Trailer aero pod

[Jerry Kehoe]

My brother tows a 28' trailer behind his F150 and when he used to trailer it behind his Excursion it was very steady at any speed. His F150 has an open bed and he is wondering if anyone has experience with an aero pod nosecone on the nose of the trailer for stability. Very little info seems available if it helps or not. Anyone have any experience with this. Seems at speeds over 58 or 59 MPH the trailer is very edgy.

[t walgamuth]

My brother tows a 28' trailer behind his F150 and when he used to trailer it behind his Excursion it was very steady at any speed. His F150 has an open bed and he is wondering if anyone has experience with an aero pod nosecone on the nose of the trailer for stability. Very little info seems available if it helps or not. Anyone have any experience with this. Seems at speeds over 58 or 59 MPH the trailer is very edgy.

Does he use anti sway devices and load leveling hitch? A pickup is light in the rear compared to and excursion so will never be as stable. Ballast in the bed would probably help too. Putting too much weight forward with the hitch leveling device will make it unstable too. You want the rear of the truck squatted down a couple of inches for best towing.

[billtebbutt]

Is it a new F150? Does it come with a 3" receiver as opposed to the 2.5" ones we have used for 100 years (I don't know about the 150s, but the 250s do)?

I bought a new F250 last year, and had to order an adapter sleeve for the new receiver to sleeve it down to 2.5". Ford's adapter part is a total POS, loose, sloppy, you name it. It causes all sorts of waggle on the highway despite a properly loaded trailer, torsion bars, tongue weight, proper tire pressures, etc.

If this is the case, he may want to look to the aftermarket for a better fitting adapter.

cheers,
BT

[problemchild]

I don't think your problem is aero. It is about weight, wheelbase, and trailer loading.

I tried to tow a 28' trailer behind a 1/2 ton Chevy. It was nightmare! The trailer was controlling the truck above about 45 mph.

I am not nervous about towing, but have concluded that somewhere around 18-20' is the maximum size trailer to be hauled comfortably behind a half-ton pickup. Based on my ignorant uninformed conclusion, I bought a 18x7 Veenose which if I load very strategically, seems to tow comfortably, although certainly not economically. With the gas-powered pickup, it was much better at 72 than 65 mph, as it would stay in top gear, rather than continually up and downshifting.

I think that regular hitch (as opposed to gooseneck) 28' trailers are very awkward towing, and very subject to load placement. I am much more surprised that the Excursion handled it well, than that the F150 does not.

[Daryl DeArman]

One anecdote to consider:

This past week was the first time I ever towed an enclosed trailer behind a pickup truck. All other tow vehicles have been RV's.

Having done so, I don't know how an aero-bubble thingy could be a "bad" thing. The drag appeared to me to be almost all aero, and very little to do with weight based on my MPG towing loaded and towing empty over a 2500 mile route.

I was towing with a 2019 F250 gas. Used cruise as soon as I got north of Cajon Pass and only turned it off in Vegas and Salt Lake City. Speed limits while towing for the majority of the trip were either 75 or 80, and seeing as how the brand new trailer tires were rated for 81, I kept the cruise on 80. It was extremely easy for the truck, dealing with several steep and long grades crossing the Continental Divide 4 times, Cajon Pass and Baker grade.

I recorded 10.3 MPG average on the trip while loaded (6500# total tow weight) for 1250 miles, and 10.5MPG average on the trip while unloaded (3000# total tow weight). Given the same route and the number of large grades I had to climb going up and how all those were downhill coming home, I concluded the weight had almost zero effect on my MPG.

It was also apparent to me how much I disturbed other pickups with trailers when I passed them and how much the big rigs hauling triples disturbed my trailer when they passed me that the air around that trailer wasn't very "clean" at all.

I was only towing less than 50% of my pickups' towing capacity, no load equalizer or anti-sway used due to small size of the load. Next trip I'll have a load equalizing hitch of some sort, jury's out on which one.

If I planned on towing this trailer behind that truck often I would consider an aero-cap thingy. . .

