2006 Tundra double cab 4wd mpg?

Hi again everyone. I just recently bought a 2006 Tundra double cab, sr5, trd, 4wd with 149k miles and am rather disappointed in the mpg I'm getting. It has a slight lift and oversize tires but nothing crazy. It runs and drives great but the mileage sucks! I took it to my deer lease in west Texas (7 hour drive) right after buying it and pulled my 12' single axle trailer loaded with my 2020 Polaris Ranger 1000 and got 8.5 mpg there and back. Without pulling anything I got 10.8 mpg putting around town. This cant be normal. If I cant get better mileage then I will probably sell it and get something else. Any help is appreciated.

 

are you hand calculating mileage or using the truck computer? v6 or v8 engine? How much lift? Is the truck cared for, may need maintenance, plugs, air filters. Are the tires road tires or AT or MT? More aggressive tires reduce MPG.

You need to account for the bigger tires, add the % increase in size to your mpg calculation. For instance, determine how much bigger the tires are (%) vs the stock size, and then add that % to your miles traveled listed on the odometer. With larger tires, you are traveling farther than the truck and odometer thinks, so you could actually be getting 3-5% better MPG if you have not been adjusting the calculation based on your actual tire size.

Toyota Tundras don't get great MPG, but that is no surprise as most trucks don't. Your numbers seem low, but we need more info about your truck to determine if what you are seeing is realistic.

 

Welcome and post some pics.

Yes, you should get better mpg than that, but we need to know a lot more to help. A few things to consider, much like the above post:

How fast were you driving?
How big are your tires? What kind?
How big are your wheels?
Are there any other mods to the truck?
Roughly how much does your trailer and Polaris weigh? Doesn't sound like a lot but I'm not familiar.

 

Everything said above.
New air filter, clean the throttle body and mass air flow sensor, and I make sure my tire pressure at the upper end of the recommended PSI.
I run Lucas Oil Upper Cylinder Fuel Treatment often. You might consider doing a Sea Foam crankcase treatment prior to your next oil change. Just did that to my Dads chevy and was surprised what a difference it made.

I pull a small 15 foot boston whaler and with myself, one other person and all our fishing gear, coolers, generator, etc. I can get 16 mpg if I keep it in the high 60's and under 72 mph. Mine's a 2006 DC but it's 2WD, and I have a shell which may or may not help. You should be able to squeak out a few more MPG. Oh yeah, around town I only get around 11 - 12 MPG . . . but I think it's partially due to me driving like a grandpa and not getting the motor in the RPM range that it likes.
Not sure if new O2 sensors would help, I've been told they can fall out of spec. and not trigger the check-engine-light.
Keep us posted.

 

13-14mpg on my 4.7L 4WD DC, 196k miles. I'm fairly easy on the go pedal and mostly around town (no heavy traffic). Stock other than larger off road tires on 17" rims.

 

These trucks are NEVER going to be gas sippers. I think the last tank I checked, I got about 12-ish mpg? I want to say I start getting low around 200 miles per tank.

 

I can live with 16-17MPG on road trips. Considering all the weight I've added to my truck that really isn't bad. My last tank was 10mpg but it was 90% city driving.

 

Hand calculating as I've always done. It has the 4.7 v8. Not sure about the lift but I dont think it's alot. The tires are AT's and they are 295/75/16. Door label says stock is 265/70/16. Oh, and it's a limited. Not an sr5 like previously stated.

 

That MPG sounds a little low even for a 4WD DC. You have some combination of maintenance issues, or the previous owner abused that truck. I Get 15 to 18 freeway (not towing) depending on my load weight, which varies, but is generally 750-1500 lbs. I never drive with empty bed, So I don't know what max could be for me. City MPG and towing MPG have too many variables, what's your empty truck open road freeway mpg? If I got 10.5 in town I would suspect someone put cement in my rear diff. 04 RCLB 4wd.

 

An item to consider is wind drag on your ranger. I've seen many that seem to sit high on a trailer that causes wind restriction, for instance a travel trailer is about 88 sq. ft'. You're not that high but probably near. Also of note; the 265 tire is 657 rpm's / mile with the 295 @ 603.43 rpm's / mile or about 8.9% fewer turns. So when calculating mileage you can increase mileage by 8.9% that works out to about 1 additional mile / gallon. I know not the number you're looking far and may want to look into mechanical items. With the larger tires, has the differentials been changed? Also another item to consider is the larger tires will make your engine lug more because the torque to wheels has changed due to larger circumference. I have 2016 SR-5 with tow package and do a combo 17 for city and highway but my city is small town.
Good Luck,

 

That looks like a little Padre Island Seashore action goin on there.

 

Pretty big difference in tire size. 30.5 to 33, 8.5% difference per the tire calculator I just ran.

Is your odometer reading correct? Are you adjusting it for the tires?

 

What brand are they? 295/75/16 is actually a pretty big tire on these trucks at ~33.5x12. The biggest MPG killer is E rated tires, which I am assuming these are? An additional 10lbs per tire of rotating mass will cut MPG quickly and your numbers seem in line with that.

 

15lbs of additional weight per tire, 10% taller, which throws off the recorded mileage on the odo by the same 10%, 10% wider tire with increased rolling and wind resistance, lifting the truck higher off the ground (killing aerodynamics further) and no regear is a recipe for hoirrible gas mileage. But as a previous poster stated, if your using the recorded mileage on the dash for your calculations, they are 10% off in your favor.

 

I wish! It is a Texas beach but on the opposite end of the state from SPI.

 

Proper tire pressure and keep it under 70. I have 280k on mine and empty with 33’s I get 16.5mpg. Toying my heavy ass 4 seat RZR I’m like 11.5 -12mpg.

That being said I have an 18’ Ram 3500 dually and I get 13mpg towing the same RZR.

Nothing is going to give you awesome mileage towing. I weighed my RZR and little trailer and it was close to 4K.