In a message dated 5/6/2004 11:18:26 AM Eastern Standard Time,
mark@sccaprepared.com writes:
> Speaking of that... Anyone know where you can buy those "wind bubble"
> things I see on the top front of some trailers?
>
> Mark
>
I know Pace sells them as an option for their trailers, and I'm sure that the
other car trailer mfrs do, too. I would also assume that they are buying
them rather than making them for themselves....and they could all be
buying them from a common source.
First place I'd look would be at a dealer who sells
semi-trailers....Fruehauf,
Trailmobile, or such. They would be more likely to have access to different
sizes, I would think. "Nose Cone" was one of the first brand names I recall
when these first came to the big-truck market back in the mid-70's.
My current trailer originally came without a "bubble", and I towed it for a
month or so before having one installed. In completely unscientific testing
at the time installing it increased my towing mileage about 5-10%. Not a
lot, but it looks better and better as the price of gas and diesel goes
up....
Testing by several big trucking companies (Roger Penske's, for one) that I
have read about over the last 10 years has indicated that the single biggest
source of drag for a semi-trailer is actually the hole in the air created by
the
square configuration of its rear end. Solving that is problematical though,
since the rear doors still have to open in a manner that allows backing up
to a loading dock between other trailers. There are some examples of rigs
that are doing things differently. Ever see an enclosed car hauler on the
road with "Waggoneers" insignia on the cab? The trailers they use have a
big fiberglass "boattail" on the back end to streamline the airflow. They
are
able to do it because they generally load/unload in parking lots with lots of
clearance to swing the "tail" out of the way.
GH
|