Anybody have a wind deflector?

[MPohio]

I have about 5 to 7 inches of clearence between the roof of my f150 and the camper's over cab part. I had to sit it that high to clear my 2010f150 side rails(thanks ford). After only getting 14mpg into a stiff wind and 19.5 on the way home with the wind behind, I figure I need to find or make an air deflector. It is a 1200lb(wet) pupup, so I usually get around 17 to 19 mpg with it loaded and 20 to 22 Hwy unloaded.

Anybody have one or has made one? Not looking for anything fancy, just something to deflect the wind out of my "air brake" area. I read a guy used an air mattress and gained 4mpg ish, but it only lasted a few hundered miles. I thought about using a couple innertubes if nothing else can be found. I have a 3k mile trip comming up and every bit of MPG helps.

Thanks, Mark>

[MPohio]

After putting my camper on and making some measurements, I am rethinking my approach. I took out 1 set of boards that the camper sat on and now my gap is only 4". I think I might go the route of or something similar to what bill did. Do you have any pics of it bill?

[billyg]

Hi I bought a clear bug deflector for a 1999 chev suburbon from stampede and screwed it into the bottom of the cabover near the front edge. No glue, no problems, no noise & no bugs on my forward wall. I did need to shave a little plastic to make it fit the space. If you don't look for it you won't see it. My set up has clean lines and I like it. Bill

[MPohio]

Thanks sleepy. I have that bookmarked already. It was pretty much what I had rolling around in my head. My main differences are going to be to use a solid piece rather than one whit holes, second I am going to try to take it back to the outer side edges of the TC. I wouldn't mind trying to add an angle on each side of the TC where it sticks outside the truck.

[sleepy]

This link is to the airfoil... wind deflector that has been replicated many times over the last 10 years.





Good luck

Sleepy

[MPohio]

PS> just got a long piece of white siding from lowes for about $6. It is going to be way to thick, but it will give me a good margin of error. I will take pics and keep you all posted.

Seeing my TC is older, I don't mind drilling a few holes underneath to fit this, but I want to leave my truck unscathed. I plan on making an open ended triangle with it connecting on the two sides of the camper and coming to a point at the front. I will probably put some type of crossbeam in the middle to give it support and keep it from collapsing under the winds pressure. I plan on using a heat gun to curve the bottom edge to give me a way to mount it on my trucks top. I dont' want to scratch or permanently attach it so I might try to find some rubber substance and attach it to the bottom of the siding and hopefully it is heavy enough to stay put on the truck's top. If not I will just add another crossbeam for support.

My goal is to do this for under $20 and make it easy to replicate for others on here(no charge of course, except maybe a beer if you ever run across me 😉 )

Wish me luck :B MP>

[MPohio]

I wish dave, no that is what I get empty with my f150 supcab 4x4 5.4l. I did a 120 mile round trip from northern ohio to central ohio(flat land North to south). If I run around town, I get 16 MPG. I learned with my Rialtas, most the loss of Gas is getting the big beasts moving(truck and Rv).

I did average 17.5 through the appilacian mountains on my home from SC with my TC on my Truck after buying it there. I was down to three options, 1.) small truck camper, 2.) Aframe hardsided popup(aliner type), or 3.) Roadtrek type van. I crossed out the road trek as to get anything built in the last 10 years, I was looking at $25k and up. I crossed off the Aframe as it would add too much length to my setup, limit my offroad use, and wasn't as covert as a TC. Plus I scored my 2000 starcraft from a retired couple for $1400(with Roadmaster suspension, turnbuckles & Torklift tiedown complete setup). It is literally in mint condition inside and out and hardly used(hence why I drove from Ohio to SC). Getting in and out of my TC is a bit of a pain, but I will get some steps for it. I figured it was a no brainer way to test the waters of truck camping.

[Harleybullet]

22.9.....if that is what you are getting with your TC, be grateful and enjoy your trip...hehehe

Dave

[bcbigfoot]

MPohio wrote:
Well i think you have a few pounds on me Bigfoot 😞 I know I can squeeze a few more MPG out of my setup. I do try to run light and lean(1200lb wet and I am considering deleting the fridge to save some more LBs(I never use it).

Yes she's a bit of big boned/butt girl.:) Weights in at 4000lbs wet and is 11 feet tall to top of the AC. The roof is a aerodynamic mess with the AC, luggage rack, sky light, solar panels, vents, and so on.

Your mileage is very good, for a gas engine truck. You must have good driving technic, no jack rabbit starts and plan your braking far in advance, moderate speeds, so on.

[MPohio]

Oh, I have a handle on driving techniques, I am just trying to squeeze out as much as can on a 3k to 4k mile trip(It all adds up). 😉 I can usually get 22.9 out of my f150 5.4l on long journeys(without wind on flat areas). I check my tires air, keep my air filter clean, and have switched to Castro syntech. But most of all, drive like my grandma 😞 Gently accelerate, coast into town and brake as little as possible.

[bcbigfoot]

Harleybullet wrote:
I bolted some 2x2 angle Aluminium to the underside of the nose, above the cab of the truck in a Vee configuration...it should have worked but I see no appreciable difference in MPG.....slowing down seems to be the only way to save fuel.

Dave

I agree speed/driver techniques are the biggest factors in mpg. I have found that mpg drops to 14 if my speed increases to 65mph and at 70 mph they drop to 12.5 mpg.

[Harleybullet]

I bolted some 2x2 angle Aluminium to the underside of the nose, above the cab of the truck in a Vee configuration...it should have worked but I see no appreciable difference in MPG.....slowing down seems to be the only way to save fuel.

Dave

[MPohio]

Well i think you have a few pounds on me Bigfoot 😞 I know I can squeeze a few more MPG out of my setup. I do try to run light and lean(1200lb wet and I am considering deleting the fridge to save some more LBs(I never use it).

I had a VW Rialta before this and I could seriously get 20ish MPG on the HWY(and it weighed 7000lbs+). I loved my R, but I just couldn't trust it for the long haul. It just started nickle and diming me. Plus certain important parts were next to impossible to find and just about every service center wanted to bend you over when it came to price. I considered many other options before I decided to try the TC. I wanted somthing compact and easy to travel with. I figure I can work on or find somebody to fix my 2010 F150 just about anywhere and parts are readily available. I also like the 36gallon gas tank compared to the 20gal on the Rialta. I like to run covertly and sometimes I don't even pop the top on my TC.

[bcbigfoot]

path1 wrote:


Any gain in MPG??? Wouldn't take many miles to pay for itself.

I honestly can't say, The first trip with truck and camper combination resulted in unbearable wind noise. I had to do something to reduce the noise. The deflector solved the noise issue and I have not been willing to go on a trip without the deflector in place. I have found on several 2 to 3 month 10000+ mile trips, that it requires close to 10000 miles to properly track mpg increases and decreases with a TC. For example, 4 years ago I took a 13000 mile trip from BC Canada to Washington DC, then on up to New Brunswick Can. and back home. On the trip eastward I was pushed by strong tail winds and averaged over 16.5 mpg on the first 3500 miles. However by the end of the trip average mpg was down to the normal 15mpg. A 10000 mile trip to Florida last year started with strong mpg numbers but by the end of the trip resulted with again 15mpg.

I have kept track of fuel economy for the last 50000 miles, the average mpg over that distance with camper on truck at typical 58 to 60 mph speeds has been 14.9 mpg.

[gwo1973]

As a mechanical designer I had dreamed one day of working in the rv industry and designing a truck camper that had such deflectors for aerodynamics. Glad someone finally did it.

bcbigfoot wrote:
This is what I came up with for a air deflector.