Howdies!

All belly pans completed in aluminum diamond plate (except for a small section in the middle)! This view is from the front.

 

View from behind...

 

Fully rigged up and ready to go scare some locals up North with the new configuration!

 

So much awesome​

 

Nice touch with the 1WD.

Need some disc hubcaps up front.

 

New rear light...

 

I see a lot of S-hooks, is that how you get the spare tire down should you need it?

 

The S-hooks you're seeing is for the safety chains when the trailer is hooked up. I was keeping them on the truck but now I just keep them on the trailer.

I had thought about the spare tire which was located under the bed and decided to mount it in the bed instead.

 

Okay. Then another question; did you put the tire on driver side to not obstruct vision? I would have put it on passenger side to offset weight of the driver, but it is rather tall.

 

Yes, the primary reason was to not obstruct the driver's vision as much as possible. I tried mounting it centered but it restricted vision as well as access through the sliding window. I even tried laying the spare flat in the bed but I had to keep moving the spare around when I had to carry stuff in the bed. There are times where I have to take everything out of the bed including the spare tire to carry stuff but I only do that for local runs. If I really need the spare tire and space in the bed, I'll just stuff the spare tire into the trailer.

I guess I've really never considered mounting the spare tire under the cab but I do have space under there between the belly pan and the bottom of the cab. I'd have to come up with a special mount to make sure the spare tire was secured really well.

 

Got a little bit of snow here in Houston.

 

No offense brother but that looks like something a wacked out serial killer would be driving around in. I mean have you ever seen the movie "Jeepers Creepers"?

 

No offense taken. I have my fun exploring the depths of aerodynamics and challenging my ability to fab/design solutions to those challenges on a shoe string budget.

Never seen the movie, Jeepers Creepers before. At least you'd be able to spot the serial killer fairly easily if he/she was driving something like this.

 

Right on.

 

1. Keep the snow - please!
2. Did you work with any sort of spoilers or diffusers at the front end of the truck?
Seems most of your energy is spent on your slipstream.
3. Did you try at some point to create that same angular shape you have now on the back end - thru the bed space?
That's not asked clearly.... Did you try building that "ramp" from the cab roof to the rear of the bed, either just inside the back of the bed floor (that you could operate the tailgate) or to the end of the open tailgate? Combined with a belly pan that angled up to the open tailgate at the rear... I wonder?
4. Baby Moon hubcaps for the front wheels as another poster mentioned. +1
5. I was going to ask why you didn't work with clear plastics more - but I priced sheets of clear plastic this weekend. Holy C***! Cheap plastic isn't cheap anymore.
6. When you change tires - will you go with a narrower tire? Have you upped the air pressure to reduce rolling resistance? (Made a big difference on my Saab wagon.)

 

Are smaller mirrors available? They could help quite a bit, I'd think.

 

Havn't seen ya in a while

​

 

1. But it's too pretty not to share.

2. I actually dropped the stock front air dam 6" lower and that's where the full belly pan starts. Ground clearance is about 7" at the nose which is just enough to clear the cement parking stops.

3. There is actually an ideal aerodynamic template shape that one can apply to your build to get the best low drag. Here's the thread over at ecomodder.com. http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthre...ne-tool-view-streamlined-extension-21952.html

The angles that you're suggesting would have been too "fast" and would induce turbulance which would increase drag. The name for the topper is usually called an aero cap. My aero cap has been through about 7 iterations already with a couple more on the drawing board. Keep in mind that my main goal is for fuel efficiency and not anything close for looks/appearance. Many of the stock "aerodynamic" shapes on vehicles today are for looks only. I make compromises based on access and ease of assembly. My rear diffuser angle is from the rear axle to the end of the diffuser is 2.46 degrees and from the rear axle to the end of the trailer's belly pan is 3.95 degrees.

4. Noted but that would mean I would have to go back to steel rims for the fronts since most moon caps will not fit my current alloy rims. I'm not aware of any moon caps that will fit an off the shelf alloy rim without a significant increase in costs. I could probably find a custom attachment method to secure moon caps to my rims but they would probably be some pricey options. I'm still looking at front wheel skirts that articulate based on the turn direction.

5. Lexan/polycarbonate would be pretty cool but as you have found out, it's rather expensive. Besides, I'm not too sure I want everyone to see what I've got in the bed or trailer.

6. I want to keep my up front costs as low as possible and I'm not sold on the higher costs for LRR tires and the overall savings that they may provide for my needs. I did play around with maximum tire pressures on my stock tires but really didn't see any significant increase in fuel efficiency so I only run about 5psi higher than OEM recommended pressures.

One of my goals is to lose the trailer designation on the trailer (and cost of the tags) and incorporate the trailer into the truck super structure. I already have what would be considered a frame extension that the trailer is attached to. I need to add reverse lights at the rear, convert the clear side gap covers to an opaque material (metal), and maybe a few other things I haven't thought of yet. I still have to see how legal this is but I think I'm on the right track/argument.

 

I haven't found any that I can modify to fit my OEM mounts yet but I would like to try some motorized folding mirrors in place of mine. It would be pretty cool to fold the mirrors in and have cameras turn on so I can still see to the side of the truck. I have 4 additional internal mirrors that provide my wide view blind spot observations. The neat part about my internal mirrors is that they aren't affected by the weather like the external mirrors are. I also use a rear view camera to provide extra capability. That's the "probe" you see in the middle of the aero cap hatch.

 

Gotta keep busy.