New FJ owner with a trail teams that gets horrible MPG!! (1 Viewer)

[Michael1]

Hello all-

I just picked up an 08 trail teams with 2,980 miles. I have 34" toyo m/t's on a 3 " lift, gobi roof rack w/ladder and lights and front brush guard (stock bumpers).

The bottom line is the aerodynamics of the vehicle are ruined with all this add-on equipment and the lift kit. Air can't get around the front easily with the brush guard. Air can't flow over the roof without encounting the rack and lights sticking up. Air can't pass easily underneath, because now the axle and suspension are hanging down. I'm not saying these things aren't useful, but you're never going to get good mileage in this condition at 80 mph.

Michael

 

[fatback]

Everyone has already said that you are just too heavy. With the rack, tires, bumper and then add in the 3700 lbs for the stock FJ and you have a tank. I would spend the money to get your odo reset to match the larger tire travel and then it should be easier to gauge your true speed and MPG. I have a stock 2007 with the rack and aftermarket rock rails/sliders and have not noticed much in the way of a decrease in mpg. I have stayed away from the front bumper replacement but am thinking about the built in winch/bumper combo which helps keep the weight down and maybe a lower bar/light combo. I try and drive right at 55-60mph here in Indiana and just at speed limit everywhere else and I average roughly 320-350 mp tank with the cheap unleaded (89 octane).

Just MHO,
Fatback

 

[FelixLeiter]

No lift, no tires, lots of height with the cargo box on the roof. Fully loaded for a family of 4 camping (including 10 gal H2O and 5 gal extra gas).

Highway at 85mph--15mpg (us)
Highway at 60-65mph--22mpg (us)

If there is a headwind the mpg drops noticibly. I have done 2 5000km trips with this setup and the results are consistent. I don't know city mpg as my wife uses it to commute (big car = more safe)

 

[MarcoPolo]

No lift, no tires, lots of height with the cargo box on the roof. Fully loaded for a family of 4 camping (including 10 gal H2O and 5 gal extra gas).

Felix..................................................start a thread of your own with those pics



























Then we can all welcome you to MUD











































oh ya.........................................





We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread..

 

[b56tc]

Dude - calculate your delta

You won't be consistently 3 mph off; you'll be off a consistent percentage

Pick your speed eg 60 mpg indicated and on a measured mile with a stopwatch get your actual mph (or better yet with a gps); I'm betting you are at least 10% faster than your indicated mph ie 66 mph actual at indicated 60.

In that example - you now need to take your indicated total miles between fillup x 10%, eg if 285 miles take it x 1.1 then divide by the gallons to fill up to get your actual mpg. You may be doing much better than you think

 

[Cruzrman]

I have an '07 with 27K on it. I'm using the TRD cold air kit,Mobil 1 in the crankcase and rearend, 1" A.R.E. throttle body spacer, and Denso Iridium plugs. It has a 3" lift, TRD exhaust, Fab Fours front bumper with Warn 9500is, Metal Tech wrap around rear bumper and Demello sliders. Tires are 285 MTR's.
I consistently average 18mpg and I drive her pretty hard. I'm not watching the tach. I just drive.

 

[40Flipper]

Leave it in your driveway, sit in it, and make engine noises. Prolly only still get 16 mpg.

 

[FunJunkie]

TIRES TIRES TIRES. I was averaging 13.5 with 33x12.5r17 baja claws. I bought a second set of steelies with the stock optional BFG rough terrains and I now average 17. Plus I only wear down my mean lugs when I put em on to hit a trail.
I doubt the gearing would do much at all. and for the price, even if it did, it would take you years to recoup the cost, now if you want to gear lower for wheeling that would make more sence to me but your MPG's are gonna drop more. I swear its the tires.

 

[FunJunkie]

Leave it in your driveway, sit in it, and make engine noises. Prolly only still get 16 mpg.

 

[manville]

forget the gears because with bigger tire you need to lower the gear ratio because you already effectively raised it with the bigger tires.

Exactly; Gears will not get you anything

 

[Lemony]

High Gas Mileage????? where are you from.... then buy a prius, haul lots of stuff then get a minivan. Buy an FJ Cruiser buy alot of gas. just simple math.
Though you could do that hypermileage stuff, its like constant work but you could probably get 40+.

The Pursuit of Hypermileage

lemonys been on the same tank for a month now almost 200 miles and the tank is still full, (but riding a tow truck with a broken ring gear could void my calculations ).

soon i should be able to give you a guess what 4.56 gears will do.