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Travel Trailers and Wind Deflectors???

stackrat

SM 2013
SM 2004
Full Member
Joined
May 8, 2004
Messages
524
Location
No. Kentucky
I recently purchased a 20' travel trailer - a Forrest River Wildwood FSX.  I've had it out twice now and next month, we're planning a trip out as far as the Grand Canyon (from Cincinnati).

I've got everything set up perfectly now.  Weight distribution hitch is shimmed up just right, added a TrueCool Aux Trans Cooler.  I hardly notice it's back there, except for one thing...

Up to 65 mph, it's fine - even uphill.  I can even hit and stay in 4th gear (I have an '07 with the 4-speed) on the flats, but getting to 70 mph is like trying to run through mud.  It just falls flat on it's face and it's definitely aerodynamic.

I'm looking at getting one of those Wind Deflectors (Icon AeroShield Wind Deflector).

Does anyone have experience with them or similar products?

I'm not looking to set land speed records and I don't care if it saves gas or not.  I just want to at least be able to hit and maintain the highway speed limit.
 
You may wish to consider adding power instead, camshafts would be a great start

https://www.texas-speed.com/c-3251-camshaft-packages_chevrolet-tahoe-2007.aspx

Quoted from the site, specifically the TSP low lift cam:
"You can see the power gains below (measured at crank) for each of our camshafts over a factory 5.3L camshaft that we tested on our in-house SuperFlow 902 engine dyno:

Stage 1 208/214: +45.1 HP & +21.5 TQ
Stage 2 212/218: +51.4 HP & 22.9 TQ
Stage 3 216/220: +53.4 HP & 22.0 TQ
Keep in mind that these gains are compared at the peak HP and TQ numbers.  Our cams gained as much as 70+ HP and TQ at other points in the dyno graph, and NONE of these camshafts lose any HP or TQ at 2,000 RPM! "

I have no experience with the wind deflectors, but ultimately you still have to push through all that air resistance.
 
BainMan said:
You may wish to consider adding power instead. [...] Ultimately you still have to push through all that air resistance.

LOL!!!  That's WAY more than I'm willing to spend on my 12 year old truck - though it would be a GREAT candidate for it since it only has 70k miles on it (and AFM disabled for all but the first 16k of them)!

Not saying that wouldn't help, but I'm thinking all I need is for the Avy to punch just a slightly bigger hole through the wind...  My gut tells me the turbulence behind the truck is slamming into the nose of the trailer and all I need to do is aim that turbulence up a bit so it slides over the top of it.
 
Only $429 for the low lift cams vs the deflector at $304, not too far off! But installation would be considerably more if you're paying a shop. But the camshafts would be used all the time instead of only when towing the travel trailer. I hope you find something that works for you though.
 
How about something like this

www.nosecone.com/cargo-trailer-models.html
 
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