Which mod gave me the biggest MPG jump?

For as long as I can remember, I have consistently gotten 15.2-15.3 MPG on my 2017 Crewmax. I’ve ran 33x12.5 R/T’s on my stock 18’s since the factory’s wore out. Well, at 170k miles, I decided to relive my youth somewhat. I purchased a dry AFE drop in air filter, did the SABM, installed a cat back exhaust, added 1.5 wheel spacers and leveled the front. After about a month, I am now showing 16.0-16.1 MPG. This is off the dash reading that I did not reset. My commute is 60 miles round trip, 4-5 days a week, and I’ve never been a speed demon or anything like that. So, my question is, what caused the MPG jump more? The air filter, the SABM, or the exhaust? A combination of all the above. It really shocked me honestly and how I didn’t do it sooner. Just genuinely curious I guess…

 

It's a combo of intake and exhaust. An engine is basically just a fancy air pump, the more efficiently you can get the air in/out the better the fuel economy.

 

^^^^this^^^^

Most see lower mpg after an exhaust cause it sounds good and they wanna put that foot in it

 

The slight lift and tires poking out causes the wind turbulence under the truck and around the front end to lose some mpg. Especially if you take those mudflaps in the front off too.

 

The head unit mileage calculation is notoriously inaccurarate. Did you ever calculate the milage by hand prior to your mods?

 

My 03 Sequoia had a roof mounted "lie-o-meter" and it never told you reality based much of anything. Driving it for 20 years, it was consistently 2mpg higher than actual mileage, no matter what type of driving we did.

I would routinely fill to brim with fuel, drive several hundred miles, fill again, then divide my miles by # gallons it took to fill.

Always 2mpg off.

I seem to recall Toyota being taken to court over this, but thats when I was smoking a lot of crack at the time, and things are a bit fuzzy from then

 

Thanks everyone. I haven’t actually done exact mileage on pen and paper (most because I never top off to do so). Just going off the dash. The exhaust is louder, but not obnoxious or anything. It’s 2.5 from where the factory unbolted between the cats and muffler. It Y’s into a what I call a turbo muffler, then a 3” single out behide the tire. All no name brand. I got it pre made from a shop I used in the past. Really satified considering he only charged me $300 and it’s all stainless. I’ve read about drone on doing such, but I really can’t tell consider the tires I’ve always ran had road noise. Leveling the truck with spacers made it just look way better. In my youth, I was the one always running true duels, no muffler with echo tips on everything. I almost did it, but I’ve outgrown all that. I mean, I went 170k with factory since 2017 lol. So far I’m satisfied with what little I’ve done. I did have to remove the small mud flaps on the front. After installing the spacers, they rubbed a little turning lock to lock.

 

Is that what those tiny flaps in the front are for? I took them off because they're so weird looking and don't seem to do anything.

 

Yes. The tiny flaps in front of the tires are for air flow efficiency at stock heigh to help with fuel savings. I took mine off too. I think the truck looks better without them..

 

Dirty Deeds exhaust (12" if I remember correctly), soft bed cover, removed carbon filter, stock Michelin defenders and Bilstien 6112 at 1.2". I'm getting 17.2 to 18mpg running at 75-80 mph. Everything else is stock except for an RCI Skid plate. Last weekend I did a round trip from OKC to Dallas, Speed were between 70-95mph (mostly 80mph), tow/haul mode on, head wind going South and tailwind going North, 17.8mpg hand calculated.

 

I've noticed a slight uptick in fuel economy with OTT (including MAF) and Stillen intake. Not too much, maybe 1-1.5 MPG. And only if I stay out of it.

 

Best MPG mod is to perform NO mods.

 

Letting it sit in the driveway and driving a Prius is really the only way to get decent mileage from a tundra.

Once you can put MPGs out of your mind, the truck will absolutely become more enjoyable to drive.

Trust me, I’ve had three and over 400k combined between them.

 

Agreed. Some ridiculous things written here.
Easier acceleration and longer roll time to stops for red lights will yield much higher gains than fancy exhausts or whatever. I only need to brake the last 20 mph or not at all if I time it well.

Adding fancy exhaust for several hundred dollars will wipe out any savings from 0.01mpg you might have gotten.

 

Kind of like some Ford owners I know. I have compared mine to hand calculations and it is a couple of tenths high.

 

The plus side of the Ford is the ability to calibration the read out and make it accurate. Toyota stuck us with their flawed math...lol.

 

I didn't add exhaust for MPG, I installed to get rid the annoying drone the stock exhaust had between 40-50mph, also I enjoy the exhaust tone around town and how its quieter then stock on the highway, unless accelerating. I have company gas card for Fuel, so it doesn't really matter for me. And yes driving style is the most beneficial, using the brakes as little possible and staying around 2k rpm when accelerating gives the best results. The Michelin Defenders was the only "mod" that made significant difference, after running A BFG K02 previously.