How far can you go?

[Ramblinman]

I have been wondering about other set ups. I am interested to know how far your rig will take you without a refill.

Pls list your Make, Model, Year, Gas or Diesel, and how far a Jerry Can will extend your range.

My 1998 Chev Z71/Gas, Hawk combo takes me about 400 km (250 Miles) - each Jerry gives me an extra 75 km (50 Miles). I know I am typically over GVW

I suspect that this is not great, tank is smallish. I generally get 15 Mpg and drive 120 Km/h or 75 mph.

I am interested to hear how far others can go.

 

[rotti]

2012 Chevy LTZ 2500HD 6.0 gas 4x4 crew cab with a Hawk (1300 dry, around a ton loaded)
13 to 16 MPG depending on how hard I want to push it.
36 gallon tank, so my range till walking is 468 to 576 miles.
Real world.....my bladder range is more like 200 to 300 miles.

 

[craig333]

My rigs a diesel, 35 gallons worth but I have to spend an extra five minutes at the pump to get the last three gallons in. I usually figure I can do 450 miles at least. 600 if I drive conservatively (yeah I know, I don't ) on the highway. I try to stop every couple hours, its just better for our bodies to move around once in a while.

 

[ckent323]

1993 Dodge W250 Diesel Club Cab long bed with 30 gal fuel tank. Truck empty weighs about 6600 lbs. Several times a year I drive from my home in Solvang, CA to Mammoth Lakes, CA and back as well as to El Segundo, CA and back. When I refuel it usually takes about 21 - 24 gal (roughly 3/4 tank). With my bed cap on (no FWC Keystone camper) I can easily get 450 miles between refills driving at 65 - 70 mph. With the camper that drops to about 350 - 400 miles. Speed has a much bigger effect on mileage with camper on. I figure the way I drive (65 -70) I get about 18 - 19 mpg with only the bed cap on and between 14 - 16 mpg with the FWC Keystone on.

I think I can improve the camper on mileage because the 2009 Keystone cab over sits high in my old bed and there is a large gap between the top of the truck cab and the bottom of the Camper cab over. I wind up pushing a lot of air. I have an air deflector on my to do list but have not gotten to that yet.

 

[jha6av8r]

2013 Silverado 3500 HD with 6.6L Duramax Diesel, Allison transmission, & 4x4. My Grandby comes in just under 2,000 lbs loaded. She consistently gets 15 mpg so if I ran the 36 gallon fuel tank empty she'd go 540 miles and a 5 gallon jerry can would get me 75 extra. For planning I would assume 10% less for a little fudge factor.

 

[iowahiker]

2013 Ford F-150 regular cab long bed 4x4 with 5.0L V-8 gasoline and payload package weighs 5400 pounds empty and payloads 2800 pounds without the tailgate and has a 36 gallon fuel tank. Our Granby weighs 1100 pounds empty without the jacks and lightly equipped and so 1600 pounds loaded which puts our grand total in the 7000-7500 pound range including the two of us. Fuel mileage is 15.3 to 16.1 mpg by the tank fills at 61 mph (two lane) and 69 mph (four lane). Our range is 450 miles using 30 gallons from the tank and a 5 gallon can would add 75 miles to that. Off road mileage is 14 mpg and so a range of 400 miles. You have to love 36 gallon fuel tanks until you fill it.

 

[Bwht4x4]

My 2005 Quad Cab Ram 2500 with the CTD gets 16 mpg with the camper on (70 mph) and I get 18 mpg with the camper off. I recently took off my fuel tank and relocated the fuel tank vent. Now I can fuel up super fast and fill it to the top. I can get somewhere between 34-35 gallons in the tank now in just a couple of mins, which gives me almost 550 mile range with the camper on the truck. Pict below show the new vent line, the old vent line and the filler hose.

Here's a link to the vent kit.

http://www.glacierdieselpower.com/dept.aspx?dept_id=02-001

I also have a TigerGate: http://www.tiregate.com/hg-series/

The TireGate will hold two 6 gallon fuel cans too. Two of these and a full tank is 46 gallons of fuel and 736 mile range. Not to mention the handiness of having a second spare tire available.

 

[craig333]

I really need to do that mod. Kinda pricey though.

 

[MarkBC]

In my Ford F250, 2000, with 6.8-L V10 gas engine, I usually get 12 mpg on the highway in 2-wheel drive with the camper on, so with the ~26-gallon tank I should theoretically be able to go 312 miles.
I rarely carry extra gas, and I rarely try to push the 300-mile limit before refueling.

