Good Sam Club Open Roads Forum: Truck Campers: Wind Deflector


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ticki2

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Posted: 01/23/22 09:16am

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Sleepy’s airfoil project is the TCU under camper exterior

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billyg

iron station nc

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Posted: 01/23/22 07:19pm

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Hi it's been a while since I responded to something here is my 2 cents. I actually installed an inverted bug deflector made by stampede that goes on a 1999 chevy suburban. It works great for me. Bill

Hemi Joel

Minnesota

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Posted: 02/02/22 12:46am

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I was on a road trip and picked up a hood for one of my project cars. I had no place to haul it except strapped to the roof of the truck. I was surprised to find that it picked up almost 1 mpg on the 900 miles home. I'm going to build a deflector, probably like Sleepy did.

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2018 Eagle Cap 1163 triple slide, 400W solar, MPPT, on a 93 Dodge D350 Cummins, DTT 89 torque converter, big turbo, 3 extra main leafs, Rancho 9000s rear, Monroe gas magnums front, upper overloads removed, home made stableloads, bags.

bighatnohorse

Gig Harbor - Cave Creek

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Posted: 02/02/22 07:33am

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Hemi Joel wrote:

On a 1000+ mile trip I picked up 1.5 mpg simply because of a slight tail wind.
It only take a mild 5 mph wind (head or tail) to make a difference.

HMS Beagle

Napa, California

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Posted: 02/02/22 09:45am

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I'm about half way through the build on mine. I bought a bumper valance (replacement for stock) for a 4wd truck same year and model (2015 F350). The 2wd version is 4" tall, the 4wd version is 7" tall. Decided to make a fiberglass plate with blind nuts to mount it, that way it is easily removable/replaceable for maintenance or testing. This will be stuck to the camper overhang with VHB or PU (no holes). The styling dept. at Ford made the valance match the width and approximate curvature of the truck cab so it doesn't look too bad. It is plastic so incidental contact with the cab will not be catastrophic. It was cheap and seems durable. Only question now is how far forward/back to mount it. It would be great to be able to experiment with that but I've got no ideas how to hold it in place temporarily to try.

I'll post some pictures when I get it done.

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Bedlam

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Posted: 02/02/22 10:11am

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bighatnohorse wrote:

On a 1000+ mile trip I picked up 1.5 mpg simply because of a slight tail wind.
It only take a mild 5 mph wind (head or tail) to make a difference.

I always get better mileage going east than west due to the trade winds. It hasn't been enough difference to circumnavigate only in one direction.

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mountainkowboy

Socal/NE Oregon

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Posted: 02/02/22 12:39pm

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It had to be 15 years ago when we went through the same motions. There were many designs that were tried, and this is what we found.

The "air foils" did nothing for fuel mileage. Some improved aerodynamics and had less buffeting. Most kept the underside of the bed cleaner of bug guts. I tried a "V" design similar to the one in the pic. It did keep the under cab bend much cleaner of road grime, but increased buffeting on our supercab with the windows down. So it was removed.

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MikeJinCO

Salida, CO

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Posted: 02/10/22 06:22am

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Beagle- look at the 3M double sided tape used to hold solar panels on available at the hardware in several strengths. Have mine done, just need to get to warmer weather to put it on as camper has to come off. If it quiets down the buffeting I'll call it a great success.

HMS Beagle

Napa, California

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Posted: 02/10/22 10:51am

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I've got the valence, built and painted the mount, and have the 3M VHB to attach it. All that remains is sticking it to the camper. That requires at least two on/off cycles which I will get to in the next couple of weeks.

There is some question as to where the ideal position would be. It would be nice to be able to trial it at several positions before mounting permanently. I'm guessing about even with the top of the window glass or slightly behind that.