Fuel Range

[Overland Hadley]

My camper mog has 2x100 gallon tanks, enough for 2400-2800 miles (12-14mpg) and about 9% of gross weight.

Rob

2400-2800 miles... Wow!

 

[cjmitchell5]

40 gallon "main" running tank, 2 X 60 gal rear tanks with electric pump feeds to main tank; 8 X 20L jerrycans. Total = 160/200gal. Highway range without/with jerrycans 1400/1800 miles; offroad/badroad ~800-1000 mi (1000-1200 with jerrycans).
I can think of only a few places I'd like to go that will require filling the jerrycans, all outside North America.
Weight of fuel and aux tanks+cans about 7% of total, equivalent to 40 gal in a 4000 lb vehicle.
For "normal" driving I use just the main tank plus the auxiliary tank on the same side; I usually buy ~90 gal.

Charlie

Like Charlie starts to say you have to decide what is right for you based on the weight of the fuel as a percentage of available load, if you are carrying nothing else then the extra gas may be worthwhile but most of our vehicles, especially the smaller ones, are already running at gross so extra fuel may not be an option.

My camper mog has 2x100 gallon tanks, enough for 2400-2800 miles (12-14mpg) and about 9% of gross weight. I rarely ever fill a single tank never mind both. In North America its nice in places like death valley where diesel is is available but really expensive. I fill up at home, drive there, drive around for a week and then drive home and if I started full maybe still have 100-120 gallons left!

I'm off to Alaska in the spring and it'll be good knowing we can pretty much get there without additional fuel. We'll start with a normal amount in the tanks while in the US and Southern Canada but as things get more remote we'll fill up. We'll look for fuel when one tank is empty and we still have 1400 miles left.

I do have a spare jerry can, its normally empty and could be used for fuel but 5 gallons is not going to fill the tank enough to reach the pickup. The cans intended use is to hold used oil if I have to change oil in the field.

Rob

:smileeek: That's alot o' gas!!! Do you guys run placards?

 

[charlieaarons]

:smileeek: That's alot o' gas!!! Do you guys run placards?

It's no gas at all; it's diesel, which is much safer than gasoline.

Charlie

 

[gjackson]

In my experience 800km (500mi) seems to be a very practical number. For longer trips it can be made to work. In some places (like the Canning Stock Route) you may well need more range, but can add jerry cans if needed.

cheers

 

[L8 APEKS]

10mpg x 20g tank = 200mi

1 5g can = 50mi

250 total range. Plenty for most excursions in CA, since you're never more than 100mi from a gas station!

 

[DiploStrat]

In the old days ...

The answer was 1,000 km, the distance between Tamanrasset, Algeria and Agadez, Niger. (The Gao route was said to be a bit longer.) So to me the design goal will always be 1,000 km without jerry cans. Add one or two cans for emergency, sharing, etc.

There were/are stretches of Congo (DRC) that are probably worse today, but you don't want to be driving there anyway.

I use a second vehicle, a Toyota pickup, with two to four 55 gal drums of diesel when we travel. But I don't drive in California.

800 km should be more than enough for almost anywhere in South America; probably get by with half that range.

Can't speak to Asia.

 

[SafariPacific]

I like to play the safer than sorry card. Much easier to carry more fuel than needed then to walk that additional 100 miles. I carry enough fuel for an 800 mile trip, although 700 seems to be close to the magic number.

 

[DenCo40]

My tank can get me all the way to the next gas staion! I usually plan ahead so I'm not too worried about fuel even if I am in remote areas. If I need to I bring Jerrycans if I am in very remote areas. My Tacoma has a range of about 250-300 miles depending if I have my foot in it or not.

 

[EMrider]

I have repeatedly gone to 550-575 miles before the fuel warning light comes on. At that point, psychology takes over and I start looking for diesel.

Mileage is typically 16ish on the highway and 12ish when poking around off-highway at slower speeds. The 46gal fuel capacity was an attraction for me on the SMB and my theoretical range should be well above 650 on the highway. But I've never pushed it that far.

It is nice to know that if I toted a jerry can or two, I'd be OK up to 750 or more.

R

 

[CA-RJ]

I like the idea of having an extended fuel range, something that the Gen Rite offers. For me, the stock range of my Rubicon Unlimited is about 275 miles on the highway and goes down dramatically once I get off-road. The idea of going from 19 gallons to 31.5 gallons is nice and would mean that I would not have to leave my isolated spots to go find expensive fuel.

 

[madizell]

My off-roader carries 36 gallons of fuel in two tanks. At 14 mpg that gives me 504 miles of range. Even racing in the desert, I have yet to run out of gas. How much you need to carry, I suppose, depends on where you intend to travel, but the key is to plan ahead and to plan in a reserve. If you have a 500 mile range and it is 500 miles to the next fueling point, you don't have enough fuel on board.

 

[michaelgroves]

Travelling in countries where corruption is a problem makes longer range attractive - you're in a much stronger bargaining position when you don't need to fill up!

We could carry enough diesel for around 4000km (in good conditions), and did so regularly in Africa, where prices vary wildly from one region to another. At the time (2003), the cost of diesel in DRC could be as much as $9/litre(!) for the desperate, but then just across the border in Angola, the price was 10c/litre!

In truth, the financial saving wasn't huge in the scheme of things (unless one was really unlucky), but it was nice to feel self-sufficient when fuel was scarce or exhorbitantly priced.

 

[BiG BoB]

In my experience, you need enough fuel to get to your next fuel-up in the worst possible conditions, and onto the next fuel-up, OR back to your previous fuel up (in the same bad conditions) should fuel not be available.

My HJ-60 has a long range tank, and has at leat 1000km of range in mild offroad conditions, with a theoretical range of 1600km running at decent fuel economy.

Our work vehicles (Troopys) have their twin factory 90L tanks, and so far we have not needed to extend their capacity. It will take a compassionate engineer to approve a further increase to their GVM allowing more fuel to be carried, they already sit at 3700kg loaded up for an expedition.

Sean

 

[soenke]

long range fetishist

we are long range fetishists and would carry as much as the car tolerats by still sufficient performance. Off course it depends on terrain and supply along the route.
But we like to explore a remote area rather then just passing through. To do so we need diesel to be mobile for up to 3 weeks. So we don´t have to leave the area just to get fuel or plan our routs in consideration of the fuel stations rather then regarding the sites we want to see...

The other argument is to pass by areas of high fuel prices (as Michael already mentioned)...
you have to do this just very few times and the cost of the longrange tanks will be saved up. Jerry cans won´t be tolerated by custom autority in most cases...

we have tank capacitiy of almost 400l, found as the best compromise of weight and range, traveling with the 1HD-T consuming about 11-15l/100km

don´t fall dry...Sönke

 

[ExpoScout]

I was lucky enough to find that my turbo diesel International Scout II Traveler had the "factory option" 33gal fuel tank when I went to pick it up. This is going to be perfect for me....being that the truck gets on average 25mpg....this comes out to around an 825 mile range. With two more jerry cans I will be able to extend that out to around 1075 miles. This is conservative as on the highway (and once I install new injectors) 30+ mpg isnt unheard of. So 1075 mile range may be on the low end if I luck up.