Bug Deflectors to push air over

[ajriding]

Somewhere I saw a guy bolt gutter guards to the bottom of the TC overhang to keep air (bugs etc) from between the top of truck and camper. It seemed to work.
I have fiberglass TC so will not be doing anything thing like that - I will not be drilling holes into my camper to hang garbage, nor using tape.

A friend suggested that a bug deflector mounted on front of truck hood might push air over the gap. On some vehicles those will push air up to top of windshield, on others it will push completely over the cab. My objective is to deflect air from this gap. Bugs being the biggest issue, but also it is probably not as aero to catch air in the gap.

Anyone tried it? Did it work?

I have a Ram.

[ajriding]

kohldad wrote:
I had a 04 Ram with the bug deflector and now a 15 Ram without the bug deflector, both carry a E-W bed. .

What is EW bed and all that?

If your bug line is up on the front of the camper then that means you are pushing air over that gap.

I find a lot of dead bugs in my truck bed when I unload the TC, and lots of bug splatter in that crevice.

[kohldad]

I had a 04 Ram with the bug deflector and now a 15 Ram without the bug deflector, both carry a E-W bed. Not much difference in the bugs on the front of the camper so doubt it would help with the longer cab over of a N-S bed. What it did do was make a difference in the amount of water that went between the roof of the cab and the cab-over. I could tell this because my camper pass thru window started leaking with the new truck.

[Marcela]

I have found bug deflectors move the bug spatter further up the windshield.

A roof rack would be an option if there is room, not cheap. Then fabricate a spoiler off of that.

[ajriding]

discovery4us wrote:
My neighbor uses a twin size inflatable mattress. Shoves it between the camper and the truck roof and blows it up. Not the prettiest thing but he claims the $25 mattress gets him better fuel mileage.

Problem with that is my truck is painted and I'd like to keep it painted….

[Z-Peller]

Short answer is no. I have had 5 different trucks over the years all with hood bug deflector. Three different campers. Always a big job scrubbing bug splatter off front of camper and under camper overhang at back of truck cab.

[Grit_dog]

discovery4us wrote:
My neighbor uses a twin size inflatable mattress. Shoves it between the camper and the truck roof and blows it up. Not the prettiest thing but he claims the $25 mattress gets him better fuel mileage.

I could see this working well. Great idea.
Whatever it is, if relying on friction between the roof and the camper overhead needs to have some surface area or pressure to it. Appears the camper moves an inch or so compared to the truck roof in high speed or high winds.

Good luck on the bugs. Other than a splitter/chin spoiler type thing on the underside of the overhang near the front, I don’t see a hood deflector keepin the bugs out.
Maybe like one of those old school tall vertical plastic ones from the 70s lol.
You could even get it in different colors and put your “handle “ on it with vinyl letters.
10-4 good buddy....

[Lwiddis]

I never did it either when I had a TC. Took forever to clean off the bug guts.

[wanderingaimles]

I never did it when I had a TC, but had thought about placing foam pipe insulation between the cab and bottom of TC overhang.
Something like this pipe insulation.
Or even a pool noodle. If the gap is only about 2" it should work.

[discovery4us]

My neighbor uses a twin size inflatable mattress. Shoves it between the camper and the truck roof and blows it up. Not the prettiest thing but he claims the $25 mattress gets him better fuel mileage.