Our Idaho project

[bisonthecruiser]

That rack is sweet. Any idea what it did to your mileage?

[loper]

Hard to say. I got 15 mpg driving up to Hillsboro to do the 4x4 conversion, rack, etc. (stock drivetrain, 29" tires, and 4:10 gears).

Got 11.25 mpg driving home (4x4, rack, ladder, lifted 9" from stock, 35" tires, and 4:88 gears).

I really believe the lift and big tires hurt the mileage the worst. There's a lot of drag under the thing, and a lot of rolling resistance.

[IanF]

A lift will always cause a drop in fuel economy due to the increased frontal profile, then you're also adding weight and driveline drag. If/when I do a 4x4 conversion, my plan is to use as little lift as possible, but I definitely expect a MPG hit.

[loper]

Oh, I was aware my mileage was going to drop. I didn't lift it for the sake of lift, or even for tire clearance, I had to lift it to get room for the front suspension to operate.

Going up in tire size also raised the entire vehicle some (29" stock to 35" after adds about 3" of lift), but I wanted bigger tires for off road ability.

Add in the rolling resistance inherent with big, mud terrain tires, and it just gets worse.

Having a V10 and 4:88 gears doesn't help with mpg, either.

But none of this surprised me, and it doesn't interfere with what I want the van to do. I mostly stick to back roads or off road, so I stay 65 mph or less most of the time. Didn't build it for road trips on the Interstate.

[Twoxentrix]

Originally Posted by loper

…But none of this surprised me, and it doesn't interfere with what I want the van to do. I mostly stick to back roads or off road, so I stay 65 mph or less most of the time. Didn't build it for road trips on the Interstate.

And that’s the mentality needed to approach this lifestyle - fuel economy has no business being part of the equation.

[IanF]

I don't necessarily disagree - I've had that debate for decades of buying 4x4 trucks. But it does depend on how one plans to use the van. My plan is there will be a LOT of interstate driving to get from where I live (eastern PA) to where I want to camp (out west). While some MPG drop is expected, I will also do what I can to make that drop as low as possible.

[loper]

Originally Posted by IanF

I don't necessarily disagree - I've had that debate for decades of buying 4x4 trucks. But it does depend on how one plans to use the van. My plan is there will be a LOT of interstate driving to get from where I live (eastern PA) to where I want to camp (out west). While some MPG drop is expected, I will also do what I can to make that drop as low as possible.

We had this discussion when we started planning to build the van. If I had intended to do a lot of long range, interstate trips, I would have rebuilt/upgraded the stock two-wheel drive suspension. That would have been much better for ride, mpg, all the pavement stuff. For that purpose, pavement manners would have taken precedence.

That isn't what we want to do though. Most of our trips are hilly, crooked two lane roads to get to Forest Service or BLM roads, then out into trails. I could not go some of the places I want to go without high clearance and 4x4. For my purposes, power, big brakes, low gears, tires, and suspension travel were the priority.

Everything we've done on the van has been done with an eye toward our purpose. We get a lot of brush scratches, so I painted it with bed liner-type paint. We run a lot of washboard roads, so the interior is built pretty tough. Getting this big heavy bugger un-stuck is tough, so we have big rough tires and lockers in both axles. Most of what we do is outside, so no TV, built in toilet, etc. We like to stay out for a little while, so big pantry, big fridge and a solar set up. I built the thing to a specific purpose.

That's the cool thing about this though, we can all do whatever we have the skillset and funds to accomplish. I like seeing what other people have done, and I can appreciate things that don't suit my purpose, but are ideal for the person that built/bought them.

[IanF]

Originally Posted by loper

We had this discussion when we started planning to build the van. If I had intended to do a lot of long range, interstate trips, I would have rebuilt/upgraded the stock two-wheel drive suspension. That would have been much better for ride, mpg, all the pavement stuff. For that purpose, pavement manners would have taken precedence.

That isn't what we want to do though. Most of our trips are hilly, crooked two lane roads to get to Forest Service or BLM roads, then out into trails. I could not go some of the places I want to go without high clearance and 4x4. For my purposes, power, big brakes, low gears, tires, and suspension travel were the priority.

Everything we've done on the van has been done with an eye toward our purpose. We get a lot of brush scratches, so I painted it with bed liner-type paint. We run a lot of washboard roads, so the interior is built pretty tough. Getting this big heavy bugger un-stuck is tough, so we have big rough tires and lockers in both axles. Most of what we do is outside, so no TV, built in toilet, etc. We like to stay out for a little while, so big pantry, big fridge and a solar set up. I built the thing to a specific purpose.

That's the cool thing about this though, we can all do whatever we have the skillset and funds to accomplish. I like seeing what other people have done, and I can appreciate things that don't suit my purpose, but are ideal for the person that built/bought them.

True... I don't anticipate doing trips requiring 4WD for some time. I'll build out my van as-is until then. I figure by the time I'm ready to do a 4x4 conversion, it'll be part of rebuild #3. This is partly because I don't plan to do a 4x4 conversion until I'm ready to do a 12V/Allison swap/'08 clip at the same time.

If you're going to be silly, go all the way.

[loper]

Nothing wrong with going whole hog.

[h.grenade]

Nice looking rig! I think the gearing is going to account for the majority drop in MPG. Not that it matters for your purpose. Lift, 33s, hightop, etc haven't made any difference for me so far. Maybe 1mpg drop. My van is a 5.4 and under 7,000lbs (edit also stock 3.73 gears, its slow until you get a good head of speed built up haha).

The color and all the racks/aluminess looks amazing. Inspiring for sure!