I run a straight truck, but I see a lot of semi's have the angled skirts under the trailer to block air from the trailer axles and reduce drag. I saw somewhere its a big drag reduction and a pretty good percentage in fuel savings. Does it work on a shorter straight truck? or is there just not enough real estate to make it work?
for reference a 24' dry van single axle straight truck dock height, full size box.
The nose cones seem to say they help a lot but I have never seen the box skirts on a short truck.
aerodynamics
Discussion in 'Peterbilt Forum' started by willeo6709, Mar 27, 2016.
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Will it help? Yes. Will you notice it? Probably not.
My unprofessional opinion is you might see a tenth or two better fuel economy, but driving style can help more. -
Are you mainly highway? Or metro?
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we run a straight truck for local delivery, 65mph max and usally inside 30 miles or so. We just traded to a Pete 335 with a 250 hp c7 but the old truck was a 195hp dt466 and the wind really knocked it in the ###. Drag increases exponentially with speed but is also pretty directly related to surface area being pushed , but its one of those things that if it was strictly surface area planes would not fly......
Its looking like not a big enough improvement to be worth the effort. -
I wouldn't say it's worth it, especially after you said you drive a 30 mi radius. When you get out on the open highway for hours on end is when you'll see the difference, starting and stopping in town etc you'll never notice it.
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Eh... if you are a city rig I leave it off. Causes problems with high crowns, curbs and so forth. Clearances too.
The areodynamics have improved greatly over the years but some of it is a bit much IMHO. Particularly the dams under the trailers these days. There were times Ive gotten into places that would have ripped those dams right off under that trailer.
A second issue is you convert a trailer into a giant sail. I would not want that on ice during storms so.. the risk outweighs the few dollars you might or might not notice in your fuel bill.
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