Removal of front lower air dam

Squallywally · August 14, 2019

Has anyone experienced any adverse effects from the the removal of the front air dam?

My truck looks good without it!

Its no Trail Boss, but it is certainly on the board of directors of dirt roads!

Edited August 14, 2019 by Squallywally
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Ebrown1120 · August 14, 2019

I removed mine very first day and never had an issue, still getting 19mpg

BlancoSilverado · August 14, 2019

43 minutes ago, Ebrown1120 said:

I removed mine very first day and never had an issue, still getting 19mpg

Do you have a CTB(per profile pic)? I don't believe any Trail Boss came from the factory with one?

Ebrown1120 · August 14, 2019

I just have a regular custom truck (non trailboss) it came with one at the very bottom. I think it was 12-16 small screws that kept it on. I took it off and drove around for about 2-3 weeks never notice anything different so I have a kept it off.

amxguy1970 · August 14, 2019

You can figure about 1 mpg on the highway. I did a test on mine at 70 mph over a 30 mile loop with and without it with in a hour of each other with no traffic implications (it was late on a weeknight) and it was 1.3 mpg. If you do more city driving you might not notice anything. If you regular the highway you will. Anyone that says no impact is just incorrect or they do a bunch of city driving and don't notice the avg mpg go from 16.3 to 16.1 as out of the norm. Manufacturers wouldn't have spent all the time designing and testing it for no or minimal impact.

Not sure on what the T1's manual says but the Colorado's it can have a cooling impact, though it would be in the most extreme circumstances (think towing a heavy box up a steep grade in 100+ degree summer heat). On those trucks it creates a negative pressure area and helps pull in air through the radiator, though their grille openings are much smaller than the full size trucks.

Hope that helps, Tyler

Edited August 16, 2019 by amxguy1970

Squallywally · August 14, 2019

1 hour ago, amxguy1970 said:

Manufacturers wouldn't have spent all the time designing and testing it for no or minimal impact.

Yeah, That's exactly wondering about. They obviously put in some design time in air flow management with the side vents etc. I guess I will drive a bit with it off and see what gives.

fsuboy75 · October 23, 2020

So whats your result? I want to remove mine for looks but I did not know it helped out with cooling. All I've ever seen was about gas mileage. I am mostly city driving so a few tenths of a gallon loss isn't a big deal for me. Even a whole 1 gallon loss on highway isn't a concern really.

Now I live in Michigan, so its not particularly warm. So I'm not really sure that affects me either.

Conversely, here is an article about the 2021 Colorado, in which GM acknowledges people are removing them and they actually made it EASIER TO DO for those people. So is it really important if GM doesn't come out and say don't do it??

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2020/06/2021-chevrolet-colorado-air-dam-is-improved-easier-to-remove/

Thoughts??

Edited October 23, 2020 by fsuboy75

Imcrazy · October 23, 2020

I took it off of my 2016, will take it off of my 2020... If I was worried about 1mpg I'd not be driving a fullsize v8 4x4 truck..

fsuboy75 · October 24, 2020

So here's something.....my driving is about the same every week. How can I keep proper track of my mileage? I wrote down all the stats. I just took it off.

My trip meter 1 is at my current truck accumulated miles of 1,833. I jotted down the fuel mileage of 15.7 mpg.

Then I tabbed over to the current fuel mileage stats screen ....my best was 21.7 and my average was 16.7

What would I do from here....keep track of my best and average....or keep track of my trip meter 1 at another 1,833 miles??

I've not done this before.

Edited October 24, 2020 by fsuboy75

SILVER SLED · October 24, 2020

I wouldn’t worry about it. Drive it like you like it.

fsuboy75 · October 24, 2020

31 minutes ago, SILVER SLED said:

I wouldn’t worry about it. Drive it like you like it.

You're absolutely right. I guess I was just thinking of doing something for the books to share here.

Personally, I really could care less if I lose a GPM or not. As said above, I bought a truck...if I worried about mileage I woulda bought a Prius!!!

And the whole cooling think is bunk.

Edited October 24, 2020 by fsuboy75

jnissen · October 26, 2020

I was looking at mine tonight. Crawled under to see what was involved to remove it. Was surprised that the lower inlet where the shutters are acts like a scoop. I went across a couple weed filled pastures a few weeks ago and never gave any thought. Well tonight I’m looking and that lower trans cooler was absolutely plugged with all sorts of dried weed seeds.

Guess I’m not going through those pastures again like that. I removed the plastic grill in front of the cooler and cleaned the weeds with compressed air. Got most of it.

So now is there a way to force those shutters closed if you want them closed? Would have saved me a lot of grief if those were programmable.

fsuboy75 · October 26, 2020

2 minutes ago, jnissen said:

I was looking at mine tonight. Crawled under to see what was involved to remove it. Was surprised that the lower inlet where the flap doors are acts like a scoop. I went across a couple weed filled pastures a few weeks ago and never gave any thought. Well tonight I’m looking and that lower trans cooler was absolutely plugged with all sorts of dried weed seeds.

Guess I’m not going through those pastures again like that. I removed the plastic grill in front of the cooler and cleaned the weeds with compressed air. Got most of it.

So now is there a way to force those shutters closed if you want them closed? Would have saved me a lot of grief if those were programmable.

You would think you could close them. But its all automatic.

It is surprisingly very easy to remove the air dam. Remove two outer bolts that go downward....and 10 bolts that go upward. All 7mm. I had mine off in 5 minutes.

There are YouTube videos on it. The couple I watch showed removal of the "clips". I chose to remove mine, kinda a pain, but you can leave them on.

Ed/2020RST · October 29, 2020

On 8/14/2019 at 4:38 PM, amxguy1970 said:

You can figure about 1 mpg on the highway. I did a test on mine at 70 mph over a 30 mile loop with and without it with in a hour of each other with no traffic implications (it was late on a weeknight) and it was 1.3 mpg. If you do more city driving you might not notice anything. If you regular the highway you will. Anyone that says no impact is just incorrect or they do a bunch of city driving and don't notice the avg mpg go from 16.3 to 16.1 as out of the norm. Manufacturers wouldn't have spent all the time designing and testing it for no or minimal impact.

Not sure on what the T1's manual says but the Colorado's it can have a cooling impact, though it would be in the most extreme circumstances (think towing a heavy box up a steep grade in 100+ degree summer heat). On those trucks it creates a negative pressure area and helps pull in air through the radiator, though their grille openings are much smaller than the full size trucks.

Hope that helps, Tyler

I was just about to make the comment concerning the cooling issue. I have a relative that is a 30 year Certified GM Mechanic that says they are they to assist in cooling.