until recently, 90% of the miles i put on my trucks were pulling either a straight pull cargo or a goose neck cargo.....
normal empty highway mpgs without a trailer were 22.5 to 24.5
with either trailer the best mpgs were about 17.5.....

when i ordered the wells cargo trailer i specially wanted a low trailer, (5 feet inside height), then when i saw a wind tunnel demo on the nose cone i added it to the special order ($400.00 extra) and bought an extra nose cone for the other straight pull i had at the time.... even with this extra care in trying to order fuel efficient trailers they still killed my mpgs.....

So everything 99 cummins said is correct based on my experiences as well....

i've never pulled a V nose but i would have agree again with 99 cummins....
not worth it as an add-on but maybe okay on an original built...

what has blown me away on this thread are the Brenderup Horse Trailers.....
here in okie land i thought i saw every kind of horse trailer made yet i'm not familar with the Brenderup Horse Trailers.....
i think i may have seen a small cargo trailer similar them on the highway once before but didn't get a close look at it....

thanks 99 cummins

 

They sell trailers of all sorts, cargo, horse and flat bed. But the only thing to really catch on in this country was the horse trailers. So you may have seen one, they are just rare. If you are only hauling two horses, I am here to tell you that these are bar, by far the best things on the market for horse trailers. From the safety aspect as well as fuel mileage. The draw back is that they are not cheap. But you don't have to drive a big truck every day just to haul a horse trailer a few times a year either, so in the end they are cost effective. I could write paragraphs as to the safety features built into these trailers. I used one of these for a rental trailer for years and every single person that rented it, raved about it after they used it. But they look weird so they were all a little suspicous up front. Once you use one they sell themselves.

 

these airtabs might be what dozerboy is referring to:
they only cost 2.50 a piece and might help....
after surfing their web site i've come to a skeptical conclusion, that they are not as good as they say......

but check-out their web site anyway http://www.airtab.com/

here some pics showing some of their uses....

 

Have you thought about a wing on top of your truck? I looked into em before but I wanted one that was chrome and lightweight that would fold down. My uncle had a "turbo wing" on the top of his old 86 Ford dually and he said it helped a lot but he didn't like leavin it on all the time. All it does is direct the airflow up and over the top of the trailer, that way the wind isn't hittin the trailer front head on. Jcwhitney had one that folded but it was fiberglass. If you haul a decent amount it would probably help a good bit as far as airflow and may cut down on fuel consumption.

 

Hi Fellas,

I was invited to post here by Maj Easy. He saw an article on my site and was interested in the project I talk about there:

http://www.johnbridge.com/travel_tra...rodynamics.htm

To me there is no controversy in trailer aerodynamics. You don't have to be an engineer to realize that a pointed front will go into the oncoming wind better than a flat one. Additionally, the "bad air" at the rear of the tow vehicle is decreased by bringing the front of the trailer closer to the rear of the vehicle. The idea that a v-nose does little to improve aerodynamics is wrong. I do think that pulling with a diesel you would be less likely to notice the difference, but the difference is definitely there, as I indicate in my article. Over a long haul, the fuel savings can be quite dramatic.

I unfortunately don't have a diesel (next time); I instead pull with a Dodge 3/4, 5.6 Hemi. 18 mpg empty hwy.

I agree there is quite a bit of drag at the rear of the trailer, and I'm working on that, but it is not true that most of the drag is at the rear. In over-the-road 18-wheelers 25% of wind resistance is at the nose and front of the tractor, and 25% is at the rear of the trailer. The remaining 50 percent is spread through the the gap between tractor and trailer, the underside of the truck and trailer, and the sides and top of the trailer. There are devices on the market to improve all of these considerations.

I don't think the wing on top of the tow vehicle is really efficient. In most cases it's way too far forward of the trailer front. It actually creates additional drag and turbulence between it and the trailer front in my estimation.

I by no means know everything there is to know, and I'm open to information and ideas. I probably won't be hanging around here much since I don't have a diesel, but you can ping me at my email address if you like. I will try to keep up with this thread.

Looking forward to the debate.

John

 

thanks John,

i hope that everybody interested in trailer aerodynamics reads your article...http://www.johnbridge.com/travel_tra...rodynamics.htm

here are some teaser pics of your neat design.

 

hey John,
all of these ideas try to get the same efficiency of a true boat tail...5%fuel efficiency increase (FEI)......since a true boat tail would most likely be too ugly....are you thinking of using any of these??

 

In a travel trailer or semi box trailer, I would completely agree with what he is saying. There you are talking about a flat fronted trailer that sit's several feet above the truck cab level. In the enclosed cargo trailers I assumed we were talking about here though, most are level or only slightly higher than the truck cab level. This difference makes these two things completely different topics of disscussion.

 

99cummins,

thanks for your clarification.....

 

i have a goosneck that i haul around for another company every now and then
at first when pulling it around it was plain and simple 7.5 mpg
loaded or empty
had a talk with the owner about this and the huge loss in profitability with mpg so low
next visit to the shop they had a wing put on that was at the time the only available on
it only covers about half the front of the trailer and half way to the top
maybe 4 ft sq total wing size
this resulted in a 1 mpg rise in fuel mileage now at 8.5

so to me there is no denying that a wing on the front will improve mileage
its just a matter of finding and mounting a wing that will do that job properly
putting a big huge v in the front might work but then you got to think of the added weight

my .02 c