Active Air Dam on Air Suspension Truck Retrofit

[pMak26]

Are all rams pre-wired for the active air dam? Can anyone attach a photo of the wiring and connector for the active air dam here so I can look under my air suspension truck and see if mine may be pre-wired for it?

I know some Limiteds have active air dams AND the air suspension, so it is possible for the truck to have both. I'm contemplating adding the air dam to my air suspensioned truck so I'm trying to sort out the rest.

Any help is appreciated!

 

[cj7]

Not all 1500 DTs have the air dam pigtail...there are a couple posts with pics that show it - will try to find one...

 

[vincentw56]

What is the advantages of it? I've seen a few people remove it.

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

 

[OldMarine]

Don't bother going through all that to install the air dam.. I have a Limited with one and it does nothing to help mileage. Ok, maybe I get 15.1 mpg on avg, as opposed to 15.0....lol

 

[mikeru82]

I agree with OldMarine. I removed the active air dams on both our 2020's (Limited and Laramie), and we've seen no appreciable difference in fuel economy. I wouldn't bother with this. But here's a pic I took for someone else on here showing the wiring pigtail. I looped the end of the pigtail over another section of wire harness and taped it to keep crud out of the connector. Circled in red.

 

[BowDown]

I agree with OldMarine. I removed the active air dams on both our 2020's (Limited and Laramie), and we've seen no appreciable difference in fuel economy. I wouldn't bother with this. But here's a pic I took for someone else on here showing the wiring pigtail. I looped the end of the pigtail over another section of wire harness and taped it to keep crud out of the connector. Circled in red.

Don't bother going through all that to install the air dam.. I have a Limited with one and it does nothing to help mileage. Ok, maybe I get 15.1 mpg on avg, as opposed to 15.0....lol

I disagree, maybe around town it's benefits are minimized but on long high drives at 60+ mph it reduces drag by minimizing the amount of air able to go under the vehicle and create turbulence from the under chassis surfaces reducing drag. I've seen on other truck forums (f150 online) where they've removed the air damn and saw a noticeable loss in mpg and have a friend that removed his on his 4x4 silverado to help with off-road clearance but then had a noticeable loss in mpg on his 2nd Dallas to Utah drive. Air damns reduce drag, period, you may not like it the aesthetics of them but to say they don't work is false.

 

[mikeru82]

I disagree, maybe around town it's benefits are minimized but on long high drives at 60+ mph it reduces drag by minimizing the amount of air able to go under the vehicle and create turbulence from the under chassis surfaces reducing drag. I've seen on other truck forums (f150 online) where they've removed the air damn and saw a noticeable loss in mpg and have a friend that removed his on his 4x4 silverado to help with off-road clearance but then had a noticeable loss in mpg on his 2nd Dallas to Utah drive. Air damns reduce drag, period, you may not like it the aesthetics of them but to say they don't work is false.

Feel free to disagree, but you can't argue with my fuel economy numbers with and without the front air dams. I drive at least 90% highway miles. My fuel economy changed something like .3 mpg after removal, which you could easily attribute to any number of variables involved when calculating fuel economy. That was over a period of about 6 months. I wasn't even tempted to put them back on for that minimal fuel savings. I'm sure they help in the wind tunnel, which is where these types of things are tested. But in my real world tests the difference wasn't worth putting up with how it looks with them installed. Not to mention the increased ground clearance at the front. Keep them if you think they do something for you.

 

[OldMarine]

umm...at 60+ it goes into "Aero" mode, and the dam goes back up...so there's that too.

"Aeor" mode is a cool thing to tell your buddies about, who don't have air suspension...but that's about all THAT'S good for too...lol i love my truck, but it's a gas hog, and will BE a gas hog no matter how many wings, dams, skirts, or spoilers they glue, weld, tape, or velcro to this big beautiful blue Limited!

 

[BowDown]

umm...at 60+ it goes into "Aero" mode, and the dam goes back up...so there's that too.

"Aeor" mode is a cool thing to tell your buddies about, who don't have air suspension...but that's about all THAT'S good for too...lol i love my truck, but it's a gas hog, and will BE a gas hog no matter how many wings, dams, skirts, or spoilers they glue, weld, tape, or velcro to this big beautiful blue Limited!

I've driven past Limiteds on the highway going faster than 60mph and the air damn was still down

 

[BowDown]

Feel free to disagree, but you can't argue with my fuel economy numbers with and without the front air dams. I drive at least 90% highway miles. My fuel economy changed something like .3 mpg after removal, which you could easily attribute to any number of variables involved when calculating fuel economy. That was over a period of about 6 months. I wasn't even tempted to put them back on for that minimal fuel savings. I'm sure they help in the wind tunnel, which is where these types of things are tested. But in my real world tests the difference wasn't worth putting up with how it looks with them installed. Not to mention the increased ground clearance at the front. Keep them if you think they do something for you.

Your numbers are representative of all Rams with active air damns?

