Spotted: big rig with wheel covers and side skirts
 

went to Mansfield, Mo, today; and saw this.
Attachment 16693

Attachment 16694

Attachment 16695
It is homemade, the wheel covers are screwed on.
sorry about the pics, click them please!

Excellent! Is this a short haul truck? Great to see ecomodding catching on.

Even has a cool 'Mad Max' look to it.

( Which is a good thing, since people tend to worry about looking like a fool to their friends . )

That makes sense, considering that a commercial operator would see the return of investment kinda quickly.

Naw, this is likely a private hauler considering both the truck and trailer are eco modded. Ive seen trailers with mods and Ive seen trucks, but never a complete set.

Who ever owns one, owns the other too. :thumbup:

Yes, it would be privately owned, but I didn't talk to anyone, so I don't know any more than what I saw.

It had very wide single tires instead of duals, I have heard that that is a good mpg booster for big rigs.

Commonly referred to a 'Super Singles'.

Why would that be?

Less sidewall flex, lower overall weight when compare with dual wheel/tire combo.

I see a lot of skirts around my area, and I'm starting to see pop-out rear extensions too.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...qB77iv8mEuDClg

Super singles are also better for aero, I think?

Ahh that makes sense. I've also been seeing a lot of side skirts under the trailer and under the cab. I see the aero pop out extensions every once in a blue moon.

Saw this last day. Not home-made but I see this aero accessory rarely enough to post it.

It does make sense to ecomod any professional vehicle where a ROI can be found.
Should even be mandatory if you ask me ...

Or trailer designs should be mandated to be more efficient. I really can't understand why not making them in a monocoque design like it's already done with buses, which would make them lighter and more aerodynamic. And nowadays that air suspension is widespread in heavy commercial vehicles, even some fully-independent suspension setup relying in a trailing arm for each wheel (without axles) similar to what is applied to motorcycle rear wheels could be attempted in order to allow for a lower boarding height where it's possible, thus increasing the interior volume of the trailer while keeping its overall height lower.

I've seen a lot of trucks that have the side skirts and wheel covers. It seems to be a much more common practice now than it did a couple months ago. When I went on a road trip to Memphis in October, I didn't see that many trucks with skirts and wheel covers, I think I saw 1. Going down to Biloxi, MS for New Years, we saw tons of trucks with skirts, covers, and rear pop-out things.

Some big rigs could probably benefit from using a teardrop designed trailer if they aren't carrying a large load that would require the box.

Trailers still have to have the square back end available for matching with loading docks.

Here's an article on the 10.7 mpg Peterbuilt-Cummins supertruck project ... (part 2 is even more interesting).

Delving Into the Cummins/Peterbilt SuperTruck: Part 1 - Articles - Fuel Smarts - Articles - TruckingInfo.com

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...3&d=1419740045

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...4&d=1419740045

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...5&d=1419740045

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...5&d=1420140413

Truck aeromods are not so popular in my country, and many drivers would actually be kinda skeptical about their advantages.

Man, it seems like every state is way, way behind California. Here is Cali, it's extremely common to see owner-op trucks with wheel covers, front air dams (look like extended bumpers), skirts on the trailers and those boat-tail like extensions on the trailers. I have been seeing this sort of thing for at least 2 years.

You guys have to remember, for a owner-op, the biggest cost of owning a truck is diesel. When they do a long-haul, say from Cali to NY (which isn't uncommon) it's about 6,000 miles(round trip). At 10MPG that's 600 gallons of fuel, or close to 2,000$. If they improve even 1mpg, it would save almost 200$ in fuel. That's quite a bit considering they can make many of those types of trips per year.


I don't agree with them using aluminum whatsoever on a semi. While it seems like a good idea, truckers run into **** all the time. Do you know how hard it is to work with aluminum? It's not easy. Not to mention not many body shop guys will even touch the stuff because it's so time consuming vs money made.

Been seeing these more but a lot more with just the trailer under skirting.

How the under trailer skirt is angled from inside of the rear wheels makes me think of an insight front fender..

Living and working close to I-40 skirted and tapered trucks seem abundant in this state to me. I have a frequent flyer that comes through the area often that I readily recognize with covers, skirts, tapers and I noticed he drives slower than most too. Total ecomodder semi! I still think they are lots of huge gaps that I wish they would fill and the side mirrors just offend my modder sensibilities. Surely they can do a BMW i8 thing and duct a partial kammback from the back trailer wheels through the maditory bumper bracket and get some gains there.

I think that a half moon shaped piece could be attached to the top of the trailer, and a crescent moon shaped piece to the top of the truck, causing them to fit together like a puzzle piece, and fill the gap between truck and trailer. The shapes of the pieces would allow turning, while keeping the gap filled. Opinions?

Like this!! Vintage Little Tikes Semi Truck Trailer Ride on Toy Fast Free Shipping | eBay

I had one when I was a kid

Yes! That's perfect! (would need a trap door to connect the trailer.)

Along with the side skirts, trucks could also benefit from wheel skirts connecting to the side skirts. Most of the truck drivers here that added wheel skirts saw about a 2 MPG increase. Throw some of that on a big rig, you will likely see a much larger increase.

Trucks could also probably also benefit from increasing tire pressure. I've seen far too many trucks with too low tire pressure (you can see the tire is almost completely flat on the bottom.)

To accommodate pitching movement, one part or the other would need to pivot on a transverse line through the 5th-wheel hitch.

can't understand
 

Perhaps Sir James Dyson will take up the challenge.He likes to do revolutionary changes in the market.
He will arrive at the solution you've laid out.And he has a multi-billion dollar credit line.

gap
 

If the semi is turning off a thoroughfare and up an incline,into an alley for a delivery,whatever is provided for a gap-filler may be required to compensate for pitch and yaw simultaneously.
The crescents would need to be hinged along with a facility to 'ride' the face of the trailer,top included, while displacing,and provide a means to re-'center' once the turn was complete.
I ran into all these issues with my trailer.

I'm not advocating mandates (especially funded federal ones) but I agree a lower boarding height design has been on my mind. I think the current standard is elegant in its simplicity and probably much cheaper to construct and repair OTOH. I was thinking of side structures like the Ariel Atom but curtained smooth. Incentivize the good designs and let the free market adopt:thumbup: Still have to consider the cost of all of the loading docks that would need to be changed.

That's like making a bazillion wheelchair ramps instead of improving the wheelchairs. With airbagged suspension you can just raise the whole trailer.

Gets expensive and more complex as you get away from the current design standard quickly doesn't it. You can't get the trailer too low in the middle of the span either or it may have clearance issues with steep grade transitions.
How often have folks seen the single wheel setups in the states as oppposed to the double wheels on the trucks (the truck has 6 wheels instead of 10). I've seen a few new trucks set up that way. Its supposed to be more fuel efficient. Probably cost prohibitive to convert an older vehicle. I haven't seen any with the crosswind baffles in between the cab and trailer yet. I've seen several with a plastic shape on the trailer bottom that looks like a ramp. I assume its for aero? Wonder how much improvement that gleens.

Can also use liftgates which may also be used as a ramp for a more precise levelling to the dock. BTW I have already seen some docks which had built-in retractible ramps.