[Daryl DeArman]

I am much more surprised that the Excursion handled it well, than that the F150 does not.

You might be making the same mistake I do all the time, confusing the Expedition and the Excursion.

The Excursion was built on the Super Duty chassis, and with the Turbo Diesel has up to an 11,000# towing capacity, 20,000# GCWR

On my recent trip I saw a 4x4 Excursion towing a 3-axle camping trailer with a side x side UTV on a trailer behind that. . . doing almost 80 mph! I always thought that to tow double trailers legally, the front trailer had to be a gooseneck or 5th wheel---maybe that's a CA thing.

[helipilot04]

My brother tows a 28' trailer behind his F150 and when he used to trailer it behind his Excursion it was very steady at any speed. His F150 has an open bed and he is wondering if anyone has experience with an aero pod nosecone on the nose of the trailer for stability. Very little info seems available if it helps or not. Anyone have any experience with this. Seems at speeds over 58 or 59 MPH the trailer is very edgy.

I have been towing a 20' trailer for 11 years with an F150. The load leveling/antisway systems work very well in helping all the stated issues with towing heavy enclosed trailers with light pickups. Take a look and make sure you have it loaded correctly. A fellow FF driver and I towed his 32' trailer out to the 50th at Road America with His F150. It was perfectly fine, on cruise and at 80 MPH.. LOADING loading loading!!! If you load it correctly it will travel as expected and be fine. If not, you will hate anything that passes you or you pass. As I towed back from PITT this year, I had to stop and move my generator from the rear of the trailer to the front, amazingly the trailer calmed down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9Dgxe584Ss

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mW_gzdh6to


Cheers,
Bob

[Roux]

I switched from an E350 Ford van with the 80psi truck tires to a longbed longwheelbase Tundra with no cap. The tires on the Toyota are the more typical light duty? tires. The trailer is a 20' with a V nose making it 22' long on the box. The Ford was hell with anything big in the lane next to it. Without the sway control I would rate it as dangerous unless the tires were well worn in which case it was OK. The Tundra is rock solid with or without the sway control. All I can confirm from this is that new tires on the Van were the worst experience I have ever had towing. Trailer loading has been somewhere near the maximum 7000# in all cases and tongue weight at the 10% level. The best back to back experiment was on the same weekend to swap the new tires off the back axle to the front and the1/2worn tires from the front to the back and the change was substantial; this was on the Ford Van. I wonder if the Excursion was perhaps riding on worn tires and the F150 is on fresh rubber with squishy tread blocks and the actual aero is not the root cause?

Steve.

[t walgamuth]

80 mph towing seems pretty fast. I worry most about trailer tire failure. They will tear up your trailer a lot if they blow out. I will tow at 75 only if it is not an all day trip. I keep an eye on my trailer tires. Also have a transmission temp gauge and additional capacity extensions to provide more transmission lube capacity......08 dodge quad cab 2500 single tire cummins with 6 speed manual.

As for a pod for the front of the trailer,....can't hurt but I would be surprised if it helps a lot.

[Chuck301]

These guys use scales on truck and trailer to demonstrate proper set up
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XBZu39pQ8Gg

[Daryl DeArman]

80 mph towing seems pretty fast. I worry most about trailer tire failure. They will tear up your trailer a lot if they blow out. I will tow at 75 only if it is not an all day trip. I keep an eye on my trailer tires. Also have a transmission temp gauge and additional capacity extensions to provide more transmission lube capacity.

As for a pod for the front of the trailer,....can't hurt but I would be surprised if it helps a lot.

Yes, 80mph for 8-9 hour days seemed that way to me as well. One, I never towed that speed with an RV. Two, I wasn't certain the brand new tires were up to the task. Three, the air temp was between 105 and 110 from Baker, CA to St. George, UT. I was getting less than 4 hours per fuel tank, so it seemed like I was stopping all the time. Checked lug torque, and tire temps with infrared pyrometer on sidewalls just looking for something amiss at every stop. Tire sidewalls on trailer were usually around 20 degrees cooler than the tires on the pickup. Don't know how much of that had to do with how hard the tires were working and how much had to do with radiant heat from engine and lack of air flow around tires on truck vs. tires outside the trailer walls under thin metal fenders. Given relative temps I was pretty comfortable the tires were up to snuff. Trans temp stayed between 195-200 degrees regardless of ambient, all the way from 40 to 110.

