Off road range of your FZJ 80

[Land Speeder]

I get 220 miles til the light comes on just with hard daily driving


can easily burn half tank just with crawling and idling in low and only going 10 miles or so...

 

[Hayes]

Hayes,

I'm pretty sure I know the trip and terrain you're talking about. 200miles is a piece of cake. I'd never hesitate to go that far if I knew I could get all the way through. The concern, depending on which route you take, is that you may not be able to get all the way through. That after 180 miles you come to a wash out or downed tree (both have happend to me near Escalante) that will force your trip to be 360 miles instead of 200. You can go from Green River through the Maze and back to Hanksville no problem. If you have to you can always hit up Hite for some $$$$ fuel. Check with the NPS before your trip and they'll let you know about any road closures.
dmc

Yup. Pinning down a few remaining variables for our family Maze trip next month.

Our route (contigent upon conditions) goes from Hanksville, thru Hans Flat, Panorama Point, The Doll House, and then out N. Hatch and Poison Spring Canyon, and back to Hanksville (4 nights total).

Using NPS mileage figures and numbers I calculated with a Topo program, I get 220 miles for the journey. I figure the worst case situation would be getting turned back in N. Hatch or Poison Spring canyons.

I'd like to think I could get 200 miles out of my 80 on this trip, considering it's mostly dirt roads. I will be loaded down, however.

We'll probably carry 15 gallons of extra gas between three vehicles (Heep, Taco, 80).

Ryan

 

[blu 60]

I use the Scepter plastic cans, you can get them from Brigade Quartermaster, don't forget to get the spout or super siphon.

 

[Rich]

I hope you're joking?

Hayes

Absolutely not joking. Not too hard to imagine hanging by the seatbelts upside down with truck sitting in a 10 gallon pool of gasoline with the sunroof and side windows broken out. Go look at some pics of upside down landcruisers and picture a couple of plastic gas tanks squished between the roof and the ground.

 

[Mike S]

My 80 carries 50 gallons fo fuel, so the range is about 600 to 700 miles. The trailer has an additional 20 gallons, so total range is nearly a thousand miles. Adequate for most applications...

M

 

[Mike S]

Absolutely not joking. Not too hard to imagine hanging by the seatbelts upside down with truck sitting in a 10 gallon pool of gasoline with the sunroof and side windows broken out. Go look at some pics of upside down landcruisers and picture a couple of plastic gas tanks squished between the roof and the ground.

I strongly agree with Rich. Further, carrying fuel - or any thing dense and heavy - on the roof is bad juju. Bedding, tents, etc. go on the roof, heavy stuff down lower. Fuel should be carried outside the passenger compartment, preferably on a swing away can carrier on the rear of the truck. Two blitz cans will carry 10 gallons - good for over 100 miles in an 80. More than enough for most people.

Besides, really heavy roof loads under severe pounding (like on bad back roads) will cause pillar cracking, roof or gutter damage to the vehicle, and may cause the rack to fail.

Roof rack baskets are HEAVY. ARB does not list the weight of their full length steel 80 series rack on their website, but from fooling with them, my guess is about 100 pounds ofr the rack alone. I have tents that weigh less than that. In the USA the 80 series is rated at 165 lbs dynamic roof load. So, you have a massive basket that can carry 65 lbs. worth of 'stuff'.

Food for thought.

Mike

 

[cruiserdan]

The shipping weight for a 3/4 ARB rack that I received at the store on behalf of a friend was over 100 lbs.

 

[Mike S]

CDAN

I thought so... and I agree about the M1 Garand.

M

 

[Hayes]

Absolutely not joking. Not too hard to imagine hanging by the seatbelts upside down with truck sitting in a 10 gallon pool of gasoline with the sunroof and side windows broken out. Go look at some pics of upside down landcruisers and picture a couple of plastic gas tanks squished between the roof and the ground.

Definitely.
But has anyone seen a 6000 pound 80 sitting upside down on top of a metal gas can? I haven't, but I'd bet the metal one would be smashed and leaking everywhere too.

Hayes

 

[Rich]

The metal can pictured in this thread is no doubt way stronger than any plastic can. In a fight between that can and the roof, I think the roof will lose.

 

[e9999]

FWIW, I had a stupidly dangerous incident where I had "temporarily" lashed a gas can on the tongue of a trailer to have the extra gas down in Baja. I'm an idiot, what can I say.... Well, after a while, on an asphalted (or concrete?) road, the gas can slipped off the tongue and got wedged between the popup body, tongue, and the asphalt. While being dragged it of course got ground by the asphalt making an ugly racket, the can wall got ground through and gas was spewing off while being dragged along... Only redeeming feature was that the can was plastic so it didn't make any spark, otherwise the trailer was toast, and maybe the truck too.... Would have looked like a fighter jet on afterburner....

This to remind folks not to be idiots like me with gas cans, and the point that may be relevant here is that if you roll and slide down the freeway with metal gas cans on your roof, it may not be the best thing.... Then again, the roof may make sparks anyway, so...

 

[alia176]

OK, here's a follow up question:

I'm thinking a couple of these would be OK on top:


Hayes

I have two olive green color tanks that look similar to this one you posted. I think they were surplus items from NATO or somthing like that. Anyway, they have excellent sealing capability and have stored them inside the vehicle and on the roof rack for long trips in the previous SUV. They never leaked and I never smelled gasoline smell inside the cab. Haven't done the same thing in the 80 since I have an aux tank but an upcoming trip may require it again so I'll find out if the seal is still tight.

When they were on the roof rack, laying sideways (along the spine) with the mouth in the up position, they were great. All of the bouncing while offroading built up little pressure but no leaks. When I needed to fill the main tank with gasoline from these cans, I'd use a simple wiggle hose (found in many farm supply/offroading store for $10) to transfer fuel. Wiggle hoses have a built in ball that acts as a check valve. This method required no sucking on a hose, hoisting a heavy can from the roof rack to the ground level or holding up a 45 lb of dead weight while filling up the main gas tank in the vehicle. When I needed to fill them at the gas station, I'd do so in situ by simply standing on the lower tailgate. This means that you'll need to place the cans near the gas tank filling area, so that's the driver side, rear part of the roof!

Misc items: use ratcheting straps to secure the tanks and use a decent rack. I've used various racks in the past, from a simple basket by Yakima to a huge safari home made rack. If storing the cans sideways along their spine, you'll need a way to keep them upright.

Just my .02 cents.

Ali

 

[4WD Toyota Owner Magazine]

Just got back from a trip to Reiter and it ate almost half a tank while out on trail