Baltimore/DC area
 

My name is Cory. I just replaced my lifted '99 XJ (13 mpg) with a '91 2.3L 5spd Ranger long bed (28mpg). I still have the Jeep but it has become a toy only at this point.

The Ranger has a very big job now though. It's going to need to balance goal my 30 mpg while maintaining sufficient back-country ability (including lugging my gear). I forsee a custom bed cover to improve aero, hinged near the top of the cab with a to be determined tarp set-up to allow in bed over-nights. :thumbup:

Mods not directly related to improving MPG will be upgrading to the factory offered "extreme duty" suspension.

Thoughts and criticism welcome.

My question is, why bother with making the Ranger into an offroader if you already have the XJ? Any larger wheel/tire combo you put on the Ranger is going to have a negative effect on your MPG's. If you make the Ranger as aerodynamic as possible (or get a different, even more economical vehicle), the money you save can be used to fuel the XJ when you want to go wheelin' for the weekend.

If I hadn't needed to trade in my pickup for the trade-in value, I would have kept it for the exact same reason.

Re-reading my post I can see the misunderstanding. I intend to keep the 215 70r14 tires and add no lift. Back-country will be restricted to rough gravel roads.
My last climbing trip cost 1100.00 in the XJ from Baltimore to the Alamosa area of Colorado.

Ah I gotcha, that makes more sense.

Depending on how much you don't care about aesthetics, you can make it more aerodynamically efficient. Aerohead and BamZipPow are gods of pickup aeromodding. Big Dave also made a front air dam out of a conveyor belt and saw a lot of improvement.

If you're going for a stock look or corrugated plastic isn't your cup of tea, then driving habit changes will be your only improvement.
You can read all the tips, but some of the more important ones are:
--Inflating your tires as close to the sidewall-listed maximum as you feel comfortable with (I keep mine in the 41-42 range, a good balance for me between lowered rolling resistance and comfort.)
--Driving 50-55 instead of 60-65 (I try hard not to be a headache to other drivers and sometimes sacrifice a few MPG to remain unobtrusive. Sometimes this means driving 60 in a 60.)
--Get a fuel efficiency gauge! (I dunno if the '91's had the OBDII port but if not, get an MPGuino.)
--Coast, coast, coast. Try to maximize your coasting distance in all situations. (both in-town and more importantly when taking exits on the freeway. This includes deceleration in-gear as well.)

Some or all of this may be old-hat to you, but hopefully some of it is new. Either way, welcome to the forums.

Now go spend a ton of time reading! :)