Have any of you guys ever used a air deflector on your tow rig while pulling your 5'er? What were the results? Did you see any performance gains. More mpg?
I have looked at getting something like the <font color="red">AeroTravel </font> air deflector.
__________________ Cotton - '93 F350 CC DRW 7.3 NA E40D 2WD 4.10, Hypermax Turbo,Intercooler and 3 1/2" exhaust, DPS Turbo Cal Pump and Stage 1 Injectors, Holley Red and more to come!
Go to www.trailerlife.com and look at their forum. I have seen many negative posts about air deflectors. Every post I read said that they were too far from the front of the trailer, and not wide enough. They did say that they kept bugs off the trailer though. From my reading the deflectors seem to be a waste of money [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif[/img].
Firefighter9208
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Early 99 (3/98) Extended Cab F 250 XLT 4X2, PSD, 6 Speed, LWB, SRW. 140,000 miles. LUK Clutch, C-BETR Tow Mirrors, Muffler Delete Pipe, Removed Catalytic Converter, Autometer Dual A Pillar Guages with pre-turbo Pyro and Boost, SCMT 1705 Max Tuner, Tymar Intake from Airflo.com. 265/75/16 Firestone Transforce A/T's. Fumoto Drain Valve.
The most, it keeps the nose of trailer cleaner, ie: no bugs.
I ran a Turbo Wing on my '96,99,00 F350's and it looked cool, kept the trailer nose cleaner, but no mileage change.
If you really worked hard at it, it MIGHT gain you .5 mpg...maybe. I don't think anyone on here ever has seen a major improvement.
Do a little search, there has been alot of conversation on this subject.
__________________ THE ORIGINAL "FREIGHTRAIN" 1959 B61 Mack...15 gears of twin stick, black smoke huffin' fun 1967 F100 LB....352 ci/4 spd, nice daily runner 1969 F100 SB.....428 cubic inches of dual quad, 4 speed terror. 1964 Galaxie......390 cubic inches of blown big block...with a 4 speed 1964 Galaxie Country Sedan Wagon.....428 ci and 5 speeds of wheelstanding race car 40ft Haulmark trailer..for the car, quad, AND kitchen sink FOKISD MEMBER ATHS MEMBER....old trucks RULE!
Big bug deflector huh??!! freighttrain I called myself doing a search but either I didn't use the right words or the archives ate them. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]
Don
__________________ Cotton - '93 F350 CC DRW 7.3 NA E40D 2WD 4.10, Hypermax Turbo,Intercooler and 3 1/2" exhaust, DPS Turbo Cal Pump and Stage 1 Injectors, Holley Red and more to come!
A fulltimer 2 sites down from me just installed a deflector on his Dodge. He told me that the instructions said to adjust it by using the bug line on the front of the 5ver as a guide for how high to set it.
Basically there is little or no gain in fuel mileage and you certainly will not recoup the expense.
So other than the bug issue why use one? He told me that he just likes the look of it.
I think that I'll spend my money on something more useful, more fuel maybe.
Capt Ron
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__________________ Cotton - '93 F350 CC DRW 7.3 NA E40D 2WD 4.10, Hypermax Turbo,Intercooler and 3 1/2" exhaust, DPS Turbo Cal Pump and Stage 1 Injectors, Holley Red and more to come!
Ya I though so, but what I can't figure out is how to hide the ugliness ?? Maybe the clear ones?? When I see things like this I would like to talk to the people in person, after all they may be paid for the testimonials.
I have a deflector an my truck. Got it cheap so thought what the heck. I can't remember name. It has a frame rail that mounts behind cab to bed. It is as wide as top of roof oftruck and hinges in front. It lays down flat when not towing and I elevate it to an angle to tow, it's adjustable to many angles,the 2 spring loaded shock supports are how you adjust it.
