Working on a second fuel tank for the bronco. And was thinking... How much gas do others need for trails?

Only once was it a serious issue on the trail for me .. An aborted loop trail was turned in to a out and back.. The whole group ran low on fuel.. I was REAL low and that was with a 6 gal on board as back up.

Yes there are many variables, so I'm not trying to compare apples to oranges. Different rides, driving techniques, how much time you spend in the lead braking trail, getting stuck, winching...

So the question.. How much Gas have you used on a run.. From last fill up opportunity, to first refill opportunity after the trail.

Me first: 39 gal.. Hicks lake extension 2001



Erik Marquez
http://www.bronco78.com
Home of The Big Bronco Decal

The Outback Challenge....Are you Tough enough? http://www.northern4x4.com/events/OBC/OBC.htm

i'll bite. 34 gals from placerville to spider lake(clean-up) and all the way back home to grass valley. don't know the miles, but it took forever with 5.86 gears.:rolleyes:

never used more than 10 gallons and that was wheeling for about 16 hrs and that was all day in moab from 8 in the morning till about 2 in the morning. slow but the worst i have ever done. but i have a efi six banger. never burnt more than 5 gallons in my zook in a day, i swear i think they make gas on the trail. mike

I love my toyota.......started from fremont with a full tank, drove to hollister, wheeled for 3 days then drove home and still had enough gas for two more days of city driving:D

I tend to burn 1 gal per hour maybe 1.5 if I play with the stupid pedal, with 13 usuable I am good for a 8 hour day if we don't shut down.. this is a Tuned Port 415.. BTW

I'll use 5-7 gal all day rock crawling.

In the dunes 30-35 gal.

The most Ive ever used from fillup point to refill point was about 10 gallons and that was stopping in indio for gas on the way to truckhaven, wheelin for 4 days and driving back into indio to get gas again. about 150 miles or so.
Scott

i have spent 10 hours on a trail and most i have used is 12 gallons. i dumped the stock tank though and am running a 20 gal fuel cell now and not sure if it takes a full 20 gallons. iull find out soon as i get it all done

I carry 26 gallons but have never used more then 10....burn about 2 gallons a hour currently...want to try the Dunes and got a line on a set of paddles and will be curious to see how much I burn then....

Interesting how most folks on here wheel only about 5~6 HOURS a day. I'm so used to 12 or more hour wheeling days it seems hard to consider anything else.
A typicle wheeling day in the Last Frontier 4 Wheelers.

Meet in our Anchorage spot at 0800~0900
Meet up in the Other spot at 0900~1000
Move to trail head, anywhere from 45 min to 3 hours down the road.
Air down go wheeling
get off trail head by 2100 if we are break down free and a one day trail.
If two day trail, wheel till somebody broke hard and needs to stop for repairs, or we get tired/reach our stop point.
Drive out, by 2100 or so, stop and refuel, stop at MD's, TB, or BK eat, BS, have wife call cell 4 times and ask when your coming home.
BS for another hour, then go home. 5 hours of wheeling?? ya, right.

Hmm.. regular wheeling... the worst was 24 Gallons, 4.0L. A lot of time idling and keeping a group of stock rigs going on what would be considered challenging trail for a stock rig without taking damage. That was probably a 13 hour day, and barely made it to the gas station. (I usually let the engine idle rather than start/stop it alot)

Sand dunes... I chewed up 10 gallons in something like 5 hours. most of that from climbing hills in 2WD, engine wrapped up at 4-5,000.

Stock 13 gallon tank. Fill up and drive to placerville, fill up again, and hit the trail. Can go through all the way to Tahoe. But I always carry two full jerry cans, just in case......:skull:

From Placerville to So. Lake Tahoe on 14 gallons. never have needed to use my "xtra" fuel. thinkin' about a smaller can, but I'm sure I'd regret it.

Ok Erik, I'll bite. Used damn near all 32/33 gallons in the stock tank, Hole in the Rock at Moab. Did NOT fill up at Cal Black airport on the way in or the way out. Instead filled up both ways at the Fina? in the small town? way down the hiway from the trailhead. Was 3 days of 'wheelin and a good bit of hiway miles.

I have used 20 gallons in about 10 miles once. The place we were at had steep hills all over the place going through the woods and that particular weekend was very wet and muddy so lots of go-pedal was used pretty much the whole weekend for me.

what is this gas material you speak of. i dunno hwo it works, he he. depend son engine size and a million others things. just dont run out! jIMMy

I have a simular sized vehicle. Mines a 75 K5 Jimmy. On the hwy I get about 11mpg. It has a 31 gallon tank. I carry about 4 extra (leaky POS Jerry can). I imagine I run simular trails. Heavy woods with a fair amount of climbing and muddy spots with a few crawling spots (Tellico SE US).
Typicaly I can run about 2 days at Tellico without getting into the Jerry can. That's about 10 hours a day on the trails. Not Non stop because the trails back up so figure about 7-8 hours of actual moving a day. Basicly I go about 14-16 hours of moving on a about 20 Gallons. I Usualy try to refill back in GA at the same spot I fill. Takes about 25-26 gallons to refill.
What your asking is going to have a lot of variables. Trail conditions being the biggest. If you almost non stop mud your going to be using a lot of fuel. I see a fair amount of mud but it's usualy just a few pits that usualy have a bottom so I'm not using a lot of throttle. Plenty of just puttering around at 1500 RPM stuff then some bursts of half throttle to get over stuff.
You might do a performance tune on your truck and make sure it's running as good as possible. I got a bud with a 79 Bronco and man I can't ride behind him. That Carter is one rich running POS. My Quadrajet runs great and except when cold you never smell any fuel in the exhaust.

Originally posted by Grim Reaper
I
What your asking is going to have a lot of variables. Trail conditions being the biggest.

I understand that, and made that clear in my first post. And that is usefull infor for me as I do not wheel only in my own area, I travel about when premited and wheel in yours and others back yards. So knowing how much fuel you use can help me decided what size tanks I'll need to wheel not only in my current area, but in the next (Oregon in a few months) and other places as well.

You might do a performance tune on your truck and make sure it's running as good as possible

Trust me it's running fine :flipoff2: Ask anybody I run with, Maintenance is not an issue with my vehicle.

Thanks for the ideas and info though, it all helps.

In fact, as I have spoken with many other Bronco owners in the PNW and found that gas has never been an issue with them and there trips. I may leave this extra tank mod to a later day.