 

[Bwht4x4]

Pricey @ $59? You have $40k+ worth of truck and camper.

 

[Lighthawk]

2006 Tundra AC with 26.4 gal tank carrying a Hawk here. I get approx 13+ MPG with Hawk, but less in 4 wheel low . I figure very conservative at 10mpg for estimating extended off road sections. In practice, we're comfortable doing a 250 range without an extra 5 gal on the back, but can push it to 300 miles when needed. The extra gas can is usually like insurance; you pay for it, but never use it.

 

[Hittheroad]

My goal is forever. I figure a Tesla pickup and new light weight solar panels should be able to refuel with just a few days at each camp site. No end to it.

 

[ntsqd]

'96 CTD, 4wd, supposedly a 35 gal tank. Have yet to verify that, but it's close to right.
Dead stock best ever of 19.9 mpg, so 696 miles in that config.
With 315's (re-geared) and the camper a best ever of 24 mpg or 840 miles. The numbers don't lie, but I'm still not convinced those are right. Had a heavy tail wind L.V. to Ely. Usually 13-15, so 455-525 miles. I wouldn't mind having another 10 gals more capacity. Transfer-Flow has no listing for my truck, not sure who else might.

Thrombosis is real concern, get out and walk around every couple of hours at minimum. I used to do Ventura to Chico non-stop. I won't any more even though I'm sure that I can still synchronize my bladder with the fuel tank.

The larger tank vent is appealing, but the reason that some volume is left above the OE vent in the stock fuel tank is to have room in the tank for thermal expansion of the fuel. That's not lost fuel capacity, the engineers did it that way to prevent fuel from spilling on the ground or other misbehavior when it gets hot and expands.

 

[Bwht4x4]

Thermal expansion of diesel fuel is an issue, but only if you had an empty tank, filled it to the top on a hot day and then didn't drive from there.

From the math I've seen...if you fill the tank to the top on a hot day and accounting for the temp of the fuel coming out of the cool ground one would have to drive approx 10-14 miles to provide enough space for thermal expansion. So, with that said, I don't fill it to the top unless I'm on a road trip or know I'll be driving it a bit around town. I also don't fill it to the top, just one click and I stop. I've never heard of anyone having a problem with thermal expansion after this modification and I'm on the TDR forum almost every day.

From the two links below, if I did my math right, I come up with a volume increase of 0.70 gallon if 35 gallons of diesel fuel is increased from 50 degrees to 90 degrees.

http://www.onsitepoweradvisor.com/2012/12/03/thermal-expansion/#sthash.gYomGMC1.dpbs
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Science-Kids-3250/2008/2/volume-thermal-expansion.htm

I'm sure that between the small amount of airspace still in the tank, the filler neck and vent tube there is enough space to account for this expansion if I fueled it to the top and didn't drive it a bit. I also don't generally don't fuel up an empty tank, so a tank that is 1/4 full at the time of refueling would expand even less.

 

[ski3pin]

My goal is forever. I figure a Tesla pickup and new light weight solar panels should be able to refuel with just a few days at each camp site. No end to it.

Projects that lead to this kind of independence need to be supported. Thanks for the insight Hittheroad!

 

[ski3pin]

2003 Ford Ranger with a 19.6 gallon tank. Our mileage varies between 14 and 19 mph – calculated the old fashion way with math and a logbook. Trip planning is for no more than 250 miles between fill ups. The 3 gallons in the rotopax is only an insurance policy as Lighthawk says. On one long loop around Death Valley National Park’s dirt roads, while dropping toward Beatty we had a gas gauge pegged on E and other dash lights coming on saying CHECK GAUGE. It was unnerving. We had 279 miles on the tank. We filled with 15 gallons telling us we had 4.5 gallons remaining. 15 gallons has been our maximum fill.

On our ranger the fuel pump is located in the gas tank. Running to empty has the real possibility of burning up the pump. A new pump is around $500 and it is hard to get to, not something I’d enjoy replacing. I believe this is why the gauge is weighted toward an early empty reading. I use the scangauge II. I have Distance to Empty (DTE) as one of my visible parameters. I never let DTE fall below 75 miles.

There are no aftermarket larger tanks available and no room under the truck to do something custom.

Our range has not limited us in our explorations and the act of getting somewhere with our vehicle is only the start of the adventure.

 

[murphy744]

In my Ford F250, 2000, with 6.8-L V10 gas engine, I usually get 12 mpg on the highway in 2-wheel drive with the camper on, so with the ~26-gallon tank I should theoretically be able to go 312 miles.
I rarely carry extra gas, and I rarely try to push the 300-mile limit before refueling.