Before I bought it, I couldn"t put anything in back of truck while pulling camper without strapping down tight. I have had 2+4's, 4+4's used for leveling camper, sucked out and are laying on road side. I even had a 6 gal boat gas can with about a gal or two gas in it suck out and ran over by the camper and then boat behind camper. The front style of my camper creates a terrible sucktion of wind.
Since I use the deflector, I can set a sack of empty beer cans in back and it will be there when I get home. I can't say that it helps with milage or not and it does catch a lot of bugs, just my opinion that if it changes the air flow ,it must be doing something good for me.
I can't get my pictures to work on the comm. web site so you could see it. Mybe I can get pictures back up.
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Snake Oil, wait one more year and they will be giving those things away for free. Everytime I look they have reduced the price in half. They dont work.
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Just eating rainbows and butterflies
Two of our members that are engineers worked on this several years ago. Their conclusion was that an air deflector could be made to work, but it would be so big and ugly that nobody would buy one. The nice pretty ones available now don't work.
The following thread is copied from the archives back in '99. "Anonymous" are the two engineers. Although good engineers, both couldn't follow the rules of the website so were banned by the WebMaster. Kim Lux signs his posts as Kim. The unsigned anonymous posts are by Fred Young (fyoung).
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sandyw
Member # 862
Reged: 04/20/99
Posts: 121
Loc: crestline, ca
mileage increase with wind deflector
#17480 - 11/04/99 12:17 AM
overheard conversation about adding a faring (sp) to truck when towing a 5er and increasing mileage 2-3 mpg. This seems quite an increase.
Does anyone have any experience with one of these or know of anyone with reliable informationabout these mileage increases.
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SandySoCal
F250 CC Lariat 4X4 PSD, Camper, Tow, Off-road, ltd-slip, idle control
Sam-So Calif
Member # 61
Reged: 04/01/99
Posts: 203
Loc: Redlands, Ca
Re: mileage increase with wind deflector
#17482 - 11/04/99 01:04 AM
Sandy, I had one that I used with my previous truck and it didn't affect mileage much at all. But it keep the front of my 5er cleaner. As it directed the air around the front of the trailer, the bugs went too.
I didn't have to scrub dead bugs off the trailer after a trip.
Al
Member # 428
Reged: 04/05/99
Posts: 1244
Loc: SW lower Michigan
Re: mileage increase with wind deflector
#17484 - 11/04/99 07:52 AM
I've talked to over a half dozen people that had them and most had the same comments as Sam-So. I also read that the rear edge has to be placed within 3 ft of the front of the 5ver or it will lose it's effectiveness.
Anonymous
Unregistered
Re: mileage increase with wind deflector
#17485 - 11/04/99 10:12 AM
I've done a bunch of research and built a huge wind deflector for my SD. It does help our fuel mileage but it is a pain to put on and take off.
If you are going to build/buy a deflector:
a) It needs to be positioned within a couple feet of the trailer front. I have a swb cc truck, my deflector sits on the roof and goes right back to the edge of the cab.
b) It needs to be as wide as the trailer, especially if the trailer has sharp corners. My deflector is not wide enough. I drove through a bunch of bugs this summer and the airflow pattern can be clearly seen: wind hits the outer 1' edge of each side of the trailer, negating most of the gains.
c) A 5th wheel trailer with nicely rounded frontal edges has a pretty good co efficient of drag (Cd) already. The difference between a straight edged trailer front and a rounded one is like Cd = 0.60 versus Cd = 0.35 and it gets worse in cross winds. Those big buses with the nicely rounded corners are actually pretty streamlined for their size.
Most of the commercial wind deflectors are a joke, as they are much too small to do anything.
I also have deflector plates that go on the back of the truck box, infront of the trailer. They help too.
I have a lot of turbulence where my truck box meets the lower front of my trailer. I think that some sort of a box lid that sealed off the bed of the truck would do a lot to help airflow.
