Installing lockers in the axles for better mileage? lol

 

Yeah, Some of the thing people come up with really make me laugh. I'm still waiting for Cpeever "scientific study" showing that a dirty air filter will give you better gas mileage over a clean one.

 

^ I believe the thought is, power would be more evenly distributed with a locker, thus more efficient. But spider-gears split power 50/50 to each shaft when traveling straight. hmm

 

Driveshaft still turns at the same speed. Locker will just waste tires.

Maybe if you use magic crystals to channel the energy more efficiently? Sit perfectly straight, legs crossed, crystals on both shoulders and magnet on forehead. Breathe deeply and smell the bull****.

Drafting behind transports worked great for me.

 

My 96 4wd get 14.3-14.8 religiously. I have a log of like 40 tanks. most I have ever gotten was 16 highway and I thought I did the math wrong since I refilled 4 gallons instead of filling up.

It is time for new o2 sensors for me though. I just seafoamed it and cleaned the tb installed new air filter and seafoamed the tank. Maybe when I get those o2 sensors in I will get a boost.

I like racing to the speed limit with random opponents though so I'm sure I could get a few there if I stop.

fueleconomy.gov says 14 - 16 average is 14.5 98% city.

 

Well, for the sake of discussion, let's assume that both of these are true, and each will result in a 2 mpg improvement. So, if we do both of them, we gain 4 mpg.

That's not too shabby!

But does it make any sense to do that?

"Well, of course it does, you idiot! Saving gas means saving money!!!"

Yes, but how much money?

"I dunno, but probably a lot! Gas is expensive, and 4 mpg is a big improvement!"

Well, yes to both, but still, are you saving money? That electric fan wasn't free, and neither were the lockers. Even assuming you do all the work yourself, how much did it cost you to get that 4 mpg improvement?

Let's run some numbers:

I just did a very quick search and found some lockers for just over a grand.

Now, what about electrical fans? Well, maybe you can pick up a junk yard fan for fifty bucks, but frankly, I think you'd be stupid to trust your engine to a junkyard fan, and I'm going to assume you aren't stupid. So let's go with some mid-range decent fans that I found online. Call it 400 bucks.

So we're at 1400 bucks for this 4 mpg improvement. Let's see how that plays out:


Assuming you start with not-great 16 mpg, and get it up to 20 mpg. How much money are you saving?

"I dunno."

Right, because we don't know how much you drive. You can't know how much you are saving until you know how much you usually drive.

So let's say your's is a daily driver, and your commute is 50 miles round trip each day. That means you put on 250 miles a week just commuting.

Now, let's toss in another 150 miles on the weekend, just for running around.

So, before you dropped $1400 on your 4 mpg improvement, at your 16 mpg, you burn 25 gallons each week. So, how much are you paying for gas? Let's assume $3.499, which is what I paid today.

So, each week, at 16 mpg, you are paying $87.48 in fuel costs.

Now, if you get that 4 mpg improvement, you're burning 20 gallons, and paying $69.98.

That's a savings of $17.50 per week.

So that $1400 investment will be paid for in 80 weeks, or, a year and a half.

AFTER THAT you start saving money, assuming you still have the Jeep and nothing else has changed.

And if you sell or wreck the Jeep before then, well, you are just out the money. Your gas "saving" device put you in the hole.

Of course, if you drive less each week, it will take longer to get any pay back, and if you drive more, it will take less time.

If you pay more per gallon, it will take less time.


Now, I'm not suggesting these numbers are accurate. You may be able to get lockers or whiz-bang-super-duper-whatevers for less money, or maybe you drive more or less or pay more or less for gas.

All of this is just to show some of you what you have to do in order to know if a particular improvement makes $$$ sense. Just because it gets you better gas mileage doesn't mean it's saving you money.

It might, it might not.

Until you have done the math, you don't know.


As with many things in life, do the math.

 

You and your damn logic BlueRidgeMark.

Maybe an "HHO system"?

 

Correction to what I said about installing lockers...

Installing manual locking hubs will increase by a few mpgs. http://www.ebay.com/bhp/manual-locking-hubs

Personally I like the ability to shift into 4 wheel drive without having to get out and move the hubs into locking position.

Now BlueRidgeMark can spend the night typing up what makes sense by spending and how long it takes to get your return on investment.

 

DAMN!!!
That's why it never worked for me. I forgot the magnet on the forehead...

 

I just got a new set of whiz-bang-super-duper-whatevers and they were the best bang for the buck so far. I would recommend them to everyone!

 

Locking hub conversion for a Dana 30 is over $1000. Pretty poor ROI.

 

ROI is something I find that most "MPG searchers" don't understand. So many people that I work with have gotten rid of a paid off vehicle to buy a more efficient hybrid. Not taking into consideration the monthly payment they now have, increase in car insurance, or that a comparably sized gas engine would have cost thousands less than the hybrid. All they care about is that they are getting "40 mpg" and only focus on their gas bill.

 

Here's a cute read on the fuel economy/daily driver subject: https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f59/be...our-xj-130554/

Much better than that colossal piece of **** that appeared in JP Magazine last year.

 

I have accepted my 14mpg and got a 2014 chevy spark. 42.6mpg at 65mph. was aiming toward a paid off vehicle but other influences decided to do other things with my gift.

 

2001 VW Golf here... $2800 and better mileage than your Spark :P