Air Deflector

AustinZ71 · January 18, 2011

You must be a bit of a wuss if you can't get yours off, while a 66-year old had no problem. Want Gramps to come over and do it for you?

Just didn't want to break it, old timer.

I crawled under it and saw that it's hooked on in several places. It's off now, in one piece.

jwoodall · January 19, 2011

You must be a bit of a wuss if you can't get yours off, while a 66-year old had no problem. Want Gramps to come over and do it for you?

Just didn't want to break it, old timer.

I crawled under it and saw that it's hooked on in several places. It's off now, in one piece.

I feel you man. They always say "It just pops right off". There are like 20 clips I don't think it's going to pop right off. Did you use a flathead to get the clips apart?

armyman22 · January 22, 2011

For anyone who actually gives a crap about taking this off without risk of damaging it (or the bumper). Turn the wheels all the way to the right to access the two 10mm bolts on each end. Remove them, then start with the clip next to the bolt (use a small flathead to gently pry where needed). Remove it from that one clip then do the same to the other side. Go back and forth between sides, working your way to the center. Took me less than 5 minutes to get it off without any damage to either piece. "Just rip/pull it off" is NOT the way to do things when you're messing with a $40k truck.

BigBlueLB756 · January 22, 2011

Not living on the edge?

brainpause · January 22, 2011

does this piece have a purpose? or is it being taken off for looks?

Larry

mattjwilson1 · January 22, 2011

does this piece have a purpose? or is it being taken off for looks?

Larry

it makes the truck more aerodynamic by forcing the air down.. by taking it off you increase the drag on your truck thus making it get worse gas milage.. probably nothing noticable. This is what i was told by a friend that was a mechanic. But i doubt any one in these forums is too worried about gas milage lol

dlewis1111 · January 23, 2011

does this piece have a purpose? or is it being taken off for looks?

Larry

it makes the truck more aerodynamic by forcing the air down.. by taking it off you increase the drag on your truck thus making it get worse gas milage.. probably nothing noticable. This is what i was told by a friend that was a mechanic. But i doubt any one in these forums is too worried about gas milage lol

Did tests on mine with and without the air dam and got exactly the same mileage. It looks better with it off.

jwoodall · January 24, 2011

For anyone who actually gives a crap about taking this off without risk of damaging it (or the bumper). Turn the wheels all the way to the right to access the two 10mm bolts on each end. Remove them, then start with the clip next to the bolt (use a small flathead to gently pry where needed). Remove it from that one clip then do the same to the other side. Go back and forth between sides, working your way to the center. Took me less than 5 minutes to get it off without any damage to either piece. "Just rip/pull it off" is NOT the way to do things when you're messing with a $40k truck.

Thanks for that. I figured out about turning the wheels when I was trying to remove the screw with 1/2" of clearance. Was not working. Was about 10 degrees so my brain was not functioning fully. I also figured I'd wait til it was warmer so the plastic is less prone to cracking.

nickvrebel · January 24, 2011

"Just rip/pull it off" is NOT the way to do things when you're messing with a $40k truck.

maybe not on a $40k truck, but on my $43k truck it worked just fine

but then again, I've taken apart GM trucks to bare frames, motors to bodies, so I'm pretty well versed with how Gm puts things together.

if pulling that air damn off worried you, you'll never be able to pull the radio trim off of that SLT dash

Leadman · January 24, 2011

I took mine off last weekend and it popped off pretty easy. Looks much better IMO and I've already had a few people ask if I did something more or added more lift because it makes it look even taller.

armyman22 · January 24, 2011

"Just rip/pull it off" is NOT the way to do things when you're messing with a $40k truck.

maybe not on a $40k truck, but on my $43k truck it worked just fine

but then again, I've taken apart GM trucks to bare frames, motors to bodies, so I'm pretty well versed with how Gm puts things together.

if pulling that air damn off worried you, you'll never be able to pull the radio trim off of that SLT dash

haha. I wasn't worried about pulling the air dam off, I was curious to see what kind of clips were holding it in place and when i climbed under to remove the bolts I figured it'd be just as easy to pull it off from the underside rather than ripping it off from the front. All I did was pull it from a different angle.

chas0218 · January 25, 2011

Most of the time air dams are used to create a low pressure pocket behind the radiator forcing air to fill the low pressure from the front of the radiator using that to cool the truck at higher speeds.