air dam and differential - cooling issues?

[Kodak]

I was browsing forums for air dam ideas and came across something about airflow to the differential.

What kind of overheating risks are there for the rear axle or any other underbelly components when it comes to creating an air dam that is lower than OEM?

[capnbass91]

I saw a GMC Terrain today that had a really really low air dam that looked like it was an original part on the vehicle. So that's probably not too much of a worry, unless you also put a belly pan under your car, cuz that stops a lot more air flow.

[Big Dave]

For most cars and trucks, rear axle cooling is not an issue. The road load is not that high.

But diesel pickups have a problem. Those engines - designed for medium-duty trucks - can reliably pump out 250 honest HP to the axle for hours on end. Maybe they guzzle fuel like crazy doing so, but if you have a big heavy trailer and want to get there fairly quickly, well that's the mission for these trucks.

Nothing else (except racing cars) comes close.

[Kodak]

So a few moments at 4.5k rpm will be alright if a fast highway merge is necessary? Around town keeping the revs lower for accelerating is easy. Getting on the highway I usually accelerate hard to avoid interfering with other drivers.

[MGB=MPG]

I drove a big truck that was instrumented with sensors to the transmission and both drive axle differentials ,, i never could work it enough to make tha gauges move ..even in the most severe conditions ,,

plenty air circulating below with even the most severe ground effects ..
dunna worry about poaching your pumpkin on merging power applications


[ i would only worry about cutting air flow to the catalytic convertor ]

[Joenavy85]

like Big Dave said, unless you're hauling ridiculous amounts of stuff you shouldn't need to worry about it, as long as you use the proper gear lube