[t walgamuth]

A tail wind will upset the trailer and move things around.

[tstrong]

I would vote for giving the pod a try although I have not used one. I will say that years ago when I switched from a 20 ft flat front trailer to a v-nose (22 ft rectangle +5 ft v ) mileage increased by about 15% and it was much more stable at speed. I currently tow that trailer at close to 7000 lbs and 70 mph with an F150 eco boost with no issues (other than occasional tire issues). No equalizer hitch and no sway control, just air bag on rear suspension. YMMV. Todd

[Phil Creighton]

I will add that about 20 yrs ago we fitted a Nosecone brand bubble on a 5th wheel trailer pulled by a gas dually. My rough guess was about 12% fuel mileage better. Scary thing was the owner who hadnt driven it with the nose cone went steaming up an off ramp with brakes locked up as he expected it to slow down more - less drag has its penalties. It added nothing to the stability but it was a 5th wheel.

[Jerry Kehoe]

Thanks to all for your comments on the possible solutions to my brothers towing issue, beneath it all it is likely the trailer is too long and the truck maybe not heavy enough. He has viewed the You Tube videos on tongue weight setup and is going to follow them as well next week. Hopefully this process might at least help the situation since getting rid of the trailer for a shorter one would be the last resort. All other comments are certainly probable as well. Far more information than he got on any other searches!

[Jerry Kehoe]

A final report on my brothers towing situation. He followed the You Tube videos on setting up the trailer tongue weight and dealing with the air bags and load levelers and the results were extremely good and now he can tow comfortably with the 28' trailer at 70 mph. Since he moved a couple of his cars around with and without a spare motor he merely reset the tongue weight easily with the same results. He now has a template so different loads are easy. Maybe the aero pod would help but that is another question. Better mileage? Better stability? The tongue weight fix was $800 cheaper! Thanks all and hopefully this helps others with real information!

[Bardahl77]

I always wondered if a pair of vertical fins in back would help to stabilize a trailer?

[t walgamuth]

I always wondered if a pair of vertical fins in back would help to stabilize a trailer?

I suspect it would be a real negative in a side wind....which is the one that most disrupts your enjoyable drive.

[BeerBudgetRacing]

I always wondered if a pair of vertical fins in back would help to stabilize a trailer?

Any aerodynamic improvement should help.

I've seen these on a few. Not sure the results.

https://www.airtab.com/

The truckers use trailer tails and skirts.
https://nextexitlogistics.com/semi-t...ynamics-works/

I suspect towing with a pickup is WORSE than a van - aero wise.

[DanW]

Looking at the details of the BRE trailer, notice the underside of the trailer is completely skinned. There is a lot of drag under the trailer, along the rails and around the axles and wheels as well.

Airtabs work but they are expensive.

[TedV]

notice the underside of the trailer is completely skinned. There is a lot of drag under the trailer, along the rails and around the axles and wheels as well.

Airtabs work but they are expensive.

After one goes down the rabbit hole of weight distribution videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mW_gzdh6to
then go down the rabbit hole on the https://ecomodder.com/forum/ searching for trailer and tow vehicle aerodynamics. The skinned floor, radius corners, not square, distance between trailer and tow vehicle,etc, etc. Just remember to have a bottle of Excedrin and/or lots of your favorite beverage.

[jrh3]

Looking at the details of the BRE trailer, notice the underside of the trailer is completely skinned. There is a lot of drag under the trailer, along the rails and around the axles and wheels as well.

Airtabs work but they are expensive.

Vortex generators have been used on aircraft for a long time.
$50 for aluminum angle , double sided tape, some time on the bandsaw and you are ready to experiment.
The angle to the airstream is important - do your homework!