Trucks and wind

[hwork50]

I have an 06 tacoma 4 cylinder 5 speed truck. My question is would I get better gas mileage with a shell or without a shell. The weight might cancel out any wind advantage one might have.

What do you guys think?

Brent

[SVOboy]

You'd get the best mileage with an aero cap, like a few members on here have,

[hwork50]

I have seen those. I am still not finished with my first tank of gas but I am assuming I will get like 25 with the 4 banger and the 5 speed running at like 2000-2500K rpm most of the time.

What kind of yields could one expect with the areo cap.

Brent

[SVOboy]

That's a question best left to someone else, so I'll let some others chime in, but it should definitely be enough to pay back investment, especially with gas at $4 a gallon!

[bennelson]

Hey Brent,

I think you should definately go with an "aero-cap" for the long run. Just make sure to keep it light weight.

Right now I have been running without any cap, and I got 30.1 mpg on my last tank.

I experimented with a modified tonneau cover made from contruction plastic stretched over the cab and bed. It think it helped a bit, but really needed a frame underneith to shape it better. (I still have packaging tape all over my truck!)

I also took a shot at building an aerocap with wood framing and greenhouse glazing material. I am not much of a carpenter and couldn't get all the angles right, and abandoned that.

I think the best way to make a cap would be using 4x8 foot shower wall panels, heated and bent around a LIGHTWIEGHT frame. There was one on this forum done that way over PVC pipe that looked really nice.

I say lightweight because I think weight was an issue with the standard cap I have. That square cap really cut into my fuel economy. I could always feel it catching the crosswind, and that thick fiberglass is just plain heavy!

Does anyone work at a place that makes things in giant plastic molds? Would be great if we could just stamp out big, cheap aerodynamic truck caps!!!!!