noticeable on my FJ62 when switching in the winter from 31 BFG ATs to studded 235s.
Jukelemon, can you confirm that I sent you a PM on the pickup cupholder awhile back?
 
Jukelemon said:
400 to a tank???? Damn man that is 27 mpg and filling it up right before empty i.e. 14.8g.

You have a 15g tank right?
Click to expand...

It was Regular Cab,

I thought it was smaller than that, like 14? I don't remember. BUT what I do remember was gas was a $1.79 and $1.80 was like :flipoff2: killer too much...


:frown: (those days) G.O.N.E.....
 
Jukelemon said:
Hi Hog.

No, never received it. Sorry man.

What's the good word?
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I have one that is complete and functional. It has a couple small cracks on either side in the back, but they're not very noticable and don't apparently affect operation. It's possible that I'm responsible for this during removal, but the one I pulled out for my truck doesn't have any- so go figure. Anyway, I could shoot a photo if you're interested. I'd only want the shipping cost.

Regarding the 2WD 22RE pickup, my buddy in Hawaii reports 32 MPG with a pre '90 that he just received as a gift from a friend in Oregon.
 
ajfriz said:
What really helps is having a 2wd 22r 5 speed with 195-14s.
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Alittle hard to believe but I have a friend who's got a friend that swears his EFI 2WD 5speeds get 37-40


I don't believe it....
 
I do, my grandpa drove from CA to missouri with an average of 38 with his best being 41 and worst being around 35. But he ran into radiator problems on the way back and traded it for a nissan on the spot. What an idiot...
 
I get around 18mpg with 33x12.5's on my pickup.... Thats with stock gearing, 249k on the clock, and the 3.0 engine running mobil 1 full synthetic.

Maybe with smaller tires I could get better millage.... But it just looks silly now with stock tires.
 
Mike C said:
I get around 18mpg with 33x12.5's on my pickup.... Thats with stock gearing, 249k on the clock, and the 3.0 engine running mobil 1 full synthetic.

Maybe with smaller tires I could get better millage.... But it just looks silly now with stock tires.
Click to expand...


I'm too tired. Anyone else wanna take a stab at it?
 
The v6 has enough power to get around just fine with the stock gears, gets up to speed pretty quick if I get into the gas pedal, and it will cruise at 80mph all day long if I don't mind burning the gas.... I've considered regearing the diffs, but I would rather put the money towards a dual Tcase setup since the trail is the only place I need lower gearing.


If I had a 22re, I would never try running 33's with the stock gearing, I know it lacks the power.
 
I'm pushing 33's with stock gears and get 18 average commuting over a 1000 ft pass twice a day.... That's with a 22RE.

I just filled up today and I got 39.64 mpg, no that's not a typo. Too bad I was driving my Honda Civic. That's how you increase gas mileage.... Suckers! :D
 
33's on stock gears with the 22re, impressive! I thought it lacked the power for that. But once your up to speed its not a issue. Its just getting started in first gear.

My last two tanks have improved as well, with one being 19.5mpg and the last one being 18.5mpg. Due to the larger tires I have compared my stock odometer readings with a GPS multiple times over long distances. So now when I fill up with gas and do the math to figure out my millage, I multiply the odometer reading by 1.13 for the correct distance traveled :)

When I first got the truck, I was only getting around 19mpg on average on the stock tires. How it didn't change much, I do not know. But I am not going to complain :)
 
I think the overdriving effect of larger tires is offset by the added weight and the effort to get up to speed. So it's kind of a wash. I got one tank of almost 23 mpg with the 33's, I was following a diesel Troopy on the highway. So slow and steady wins the mpg race.
 
I have topped out at 32 mpg on my '91 2wd 22R-E 5 spd extended cab. That's with coasting down hills etc. I went with bigger tires (and BFG A/Ts too, now that I think about it) - 27 x 8.50 and they rob power and mpg, though I have not corrected for tire size so maybe I have been getting more distance than I thought, but not much?

It has been dropping steadily over the past few years as my muffler has been going bad, I was down to as low as 20-22 this past winter, I replaced the muffler/tailpipe last week and now I'm back up to 27-28 :bang: Why I didn't do that earlier is beyond me. I'm almost through this set of tires, so I'll be switching back to some lighter weight street tires and see what I start getting again. I have steel wheels though, maybe I should look into aluminum? I'm trying to stick it at 55 for most of my driving too, see what that does.
 
2ndGenToyotaFan said:
I think the overdriving effect of larger tires is offset by the added weight and the effort to get up to speed. So it's kind of a wash. I got one tank of almost 23 mpg with the 33's, I was following a diesel Troopy on the highway. So slow and steady wins the mpg race.
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Yeah it is nice not having to run it at such high rpms when cruising at 70 in 5th gear. I know a lot of people say they never touch 5th.... But I can't see why they wouldn't on the freeway? I'll drop it into 5th once I hit 60.
 
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