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Originally Posted by Sven7
Is this supposed to be for production or is it your own personal project?
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This is one prototype where we retrofitted a "square" truck into an aero truck. But it's a little more complicated than one taping a pizza carton over the grill opening of his Prius. Not that there's anything wrong with that. If and when we get funding, we would love to build thousands of the second-generation version from scratch.
I don't imagine the average truck driver or maintenance worker would be happy to have the wheels covered up. Vekke on here makes some nice semi wheel covers if you decide to truncate the skirts
Exactly what maintenance or other problems do you foresee with the wheels covered up? The brakes have automatic slack adjusters, so they never have to be adjusted on the road. The drive tires on the tractor, and the trailer tires have an Automatic Tire Inflation System (ATIS). The ATIS maintains the proper tire pressure at all times. In the event of even a slow leak of a tire, the ATIS computer annunciates that fact by squawking a red LED that I installed in the dash. In the event of a tire repair or change, the skirt panels on the tractor are removed in two minutes via 6 3/8" bolts. To pre-trip inspect the tires, one has to jack the tractor 90 degrees to the trailer to physically view the tractor tires. And the trailer tire access panels open in 30 seconds with 1/4 turn quick-release fasteners. Here is a pic of my buddy Bruce, showing how the trailer tires are accessed via a hinged panel and 6 Zeus fasteners:
How does the boattail fold up/out of the way?
It inflates rearward. When deflated, it stows behind the doors.