Areomodding my 6x12 enclosed trailer

[Chris D.]

I bought an enclosed trailer for my upcomming move next month.
I can't leave anything alone and I need all the fuel effeciency I can get with my truck..

Heres what I'm working with..








Well, with all the elections over with, I saw an abundance of
coroplast as far as the eye can see on one of my bosses properties
(in which they didnt have permission to hang in the first place)

So I've come up on the recycling advantage!

I plan on making the nose into a V to help cut through the wind..
Any other ideas?

I have plenty of coroplast..

[Harpo]

I'm watching this. I have a 6x12 as well that I tow to MTB Races. I only get about 12mpg behind the Ram1500 HEMI MDS. I can get 18.5+mpg when not towing the box. I'd guess around 1650lbs loaded for racing.

Same rules apply. Run Max Pressures for conditions, and keep speeds down. I can tow at 62mph in overdrive, but once I try to start averaging 65+, I need TowHaul, which defintely uses more Throttle Position changes and higher average Fuel Flow. Staying out of Cruise on hilly sections, and driving with load works great as load goes up.

I'll tow about 3500-4500 miles this year to race venues. So one or two mpg would be a big help at $4/gal. I've looked at pre-fabbed domes for the nose, but they have low return on investment unless you are really stacking up the miles. Without a High Cap, trying to get the air over the box is all but impossible. I've seen that 30degree nose has highest effectiveness when towing without sidewind. Reducing underbody drag with trays and fairings. Reducing drag at the rear seems easiest with some simple extensions in the rear or aerotab like vortex devices. There's an easy 10-15% drag reduction in the front that is hard to build, and another 10-15% in the rear that probably takes less overall effort.

http://www.nosecone.com/table.htm

Do some googling on Tractor Trailer drag reductions and there's a bunch of designs. Most make the asssumption of a high truck-trailer spoilers and gap wings, but there are some with good info on the box alone.

http://www.freightwing.com/about2.htm

http://www.marama.org/diesel/frieght...DCAeroOvw2.pdf


That coroplast will need some good bracing for the nose. I've used 1/2" and 5/8" aluminum tubing used in race car fuel lines. It's moldable, light, and can be flatted to drill holes through for attachment points. I got mine at Summit and comes in variety of rolled sizes.

[trikkonceptz]

My immeadiate suggestions would be;

-Skirt the trailer to reduce airflow underneath it.
-If the wheels allow build fender skirts
-I would also modify the fenders, like dually fenders so they do not present a wall from the side of the box.
-Ultimately, building a boat tail for the rear may help the most, but is the most difficult to build on a trailer. Hanging it so it swings on a hinge and out of the way of the doors would be the best bet I think.
-And the obvious, get good bearings for the wheels and run the tires at the safest max psi.
-You may also want to consider a wing on the truck to pass the wind over the trailer earlier.

[Otto]

You might want to elongate the trailer by extending the nose all the way to the tongue, using Coroplast. An elliptical nose is much less draggy than the stock configuration. Adds usable space, too. Would look more like a horse trailer.

Then, use more Coroplast to fair the wheels, using the existing fenders as mounting points.

The axle assy. under the trailer may hang down into the airflow, so fair that too, using Coroplast.

And, a boat tail can't hurt, either.

I'm considering purchase of a cheapo 4X8 trailer from Harbor freight, ~$200, to haul motorcycles. That's got just a flat bed, plus side rails. I'd mod is per description above, for an effective length of ~14' and effective width of ~6' once the wheels were faired in. Could even make a teardrop/airfoil shape, joining the Coroplast siding at the rear. Being flexible, it would not need hinges, and stringers for stiffness can be made by inserting wood or fiberglass battens into the Coroplast flutes.

I'm told the Harbor Freight cheapo trailers have crappy bearings and wheels/tires, so plan to swap those out for better ones on day one.

[i_am_socket]

While on vacation last week, I was passed by a pickup pulling a flat-bed trailer with a car on it. In front of the car was a half-circle airdam that went from the floor to just above hood-height. It looked like it would be fairly effective.

I'd definitely fair and skirt the wheels. Throw a half-circle on the front too. Do the doors swing out or down in the back? (swinging out would make boat-tailing simple)

[aerohead]

The members have made some really good recommendations.If you can imagine the pickup and trailer as a single unit,with the body flowing up from the rear of the cab to the top of the trailer,filling the entire void,top to bottom,this would be ideal.Besco,of Northhampton,England,marketed an inflatable trailer nose which attached to travel trailers and created a semi-spherical nose when inflated with a 12-volt vacuum cleaner.I believe they claimed a 28-percent mpg improvement.If you could build a cheapy skeleton( maybe two-by-twos and angle brackets) for the bed rails of the truck and skin it with the chloroplast,you'd have a good transition.If you did as Otto recommends,and also push the nose of the trailer forward,like the stock trailer,then your filling in the gap that you see 18-wheelers trying to seal off,which offers significant drag.And as Techtricks (sp?) and Otto have mentioned,clean up anything on the trailer that you can.The fenders are horrible! Fair the leading edges,boat-tail behind them,and put skirts on if you can.Someone posted the NASA/Continuum Dynamics 4-panel faux-boat-tail,which was good for up to a 10% drag reduction.It's just 4 rigid panels that extend straight back from the back of the trailer.They are inset,and extend such that when viewed from the side or top,they limit the air to a path that would be defined by a 12-15 degree angle,converging behind the trailer.The panels create "locked" or "captured" vortices,as Ford's bi-wing spoiler,and the air flows over the vortices as though they were a solid structure.If you get into strong crosswinds,slow down!!!!!!!!!! Your rig will be an "unknown quantity" and you will have no fore knowledge of your center of gravity, center of aerodynamic pressure,and it's handling behavior.Be careful,we want to hear all about the results.P.S.,you could also sew up an inflatable envelope of rip-stop nylon to do some of the big streamlining and keep it around for some future moves,or to loan to another member for research.

[Chris D.]

I've got an idea I wanted to toss at the collective for feasibility..

Using some 1" schedule 40 PVC piping for the V frame and a heat gun for it to contour to the sides and reuse some of the screws that hold the outter walls on to attach it.



I know thats not much of a V, but I still need to get to the front tongue jack unless I extend it well past it and make a little access door to get to it inside?

Then with the coroplast, a rivit gun and some washers to attach, white duct tape to seal things up and blue painters tape inbetween anything thats added to the exterior of the trailer to protect from movement of the frame, body wear, damage, ect..

Any ideas that mite trump this one?
Thats all I have..

[ebacherville]

v the front is probably the easiest simple mod, you could also angle off the top too.. seems from my CRX nose anything close to a 45 degrees or more deflects the wind very well..

also you just got that pickup topper may make sense to build a wing to push air over the top of that trailer? Like some semi's have.. could be as simple as a half sheet of chloroplast and a few support rods to hold its shape at speed..

[Chris D.]

I have plans to transition some coroplast on the campershell to kill off some of the turbulence for the trailer..

I'm just not sure of the V concept method I thought
of will have what it takes to last 3500 miles worth of driving

[dremd]

"nose cone" maybe able to find one used . . . . just a thought