 

[broken_vet]

I disagree, maybe around town it's benefits are minimized but on long high drives at 60+ mph it reduces drag by minimizing the amount of air able to go under the vehicle and create turbulence from the under chassis surfaces reducing drag. I've seen on other truck forums (f150 online) where they've removed the air damn and saw a noticeable loss in mpg and have a friend that removed his on his 4x4 silverado to help with off-road clearance but then had a noticeable loss in mpg on his 2nd Dallas to Utah drive. Air damns reduce drag, period, you may not like it the aesthetics of them but to say they don't work is false.

I've driven past Limiteds on the highway going faster than 60mph and the air damn was still down

My active dam retracts at about 62mph.

 

[OldMarine]

My active dam retracts at about 62mph.

yup...I think he is confusing the lower valance with the active dam. I don't see how anyone could be driving beside a truck at over 60, and be able to see underneath it at the same time to inspect the "active dam". You have to crawl under the truck to see it when it's stowed, and when it's down it's still pretty far off the ground.

 

[pMak26]

Honestly I'm not interested in everyone's opinions on if adding the air dam is worth it or not. There are many other threads to read through with opinions listed.

This post is more about the possibility of adding the air dam to trucks that currently do not have the air dam fitted.

-First part of the equation would be to figure out if non-equipped trucks are wired for the air dam.
-Second would be the programming. Clearly it is possible since there are trucks out there with both air suspension and the air dam functioning, but I'd like to figure out what it would take for the average person to accomplish this - potentially without a trip to the dealer.

If anyone has input on the two obstacles to adding the air dam to a truck that does not have the air dam fitted, please feel free to share.

 

[pMak26]

I agree with OldMarine. I removed the active air dams on both our 2020's (Limited and Laramie), and we've seen no appreciable difference in fuel economy. I wouldn't bother with this. But here's a pic I took for someone else on here showing the wiring pigtail. I looped the end of the pigtail over another section of wire harness and taped it to keep crud out of the connector. Circled in red.

This is helpful, thank you!
So the pigtail will be located on the driver's side, and looks a like a pretty small plug. I'll take a look at my truck and see if I can locate a pigtail.

 

[mikeru82]

Your numbers are representative of all Rams with active air damns?

It's a bit of a leap to jump to that conclusion. I said I was talking about my numbers, and said nothing about them applying to all Ram trucks with air dams. As the saying goes...your mileage may vary. And in this case I'm saying that in the literal sense.

This is helpful, thank you!
So the pigtail will be located on the driver's side, and looks a like a pretty small plug. I'll take a look at my truck and see if I can locate a pigtail.

Glad I could help you out. Let me know if you need any more info or pics.

 

[Awood05]

I could have swore that I read somewhere (maybe the owners manual) that if you had the Air Suspension it deleted the Active Air Dam. But I just went out and checked my Limited and what do you know, it’s there! I have no idea if it functions or what my numbers would be if I didn’t have it. I will say though that I drive in Aero mode most of the time. That probably affects the use of the dam. Learn something new about my truck all the time.

 

[BowDown]

yup...I think he is confusing the lower valance with the active dam. I don't see how anyone could be driving beside a truck at over 60, and be able to see underneath it at the same time to inspect the "active dam". You have to crawl under the truck to see it when it's stowed, and when it's down it's still pretty far off the ground.

Nope, and details like that are easy for me to see especially if you know what you're looking for

 

[BowDown]

Honestly I'm not interested in everyone's opinions on if adding the air dam is worth it or not. There are many other threads to read through with opinions listed.

This post is more about the possibility of adding the air dam to trucks that currently do not have the air dam fitted.

-First part of the equation would be to figure out if non-equipped trucks are wired for the air dam.
-Second would be the programming. Clearly it is possible since there are trucks out there with both air suspension and the air dam functioning, but I'd like to figure out what it would take for the average person to accomplish this - potentially without a trip to the dealer.

If anyone has input on the two obstacles to adding the air dam to a truck that does not have the air dam fitted, please feel free to share.

I'd guess that like everything else with these trucks, it has to be enabled in the PCM/BCM and since you already have an air ride truck, IMO it would be a worthwhile addition despite what many think

 

[cj7]

There’s no doubt it has positive effect, or it wouldn’t be something FCA spent money on. You haven’t been in mass production until you’ve had an argument with the design team over a fifty cent change.

on road experience presents so many variables, it’s hard to measure the effect in a statistically significant way. Cars have air dams for a reason, despite the naysayers scorn. You may not like it, you may not be able to see it or measure it directly, but it’s not there just for marketing.

 

[BowDown]

There’s no doubt it has positive effect, or it wouldn’t be something FCA spent money on. You haven’t been in mass production until you’ve had an argument with the design team over a fifty cent change.

on road experience presents so many variables, it’s hard to measure the effect in a statistically significant way. Cars have air dams for a reason, despite the naysayers scorn. You may not like it, you may not be able to see it or measure it directly, but it’s not there just for marketing.

Especially when it doesn't have to be and it being there costs FCA 100's of Millions of dollars over the production run of the truck.
It's funny seeing everyone say what doesn't matter or impact mileage (gears, air damns, aero mode) on these trucks while complaining about low mileage yet me with those features, am getting better city mileage than some of these guys highway mileage.