Your video is very well done, I have a 2020 F350 diesel and I pull a 35’ 5th wheel trailer and mine still has the factory air dam. My son-in-law has the exact same truck and he cut 4” off of his air dam because he didn’t like the looks of it. We did a family road trip last year across the USA with him pulling almost the same size 5th wheel trailer and I was able to get 3/4 of a mile more per gallon than he did with trimmed air dam. The air dam definitely works.
I appreciate your video. I must point out that with the air dam you reset your trip at 75 mph and without the air damn you reset the trip at a much lower speed. I think around 50 mph. It takes a lot of energy to get the truck up to speed and in only a 3 mile test, this difference will have a dramatic impact on your results. It would be interesting to see the results with a longer distance like 50 miles or so.
Yup 😊 2018 6.2l and tow 12k during shredding season. Love the truck. To change oil filter air dam stops my belly. So I have go under the drivers door. No biggie.
Awesome video. For me, a SD truck is a highway vehicle. It is designed to drag and haul heavy things. A front valance is not something that bothers me. If the truck was supposed to be an off road vehicle (where approach angle is important) I could understand people’s annoyance.
Lots of us off road our 4x4 F250 trucks for camping, fishing, hunting, etc. so yes that can be an issue. But to date I have never had any impact on mine. I do have 35" tires and a level so that could be why I am ok l. I'm too smart to do any rock crawling with it
First thing I did on my new 22 F150 was raise the front end 2". Hated that low front stinkbug look. Didnt make a bit of difference in gas mileage. If anything it made it better!
Some have eluded to the the cooling effects and YES, it does have an effect. More negative pressure behind the radiator the more airflow through the radiator at a given speed. Trailer towing, you need that extra cooling especially in the deserts 100 plus degree temperatures. Some testing for longer range on 1/2 ton trucks have shown up to 4 mpg difference with the air dams complete removal.
When you said this is not exact, you are correct. You started the first test reset odometer at 75 mph. The 2nd test the reset was 61 mph, so you had to accelerate 19mph to get up to cruising speed or an additional 14 mph, which is a lot more fuel wasted for the 2nd run. Thus lowering your MPG.
I did the same on my 22 f350 diesel, took of valence and put on Boss plow and put on the smaller 2020 tremor valence and trimmed it to fit around plow frame. Looks good. Avg 19 to 21mpg.
I have a 2020 XLT with the 7.3. I track mpg against the computer and have found that reality is consistently about 1 mpg lower than the computer. 14ish vs about 13ish over most driving conditions. 4WD. I’ll keep the air dam for now. Every bit helps 😊
Bought mine used. I broke it in less than a month driving on snowy roads. I hate having such a garbage approach angle. I guess I'll be removing for winter and putting on in the spring.
I removed my valance because I thought it looked terrible… I definitely noticed a decrease in mileage which surprised me… still not gonna put it back on cuz it looks so much better without it!
I cut mine down to 2 inches and saw no difference in mpg at all. I've driven from Nevada to AZ many times 3 hr drive each way with about 300 pounds in the bed and my mpg has always been around 12.5 mpg highway with it left at factory and when I trimmed it down I'm still at 12.5 mpg. I don't think it's there for fuel consumption I believe it's there to stop all the crud from the road and rain from getting underneath just my opinion but I don't know.
While I appreciate the effort... No scientific test is 3 miles... it would take thousands of miles to prove if it helped or hurt... or hours in a wind tunnel using data on drag and aero.
Aerodynamically the number governing variable for mpg on any vehicle is drag on tires. You'll likely see an ever larger difference in mpg if you redo the test using the same speeds as engineers probably use, which is around 55mph.
Thanks DS... very interesting results. On my '17 F350 6.7L PS, I did my own mod and made my 4WD valance into a "Tremor" like size. Wonder if I only lost .5 mpg vice a whole 1 mpg since it is not completely removed.
Great video DS, really enjoy your channel as I also have a 2022 7.3 250 and agree that it is a great truck, definitely going to at least trim my air damn but to each their own!
The thing I don’t like about the air dam is how it makes maintenance harder. I have a suspension clunk and when I try to investigate I can hardly fit my head under to diagnose.
You stared the second test at a much lower speed when you reset the computer and had to accelerate more to get it up to speed that is what impacted your mpg the most
I wish the dealer who installs my plows would just notch it out instead of taking it off and throwing it in the bed. I suppose I could do it easy enough but I agree, it does look bad when its not there. Those crash bar things look interesting, I wonder if they need to come off when a plow is installed. I watched your video when Aaron put together your Fisher on the 450 and mine being a 22 450 I hope a Western will fit without modifying anything.
Very interesting video. I never even really bothered to think about that valance. I have a 17 6.7 but I don't drive it enough to pay attention to the mpg. It's mainly for towing my toy hauler. I'm sure my truck wouldn't care if that valance is there or not when towing my toy hauler lol. Anyway, thanks for the video. I want to do my own test now that you got me interested lol.
I removed the valance from my GMC canyon .. purchased used .. it was cracked .. the truck looks better and there is no difference in gas mileage.. personal I don't know why they design truck with high ride then and air damns to improve air flow.. didn't build them so high
I lost mileage on my 92 S10 when I removed it. I can not remember the year but that is what is was added for. They wouldn’t waste the time research and money to add it if it did not work.
I wonder if removing the valance lowers oil temps cause your blowing more air to the oil cooler? Stock truck it looks fine, but a 4" lift on 37's had to remove it and add 2wd valance along without crash bars.
I never heard that it was about gas mileage, I heard that those are a safety feature and have to be on the trucks to help prevent smaller car from travelling under the truck in an accident. Awhile back I spoke to insurance and if you modify the front of a vehicle, they will not insure vehicle and if you do, you will not be covered in an accident. I spoke to State DOT and they mentioned that if you modify the front of the vehicle, they will change the title to "Rebuilt" then you will have a hard time selling and insuring the vehicle.
@@justingolden Don't forget that the bumper regs are different for each State and generally follow the 16"-20" Fed regs. Trimming or taking that off would hold you responsible in any accident.
@@justingolden the rectangle things hanging down are not for a crash safety reasons. they are for transport only. they are not on 2wheel drive or the tremors.
I have no idea exactly how much fuel the front air dam saves. What I do know is my old 7.3 PSD got 15.3 MPG on its best day at 55MPH on cruise control in the flats. My 2021 6.7 PSD on cruise control in the same flats gets 15MPG when towing at 70MPH and 22 when on cruise, not towing, at 70MPH. Frankly, I don’t care what the front air dam looks like, I’m keeping it when I see mileage like this.
@@jesses1519 the nice thing is that the newer 10 speed transmissions also have a Eco mode which significantly reduces the DEF usage. I go through half a tank of Def every 3,000 miles or so. Now when it’s in tow haul mode, the def definitely gets sucked down at a rate of about half a tank every 1000 miles. And the MPG drops to roughly 13 ish.
