To "Wing or not to Wing"

[Big Puppy]

Need advice on air deflector wings. What is the best and where to purchase? Are they worth the money?



Thanks Jim

 

[Okie-Go]

They are worth the money and then some. www.taylorwings.com I will try to figure out how to send a picture of mine to you.

 

[BPINE]

IMO I don't think they are worth the money, I have a taylor which I think are in deed the best built but I just don't see any benifit. I don't see any increase in fuel milage at all and I have towed many miles with and without. I do see a decrease in bugs on the trailer but that is about it.

 

[REllerman]

I think they are worth it. I have had my Areo Wing for three years, using it on my 1996 3500 V10 3. 54. With the wing I saw about 1/2 mile improvement while towing, while that doesn't sound like much it was an increase from 5. 9 to 6. 4 mpg. The biggest improvement was in engine performance with the wing on the V10 wasn't working as hard and if there was a head wind it helped even more and it also cut down on bugs. I have only used on one trip with my 2001 3500 HO six speed 4:10 all stock except for a jake brake & 50 gallon aux tank, on this trip I averaged 10. 3 mph pulling a 37 ft 5ver with a combine weight of 23,500. Boy does this unit pull nice.

 

[Barry]

I wished there was a definitive answer on this subject. For a long time I have silently laughed and snickered at folks that have the wind deflectors. However, with fuel prices being what they are, I have begun to study this devices with a little more than just casual concern. So far my canvas of folks that have them is split down the middle. Half say "don't waste your money" while the other half say they are the greatest thing since zippers on britches. My supplier will sell me one for $348 wholesale or 2 for $600. If I decide to buy one, I'll need to find someone as equally gullible as I and split the package with them. If their(the Mfg. s)claims are correct, it will pay for itself in 25,000 miles of towing. I dunno... ... ... ... ... ... ...

 

[Shooter]

I wont't leave home without it. The 22" ( camping world, and most of the others ) are only good for about a 10. 5' frontal. The 32" are good to about 13'.

While I have seen an increase in fuel mileage ( 9. 5 to 11. 5 ) and am able to maintain speed limit in winds that would kill speed and mileage it might not hold true for others. I have talked to many others with small wings that are not happy with the little wings performance on tall 5ths. What needs to be done is tune the wing angle to the trailer. If the wing angle is too high then it is not deflecting but just acting as a air brake, by moving the frontal area from the trailer to the wing. The bug line on the trailer is where the air stream is hitting the trailer. When the bug line is raised you have not lessened the frontal area but diverted the wind from the perverbial brick wall so the wind is only hitting the upper part instead of the whole thing. The bugs are following the air flow ( like smoke in an air tunnel ). It took me quite a few fuel stops to tune mine to the trailer as from the factory it had a 12" rear strut. I moved my bug line from 3" above the cab roof up 3'. I had made a couple other struts up to 18". At each fuel stop I would raise the wing 1". The results were not linear. The next 1" raised the bugs another 2'. The next inch raised it another 1'. It is now ( by adding another 1/2" ) right at the top edge of the trailer at the roof. I will add that there is a strip of bugs 4" high where the bugs get between the leading edge of the wing and roof. There is another 6" sripe up each side as the wing is only 60" wide and this bugs are not deflected with the wind by the wing. Any wind off the front quarters are defleted to some extent, increasing deflection untill you get a direct frontal wind.



My first trip to TX w /wing I averaged 12. 5 mpg ( no mountain climbing ), same trip w/o wing averaged 9. 5.

With the wing down and dead heading I will get 15 mpg on the high way, w/o wing I get 18+. It does add frontal to the truck.



They are not for every one. If you only TOW a few days a year on the 2 or 3 week vacation and you think you will get 5+ mpg increase and a 1 trip pay back it won't happen. I have put a little over 13k mi on the 5th this year with another trip of 6-8 weeks in the north west with a side trip to Bill K's and back starting next month that will be another 5k miles towing.

If I only saved 1 mpg for the 20k miles towing this year alone ROI would be $300. In my case it has been a 100%+ pay back on investment the first year at a 2mpg fuel increase with the value added of easier handling.



Just my experiencees with my oversised Taylor Wing

 

[REllerman]

If you do elect to buy one check the prices at camping World, If you belong to the presidents club you can buy one there for about $323 + 59. 00 for a mounting kit when there on sale. They carry the Aerotravel 1 by wingmaster.

 

[merryman]

Several years ago one of the RV magazines did a test. They towed the same course, with the same rig and load with and without the wing. I do not recall many details about the rigs or the wing, but it struck me as a pretty comprehisive test. Their conclusion was that you would have to tow a great many miles to get your money back. I don't recall how many, but do recall that my reaction at the time was that it was very unlikely I would ever tow that many miles, so dropped the idea; abd of course, I can not vouch for the quality of their test.



Vaughn

 

[Shooter]

With my fb car hauler and Pinto running between Tulsa and Albq grossing 13k# I get 13. 5 mpg at 75 to 80 mph. The same trip with 5th grossing 17k# and 12'6" frontal I get 9. 5 w/o wing and 12. 6 w / wing. That first trip to Tulsa w/ wing told me that the wing effectivly reduced the frontal of the 5th to slighlty more than the car hauler w/ car. This not only had an effect on fuel mileage but also on towing performance, more power available at freeway speeds. I could probably get better fuel mileage with other mods to the truck such as getting rid of the elk strainer, BFG TA's and going with a narrower hyway tread, getting a 2 wheel drive. loosing the bug deflector... ... ... .





It is kind of like looking for the ROI between a gas and diesel. If you are buying it strictly to put $ in your pocket your goning to have to drive a lot of miles. If you bought the diesel to do a job, cost wasn't a big consideration



The 20 & 22" wings are for TT's that is why they are not very effective or effiecent with 5th wheels, BUT they are CHEAPER, so is a gas engine. If I have a family of 5 kids ( 10 to 17 yrs old ) and stuffem into a 12' Coleman tent trailer I could then say that camping trailers arent worth the money cus they don't do the job: portapottie is too small to hold it all, they are hot in the summer and too crowded with not enough room for the kids when it rains. . If you are not getting an average life time of miles out of your 5th every year they are not cost effective. THEY ARE NOT FOR EVERYONE...



NOTE: The stainless look nice but if I had it to do over I would have saved the $100. and got the aluminum, lighter and easier to handle.



www.taylorwings.com

 

[brobeson]

I may be interested.

which wing are you looking at? I am interested in the oversize Taylor wing.



Bob

 

[**ICEMAN**]

OKIE-GO,,,thanks for the link to taylors. i've been lookin for the right one and they got it. i ordered the oversize stainless with the standard roof mount and 5 lites accross the top and 4 on the sides. well actually i asked them to just make the holes for the lites and i will install my own. no extra charge for the holes. the lites they have are $20. a piece x 13 (way to much). i like the standard roof mount more than the mount that goes behind the cab on the bed rail. with the roof mount though i need to take the head liner out in order to install the brackets. while it's out i will splice the wing lites into my cab clearance lites. taylors had a special discount price that ended on the 15th and he still honored it for me on the 16th. only bad part is waiting 3-4 weeks to get it over here to the east coast. thanks again,,,it's the one i was waiting to find.

 

[Okie-Go]

That's why we are here to help each other out. If you shoot me an e-mail I think I will be able to send you a picture of what mine looks like. I need to check out the lights. I haven't seen any of them yet. Have fun,you'll be amazed at the people that stare at it going down the road.