Kim
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Anonymous
Unregistered
Re: mileage increase with wind deflector
#17487 - 11/04/99 11:34 AM
Lux,
I too built a wind deflector from plywood (3/4") and made it so that it hinged from the front edge. I agree heartily with you on size. Commercial wind deflectors are an example of marketting psychology. Make them big enough to work and they won't sell. Make them small enough to sell and they won't work!
Mine was set at about 35 deg from the horizontal and it kept the bugs off the front of the 5th nicely. I didn't notice a lot of mileage improvement, but I could certainly maintain a higher speed in head winds with it than without it. I made it about 8" wider than the truck on both sides. When not in use I just removed the back struts and folded it down. I also secured a 4" board perpendicular to the front face at each end to act like winglets to weaken the strength of the tip vortices. I think this increased the effectivness of the width also.
Like you I got fed up with changing it whenever I towed the trailer. Getting into parking structures was impossible, even with it folded down in some places. Folded it increased the truck height about 5". The lumber I used was not the right type and after about 7 years it started to rot, so when that happened I committed it to the bone yard, but I still miss the benefits.
For anybody who wants to experiment with one, a note of caution. Once you have built it take it for a test flight at about 80mph on a lonely road without the trailer first. A break away with the trailer on could make you wish you had never heard about it!!
fyoung:
"Lux, I too built a wind deflector from plywood (3/4") and made it so that it hinged from the front edge."
I am going to do this for the next time.
re: " Mine was set at about 35 deg from the horizontal and it kept the bugs off the front of the 5th nicely."
I build mine 3D; it has a sloping front and sides. There are no bugs on the top, but there are on the sides; really thick too.
re: " I didn't notice a lot of mileage improvement, but I could certainly maintain a higher speed in head winds with it than without it."
I am sure it takes about 25 HP less to pull our 5th wheel in the wind with the deflector. Power is alot easier to notice than mileage. To effectively measure mileage, one must have enough distance, consistent winds, routes, etc. Have you ever done a coast down test with and without the deflector ?
I made it about 8" wider than the truck on both sides. How did you make it wider and make it fold down ? Will you hit your head on the side of it when it is folded down ?
I am going to build my next one from fiberglass.
re: "For anybody who wants to experiment with one, a note of caution. Once you have built it take it for a test flight at about 80mph on a lonely road without the trailer first. A break away with the trailer on could make you wish you had never heard about it!!"
Kim,
The first few times I did hit my head on it, but I soon got used to ducking a little. Wife too, but she is a long suffering engineer tolerator and is an expert at holding the flashlight while I work my magic. <G> I decided making it flat with winglets was simplest so folding it down was easy. A 3D arrangement is less convenient and marginally better. There probably is a hefty vortex street coming off the tips and that might be what is causing the bug buildup. I looked at the inverted wing type on the link someone provided but I was not impressed. Well made, but aerodynamically crude.
I've never done a coast down check. It all started when I was going across Canada and I encountered headwinds that brought me down to about 30 mph foot hard down. I was driving a gasser then. I'll swear I could watch the gas gauge drop! So I vowed that I had to do something. I did, but never met those conditions again. Guess that's life.
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I was a truck driver for 5 years and the main use for them was for looks, even with the owner operators. They did help speed in head winds. These do add a little flare to your truck (especially the lighted one if you've added 25 lights like I have):
I had a TurboWing for the four years I towed my 5er. It looked great and kept the bugs off the front of the rig. Literally zero mpg help. I did like the way it stabilized the air flow in cross winds.
You will never get your money back in savings on many of the things we buy for our RV's and tow vehicles.
Sometimes it just looks good. Doesn't do a darned thing but just look good! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]
Chet
Thanks all for your replies. They answer that question. Saved me some bucks! Thanks!
Don
__________________ Cotton - '93 F350 CC DRW 7.3 NA E40D 2WD 4.10, Hypermax Turbo,Intercooler and 3 1/2" exhaust, DPS Turbo Cal Pump and Stage 1 Injectors, Holley Red and more to come!
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