So I'm planning on taking our 100 on a few thousand mile road trip this June to Colorado for a wedding and then on some sort of adventure across the States. IMO, the 100 is one of the sweetest and most plush rides to tour around in, but it has crappy fuel economy; something which I've been trying to figure out ways to increase as I'm thinking gas is gonna skyrocket this summer.
I have been trying to decide what my first real mod is going to be and decided that savage trail armor, lockers, and a lift might have to wait until I've got more $ burning a hole in my pocket (or someone decides to hit me and their insurance buys it for me
). I've been strongly leaning towards doing the part-time 4wd conversion because to me it sounds like the only modification I could do that could potentially pay for itself in a reasonable amount of time. Hypothetically, it could keep the wear down on front driveline components as well as give me a slight increase of MPGs. I haven't found much info at all regarding the part-time for a 100, but for an 80, it seems that I'm gonna lose my ABS unless I have my front hubs locked - which would kinda defeat the purpose of being able to unlock everything. This is something that I'm still unclear on.
I'm also justifying the part-time because I don't really "need" the full-time/awd because I don't live in an area that sees "real weather" like snow/ice or wet/slick roads unless I'm going up to Tahoe in the winter. If road conditions are to the point where chains are required, I'd most likely be putting it in 50/50 4wd anyways - same thing offroad.
So I'm wondering if anyone has any comments or suggestions to talk me into/out of the part-time idea.
Off topic, but wouldn't 285-75-16 (some kinda aggressive AT) tires give me better gas mileage on the hwy due to lower RPMs and increased tire circumference? I'm aware that it would give me worse MPG for city driving as well as throw off my odo/speedo. I was just wondering about the tires because eventually I plan on going the off-road route with this rig and will be putting bigger meats on, but don't know which would be better to do now since they will end up being around the same cost (good tires vs part-time).
I have been trying to decide what my first real mod is going to be and decided that savage trail armor, lockers, and a lift might have to wait until I've got more $ burning a hole in my pocket (or someone decides to hit me and their insurance buys it for me
). I've been strongly leaning towards doing the part-time 4wd conversion because to me it sounds like the only modification I could do that could potentially pay for itself in a reasonable amount of time. Hypothetically, it could keep the wear down on front driveline components as well as give me a slight increase of MPGs. I haven't found much info at all regarding the part-time for a 100, but for an 80, it seems that I'm gonna lose my ABS unless I have my front hubs locked - which would kinda defeat the purpose of being able to unlock everything. This is something that I'm still unclear on.I'm also justifying the part-time because I don't really "need" the full-time/awd because I don't live in an area that sees "real weather" like snow/ice or wet/slick roads unless I'm going up to Tahoe in the winter. If road conditions are to the point where chains are required, I'd most likely be putting it in 50/50 4wd anyways - same thing offroad.
So I'm wondering if anyone has any comments or suggestions to talk me into/out of the part-time idea.
Off topic, but wouldn't 285-75-16 (some kinda aggressive AT) tires give me better gas mileage on the hwy due to lower RPMs and increased tire circumference? I'm aware that it would give me worse MPG for city driving as well as throw off my odo/speedo. I was just wondering about the tires because eventually I plan on going the off-road route with this rig and will be putting bigger meats on, but don't know which would be better to do now since they will end up being around the same cost (good tires vs part-time).
