[sdecoman]

I have, yes, a gas guzzler truck. It's a 2009 Ford Ranger SuperCab 4X4 V6, with a manual transmission, 32 inch off road tires, skid plates, topper and front bumper winch. This I intend to use for my geological explorations in the Black Hills near where I live in South Dakota. The truck gets 16mpg. I haven't done anything as yet to try to improve that, but I don't drive it much especially this summer with no rain.

My question for you experts is this; the topper is not the same height as the truck cab. It is about 3 inches taller. Would it make much difference if I were to make a small spoiler in front of the topper to help the air pass more efficiently while on the highway. I had thought of either an aluminum band going from side to side in an arc so that it would be about three inches away in the center and taper to the sides. I thought of also covering the open space between the top of the band and the topper with some flat aluminum sheet or not. Another idea I have had is to use a piece of right angle aluminum stock and mount it so the intersection of its sides pointed toward the front and mount it from sided to side on the front of the topper.

Any help or opinions on the spoiler thingy for my pickup would be greatly appreciated.

Tom Beno