Waiting on New Trucks thread.

Figure 1/3 to 1/2 Mpg off the truck with one on it. Most likely not worth it unless you run in those areas a lot or run at night a lot in my eyes.

 

1/3 - 1/2 MPG is a normal loss for one installed. On top of cost it is not worth it unless in those areas needed and running night time.

 

With the 2015 on my profile picture I hit a deer on a 45 mph road he jumped out of the bush I didn’t stand a chance of stopping.. damage to the new at the time truck was a headlamp assembly cracked fender and grille . Total claim was just over 10 k and 30 days down due to it being hard to get parts on a newer model at the time. The herd moose bumper cost roughly 2/10ths but truck wasn’t fully broke in yet so it mayve been a bit more.

 

####ing deer I hate em. Oughta be open season on em year round. They're stupid and will run right into a vehicle looking right at it. You'll really regret what little fuel you saved when you hit one and #### up your truck.

 

We ended up smacking three deer in two years. Each time the damage was relatively minor (in damage and time lost,) but still well over 10K, even though never anything mechanical.

If you nail one good enough to be disabled (radiator, or some such), you've got to account for downtime, tow, re-powering the load, repairs and rental -- plus the effects on your insurance. With us hauling live animals, the issues with a breakdown are pretty substantial. By the time we can get a Penske under the trailer, we might have quite a bit of dead critters on there.

If I were a fleet hauling Oreo's on the Interstate system, I'd just do the math and take the fuel savings. As a small outfit running live animals through farm country, we're better off buying the insurance in the form of a Bambi basher.

 

I hope they gave you the 30k

 

That is the exact one that get mounted to all our T680’s.

You’re definitely going to lose fuel mileage. My previous employer has 2 fuel trucks, same 2 drivers, each make 2 trips per day, same route, same load, and the fleet mgr said bolting on bumper guards, over a weekend, resulted in both trucks losing .5mpg every single week, thereafter. The road tractors don’t have bumper guards, because of the sheer volume of miles the fleet turns. He said there was no way they were taking that kind of impact to the fleet average, when every 1/10th of a mile per gallon costs them $1M in annual fuel costs.

Going by what Ray Evernham has talked about with aerodynamics, if you disturb that cushion of air in front of a vehicle, you wreck the aerodynamics over the entire vehicle. The reason is the aerodynamics behind the frontend are designed based on the airflow coming off that cushion of air. When you disturb that air cushion, you disturb the airflow over the top, down the sides, and off the backend. He said it’s why frontend damage does more to the mpg and mph than damage anywhere else.

This guy has tons of videos on aerodynamics and always stresses the importance of not disturbing the airflow and keeping it attached to the surfaces of the vehicle. He talks about that cushion of air, as well.
https://youtube.com/@JulianEdgar?si=bzeOpMxOOfZIO5p8

There’s no way I’d install a bumper guard. IMO, they’ve become the newfangled thing everyone thinks they need.

 

Aero truck it does effect the mileage.

 

Caught one this week. He actually ran across the road and turned around and came back to my lane and waited for me..

 

My new truck finally came in too.