I am looking to add a wind deflector to my rig. I currently pull a 31' travel trailer and need all the mpg I can get. Are these effective or just big bug deflectors for the trailers? I am looking at the AeroShield deflectors by Icon Technologies. Has anyone had any luck with these or others? Thanks.burnout
I see alot of them on many vehicles pulling campers and enclosed trailers. There may be some value to the "chicken slides"
I used one years ago. Boosted my mileage from 5.5 to 6.5 on a Chevy crew cab dually with a 454, pulling a 32' fiver. Great for keeping the bugs off, too! I'm not sure how effective it would be with a travel trailer.
I read somewhere, I believe it was in the highways magazine (from Good Sam), that for a travel trailer the wing needs to be very close to the front of the trailer. Something like within 3 feet. Not on the roof of the towrig, but back on the roof of your cap. It would look like a spoiler I suppose. (to be of any use....)
That makes a good bit of sense. The air would tend to go into a vortex right behind the wing, killing all of the mileage that you might have gained.
I am planing on placing the deflector as far back on my canopy as possible. Every little bit mpg is a help in these high diesel fuel prices. All it takes is some maintenance worker at some refinery to stub his toe and the price of diesel skyrockets.
Would a wing help hauling tall cargo on a gooseneck trailer with a Dodge quad cab? The wing would have to be installed on the roof.
As far as wings go take a good look at the bigrigs, the average flatbed hauler uses no wings because it causes more turbulance on the trailer. The average van (box) or bull hauler uses the wings or condo cabs to help get the air past the front edge of the trailer. So for the gooseneck trailer if you always carried the same load yes a wing could help some, but if you haul different loads then a wing would hurt. Now for the original about the travel trailer, the wing or airdam would need to be placed on top of a campershell at the very back edge to be effective. Once the air has been moved past the back of your truck (before trailer) at 60MPH it takes aprox 12-15 feet before the air returns back to itself hope this info can help yall
to wing or not to wing Hows this for a possibility, on a mack truck I used to drive, there was a 'wing' on the roof, but its lower edge was mounted on a hinge and the back had an adjustable bracket. Why not mount something similar on the neck of the gooseneck and play with the angle until you got it just right? You could even mount it so it slides back and forth a little to really get the sweet spot. Then when empty, just fold it down and out of the way. Just a thought Scott
