A New Air Dam

[5 Speed]

I have been thinking about doing this for over a year. In fact I had the additional 4 inch post for over a year, with the price of gas I finally was convinced it was worth it. I just copied my fishing rod case design
http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/showthread.php?t=491
and purchased a second 4 inch post from lowes and a piece of angle aluminum and some T-nuts and went to town. A single 45 degree cut and the two pieces were ready to be mounted. If you can see there is some duck tape that is covering access holes that I had to drill to insert a few of the bolts plus the end plugs are just taped in position. I will figure out some type of snap in cover soon for the duck tape. I made end plugs just like my fishing rod case but I think I will fab up a double end plug maybe extending to the outer edge finishing up with a clean look. I think I have some scrap hanging around but I did use a piece to make the leading edge. Now I can travel and fly fish in style. The Winston's will have their own space. I will have no problem taking my brother fishing and we can put the 4 piece fly rods in the front two cases and the longer two piece rods in the long case along with my golf umbrella and camping fire poker. I have a fabric boot connecting the tundra with the camper and what I noticed the first second I got on the freeway was there was no wind noise!!!! The air dam is really moving the air keeping it from slamming the flat side of the camper. I bounced the truck and drove it up curbs to see how much flex I get so I won't hit the roof. What I really need to do is get some of my daughters play-dough and do a little four wheeling to see how close it comes. I know this will help mpg, how much, only the scan gauge will tell. It will move along the bugs. It is a flying 45 degree wedge. It would be cool to put a basement in-between the cases.

 

[chnlisle]

Lets us know if you see a MPG improvement.

 

[SunMan]

Nice work, blends well. Please post mileage when known. Had forgotten about the rod storage post, great concepts.

 

[5 Speed]

Something going on is very interesting and I wish I had one of those wind tunnels and could put the truck in it with a little smoke and watch the air currents. I am again amazed how much wind noise is gone. I guess if air acts like water then there is a wake of air that is accelerated along the front edge of the 4 inch case along the 45 degree angle and keeping almost all the air off the flat face of the camper. This only cost 30 bucks to do and I am killing myself that I didn't do it earlier. So far my scan gauge is no longer in the 16 mpg range and not dropping below the 17 mpg range on the freeway at 65. Aside from the mpg gain I can't believe how noisy the wind actually used to be. I have only a fabric boot linking the cab with the shell and there is no and I mean no wind noise. What I now hear is the tires on the road, something I didn't know what it sounded like.

 

[Jack]

How to Attach?

Can you add a little more info on how the tube is attached? It sounds like you drilled through to the inside, with bolts from below passing through the angle aluminum and post to the T-nut. How many bolts did you use? The bolts away from the ends, I presume you drilled through the bottom of the post as well - what did you do to seal the holes?

I picked up my post from Lowes today...one of the best mods posted

 

[5 Speed]

OK here is what you really wanted to know, did the MPG increase? I drove over 3000 miles round trip to Montana and saw an increase of at least 2 MPG. I used to get typically between 16 and 18 MPG with my 2000 Tundra with the camper on the back going an average of 65 miles per hour. With the new air dam in place I never got below 18.5 and saw a 440 mile tank average over 20.5 MPG. Please remember that I have the 5 Speed V-6 4x4 manual Tundra and tried to keep my speed in the 65 MPH range. With all my stuff in the camper and my dogs in the back I don't really feel safe at 75. Most of the miles were on the highway and I never really saw a headwind to speak of but I did see a good tail wind a few times. I am really sorry that I did not do this sooner. One of the 18+MPG tanks I had the AC on for the whole time. The way I attached the tubes is to install T-nuts from the inside of the camper and I used 90 degree angle aluminimum on the inside with bolts and washers. I did drill a few access holes through the outside of the rails because it is the only way to attach a few bolts. If anyone is interested, I could post in more detail but just wanted to get this out to everyone about the MPG

 

[pvstoy]

How about the bug patterning?? How much of the camper area was not bugged? Any pictures? Sounds like it is working if your MPG went up.

 

[5 Speed]

No bugs on the air dam, tons of bugs on the camper leading edge, some bugs at the lower sides at the base of my access cab door windows. I will shoot a few pictures along with the mounting pictures in a few days. On the way up there was quite a few bugs on the leading edge of the camper and I was really impressed that there were no bugs on the air dam. I did not notice any bugs behind the air dam either

 

[SunMan]

I'd say that's a pretty good road/field test. Glad it's working out for you.

 

[Dave Johnson]

Very interesting.

I agree, having usable space inside the dam would be nice.

Thanks for giving me something else to do.

 

[b team]

Very nice. Your design gives me some ideas. How much space do you have between the roof and your post? How much is needed to prevent contact fromt the camper to roof of truck?

 

[flinchlock]

If anyone is interested, I could post in more detail but just wanted to get this out to everyone about the MPG
Yes, please provide more details and pictures.

I "assume" the 90 degree angle aluminum is placed at the front edge in side the 4" tube, or do you also have the 90 degree angle aluminum on the backside?

Any luck with "I will figure out some type of snap in cover soon for the duck tape." ?

Mike

 

[chnlisle]

5 Speed,
Have you talked about it off road yet? Does the cab hit it on the rougher roads?

 

[5 Speed]

I have not taken any off road hard hits but I did try and flex the frame in low 4x4 climbing up stacks of split logs on one wheel, curbs, rocks, etc. and no hits.

 

[jimmythec]

5 Speed. The 4 inch end caps used on the 4 inch hollow RV bumpers might work for you.

 

[RedTurtle03]

5speed,

Thank you thank you thank you. From the hellwig to this genius idea. I really do appreciate it. Pics to follow.

 

[RedTurtle03]

Every time I try to attach a photo it says the file is too big??

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Every time I try to attach a photo it says the file is too big??

Hi Red, there are several ways to get around this. First, you can always pick up software on the internet that will reduce the size of an image if you don't have something already, or if you have something like Photoshop, you can take the "Save for Web" option and limit the size by setting the longest side of the image at 1024 pixels. I like to post on Flickr, then I link to them from WTW. To do that, you need to copy the "Image Address" of the photo, then click on the little green picture like icon in the toolbar that is above the reply box. Please note, the image address is not the URL of the photo, it is the actual address for the physical image. You find that by selecting the size you want to see posted, then right clicking on the image. You should see something that is of the "Copy Image Address" ilk.

Hope that helps. Feel free to ask if it's not clear.