Wow....312 miles. I have the same truck (2003), but lifted with 35's and 4.30 gears. I can just sqeeze out 200 miles.

 

[MarkBC]

Wow....312 miles. I have the same truck (2003), but lifted with 35's and 4.30 gears. I can just sqeeze out 200 miles.

Of course I've never actually driven my truck 312 miles on a single tank (I haven't run it to empty) -- that's the calculated range.


When on a trip I calculate the gas mileage at each fill-up, and I do get, on average, 12 mpg with the camper on the truck, highway-only driving, in 2-wheel drive, on a more-or-less level route (e.g., Susanville to Bridgeport on 395, not Sacramento to Tahoe on 50), and driving no faster than 70 mph even on Interstate freeways (the drag from wind-resistance increases at greater-than-linear with speed, so it really pulls down the gas mileage disproportionately as you increase speed). In Oregon the posted maximum speed limit -- other than on Interstates -- is only 55 mph, and so in Oregon I usually cruise about 63 - 64 mph on rural highways (Oregon State Police generally ignore "speeding" at less than 65 mph even in a 55 mph zone when driving conditions are not hazardous).


So, if my tank has a 26-gallon capacity (I think it does...) then at 12 mpg that works out to 312 miles range.

(in city driving my truck gets considerably lower gas mileage -- less than 10 mpg -- because I'm not a conservative driver in town... And of course on dirt, in 4x4, on snow, etc -- all lower mileage. But because those conditions are so variable and inconsistent -- and because I don't/can't fill the tank immediately before and after a stretch of dirt/4x4/etc -- I don't have a reliable number to report; I just know that it's less.)

 

[UglyScout]

My old truck 1994 Dodge CTD - 2WD - single cab long bed - automatic w/ loaded Grandy. 35 gallon tank -- 18 mpg +/- 630 miles. Most I ever actually drove was right at 600. I was too scared to see how much fuel I really had left.

New ride 2002 Chevy Duramax diesel. 4wd Crewcab. 35 gallon tank - 15 mpg. +/-525 miles.

When I am not going camping it is nice to drive around for a month and not need to get fuel

 

[ntsqd]

Thermal expansion of diesel fuel is an issue, but only if you had an empty tank, filled it to the top on a hot day and then didn't drive from there.

From the math I've seen...if you fill the tank to the top on a hot day and accounting for the temp of the fuel coming out of the cool ground one would have to drive approx 10-14 miles to provide enough space for thermal expansion. So, with that said, I don't fill it to the top unless I'm on a road trip or know I'll be driving it a bit around town. I also don't fill it to the top, just one click and I stop. I've never heard of anyone having a problem with thermal expansion after this modification and I'm on the TDR forum almost every day.

From the two links below, if I did my math right, I come up with a volume increase of 0.70 gallon if 35 gallons of diesel fuel is increased from 50 degrees to 90 degrees.

http://www.onsitepoweradvisor.com/2012/12/03/thermal-expansion/#sthash.gYomGMC1.dpbs
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Science-Kids-3250/2008/2/volume-thermal-expansion.htm

I'm sure that between the small amount of airspace still in the tank, the filler neck and vent tube there is enough space to account for this expansion if I fueled it to the top and didn't drive it a bit. I also don't generally don't fuel up an empty tank, so a tank that is 1/4 full at the time of refueling would expand even less.

I hadn't done the calcs for diesel. In the past I have done them for gasoline. Based on that .00046gal/°F Cf my 35 gallon tank's contained fuel volume will expand ~1/3 of a gallon going from 60°F to 80°F when full. Figure in a factor of safety for extreme circumstances and a 1 gallon free volume isn't unrealistic for my tank size.
To the best of my knowledge the OE's don't make diesel specific fuel tanks for their pick-ups, so the expansion volume of the tank is likely set for gasoline.

I think my money is better spent on a transfer tank as it will yield me more overall capacity. For someone looking for just a little more range it might be worth the trouble, but that assembly of parts could be had for less if you're familiar with industrial plumbing components. I'd use a Dowty seal or a Stat-o-Seal with a AN/JIC bulkhead union inserted from inside the tank.

With my '84 Xcab I've found, after ~100k combined miles, that it's dirt mileage is about the same as it's city mileage. So at 250 miles on a tank it's time to start looking for fuel. At 275 miles I've got a firm grip on the seat, if you know what I mean. Somewhere around 325 miles I'm walking.