I have a 2005 Dodge Ram 2500 diesel 4x4, 3" lift, 285-75-17's (34"). I'm looking for input on a few ideas I have for cleaning up the airflow under the truck. I know dropping it back down will get me about 1~1.5 mpg back that was lost when I leveled it so that is a possiblility later on down the road. For now, I'm looking to be able to get up into the 20mpg range with the existing suspension & tires.
With that said... ideas I have seen other trucks (ford f150's) with a 2nd air dam behind the 1st one that extends down another inch or two. One of the ideas I have is to build a secondary air dam similar to what they have and set it up so it mounts to where the steering stabilizer mounts (this mounts under the swaybar mount and supports the sector shaft on the steering box). I'm thinking of taking a long straight rod and extending it from the bottom of the existing air dam down to the axle and find out how much I could drop it down without impacting the front approach angle too much.
Second idea is to put a small air dam in front of the tires, front & back (front airdam does not cover enough I think....) I've seen this done on the underside of cars and think it may have a benefit to the ram. I'd also considered putting a couple farther forward that would be angled some, similar to what the big rig trailers are now doing but not as obnoxious.
Lastly I'm wondering how well airtabs would do on the underside of the rear bumper and on the frame. I realize they need to be spaced @ 4/ft and there probably isnt a whole lot of room on the back bumper and or hitch and obviously I could only get 1 across on the frame rail.
One of the goals here is to make it so it is not overly obvious all of the mods are on there.
Feedback?
Oh yeah, great forum!
Also, before it is said, I already have a tonneau cover which drops my mpg. I have another that is a rollup canister type that I plan on putting on and will be adding the rear tailgate spoiler at some point down the road. I also have engine compartment mods I plan on but that discussion is for another forum thread
also, I'm at about 17.5 mpg before putting on the current wheels & tires, they dropped the rotating mass by 9#/wheel and tire height was increased by 1"