Any other OR owners elect to ADD the air dam?

Right? Lol.

Sadly, the warranty dept doesn’t honor it.

This is the millionth time I’ve reposted this pic, but it’s just so awesome.


The entire world knows this truck (and henceforth all Toyota pickups) to have set the standard in off-road utility. Doesn’t matter if it’s a geotechnical survey in Sudan, a farm in the Philippines, a war in... well everywhere.

 

Are they making actual add on spoilers made of tape or just covering up a flow thru grille area?

 

Mostly as you say, covering up grill areas although I've seen them use it to also patch bumpers when they are damaged.

 

I have also seen where guys do those 1 mile speed challenges tape off anything that looks like it could catch air and cause drag.

 

That's what went through my brain, why buy an Offroad that you never intend to off road? Carrying around a locker you never use is probably good for 0.25 MPG.

 

And it’s still a truck, which by definition is for transporting goods. No one is arguing that the Tacoma isn’t a great off road truck. Someone stated unless you off road you aren’t using it as a truck. Which is 100% false.

 

Being you have Denver in your name the locker you know it’s very useful in snow if stuck. It’s not just for “off-road”.

 

The locker is absolutely not useful in snow unless you're talking about deep snow chained up, then sure. I've had auto lockers and they plain suck on snow packed roads which is why I went to Air Lockers in my previous truck and got the e-locker in my Taco.

 

The only real truck.

 

Any other OR owners elect to ADD the air dam?


Fak no

 

Why would having a selectable electronic locker cost you any mileage?

 

The actuator and switch must weigh a solid 5 lbs over an open diff carrier. It's consuming valuable payload open or locked.

 

I don't have an OR, but do like the look of the truck with the air dam installed. I took mine off because it was the popular thing to do, but ended up putting it back on. Mine is also Super White, and it's a nice contrast to the front end. Without it, it looks unfinished with the steel front frame exposed.

I'm sure a skid plate would look good as well, but my only off-roading is accidentally driving over the grass coming up my driveway.

 

Is this right? EPA doesn't actually rate cars for fuel econ. They provide test guidelines for everyone to follow. It's still Toyota that provides EPA with the number and EPA certifies it. So in essence it is still Toyota's number that's on the sticker as that's what they said the truck is rated for.

 

I don’t disagree. It’s a truck, doesn’t matter what the end user does with it. I can’t understand buying one without intending to use it for all terrain utility. If you’re wondering why I decided to make this point, you’re out of luck because I have no idea.

 

That’s because the air dam is to correct the MPG losses from the scoop.

 

It's kind of a circle jerk. EPA sets guidelines and acceptance criteria, manufacturers design and test to those and the EPA certifies that is what happened. Would Toyota build a truck with the drivetrain that they do if it wasn't mandated by the EPA? We don't know but I think we can assume that when a manufacturer is engineering a car they obviously try to balance regulation against market demands and in a post-VW TDI world we get vehicles in the U.S. that are closer to what EPA says we should be getting instead of what we actually want.

Nowhere else in the world are Toyota trucks stuffed with a 3.5L V6 from a road car, for example. Is that because we don't use our trucks as trucks? Maybe. But it's mostly because of emissions and mileage I believe. The same is true of the new U.S. Ranger, it doesn't get the truck engines from the global version but one from a Mustang.

 

200,000 miles/19mpg=10,526gal
200,000 miles/20mpg=10,000gal

That's a 526 gallon difference over the life of a 200k truck.
At $2.79 per gallon that comes to a total savings of $1,467.54 in fuel costs in a truck with a dam vs one without.

Also, the dam does improve stability by creating a lower pressure zone under the truck, effectively pulling the truck down into the road compared to an OR/Pro that forces air under the truck causing a bunch of higher pressure and turbulence.

Even with a potential savings of $1500 over the course of 20 years (assuming the truck will last that long at ~10k/year), and the slight stability improvement, I'd never put the dam on my truck. One of the reasons I chose the OR was the fact that I could blast through snow drifts without worrying about tearing off my air dam like I did in my Grand Cherokee. The other reason is the brake lock diff, as Jeep calls it. Never again will I own a truck without some sort of traction aid to get power to all four wheels. yuck.

Aesthetically, I like the look of the sport. I just couldn't sacrifice the traction benefit of the OR, and I'm sure as hell not gonna go out of my way to buy and add a dam for the sake of $75/year, which I don't think I would even see with my driving. I'd be lucky to get a 1/2 mpg improvement.

 

Dang dude, that's commitment to throw away $1,500!

I'll keep it and the savings

 

Does it help with mpg? I left mine on my SR5. I take mine offroading frequently and never have issues. I will say though, it messes things up when you hit it on a rock. It pulled part of the bumper right off.