|
First things first; driving style will get you the biggest gains. A vehicle of such enormous proportions must be driven very slowly to keep fuel consumption reasonable. A vehicle of such enormous mass must be careful not to use the brakes, because you kill three times as much momentum as I do when you stop. You must also drive carefully, as you are a hazard to cyclists, Metros, Insights, and Malibus alike. Plus, vehicles in that class are much less safe in single-car crashes, which are the most common type.
There are some areas where you can give the truck the aerodynamic attention to detail it should have gotten from the factory, without customers noticing.
Fill in the panel gaps around the bumper and hood with weatherstripping, block most of the grille, and try to make the underside of the vehicle almost as smooth as the top.
There's no reason to mount an antenna vertically. If reclined 45° or 60°, its frontal area is reduced by 29% or 50%, and its cross section as presented to the wind goes from circular (high drag) to elliptical (low drag).
I would also kill those clearance lights on the roof unless they are required by law. You could reduce your ride height, re-do the rear fenders from a clean sheet, and replace the passenger side mirror with a camera.
My best advice would be to get a stick-shifted compact station wagon that can tow a 4'x8' trailer, and only use the RAM for jobs that the wagon can't do.
HTH,
RobertSmalls
|