Removed Active Air Dam From my F-150 - DIY Writeup

[ocwill1]

Removed the 6 bolts that hold the part that drops since there have been several people with this issue. RTR (tremor-ish) skid plate on order. I`ve had the drop down part removed now for a couple of months and have not seen much of a difference in the mileage. The Borla Exhaust on order really isn`t going to help the mileage either...

which rtr skid plate did you order and where from. Been looking at them for when I remove the air dam this spring...

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[Derek83]

which rtr skid plate did you order and where from. Been looking at them for when I remove the air dam this spring...

Ordered the Black skid plate that they keep running out of. I was emailing them directly, ultimately i ordered through American Trucks for two reasons. When in stock, first of February it will ship vs waiting for RTR to open up purchase option. Secondly it was a better deal for me to order with AT to get the part delivered across the Border. There are few photos of the plate on 21s+ so ill grab some photos once i install and post it in here.

 

[Derek83]

which rtr skid plate did you order and where from. Been looking at them for when I remove the air dam this spring...

 

[ocwill1]

roger that, I just ordered the rci one from truck brigade today.. it says 6-8 weeks but they said more like 3-6 weeks, which will be fine since it is cold here anyway....

 

[DJangoUNchained45]

How hard was it to remove the fog lights to remove the entire fixed air dam? Or did you just need to unbolt them? Also, was it necessary to pull back the fender liner?

 

[Derek83]

How hard was it to remove the fog lights to remove the entire fixed air dam? Or did you just need to unbolt them? Also, was it necessary to pull back the fender liner?

Ill let you know once the part comes in, in February.

 

[JoeyD]

Removed mined also. Looks like a real truck now.

 

[ThinblueF-150]

Hey guys. First post here. I've seen a few threads discussing the possibility of removing the electronic air dam on these trucks.

I plan on switching out to the Tremor skid plate as soon as it's available, and do not care for the extra mpg and noise quieting the airdam affords, so I decided to take a crack at removing it this evening.

Removal of the electronic portion of the airdam was relatively straight forward. Just six hex screws (3 per side on the motors) on the airdam itself, and then eight torx bolts (4 per side) holding the motors themselves on. I found that the upper bolts nearest the edges of the truck were easier to get at if you take a few lower bolts out of the fender liner so you can scoot it over a bit and reach in.

Now the real fun begins. You have three options at this point for the outer "fixed" airdam.

1. Leave it alone.
2. Remove it to trim it.
3. Trim it on the truck.

I chose #2.

I would not recommend it.

To remove the fixed airdam you have to remove roughly 16-18 nuts.

* Three underneath each foglight.
* Two on each corner.
* About 6 or so in the center behind the license plate bracket area.

In addition to these screws there are 3 plastic retainers (the squeeze and pull kind). 1 in the middle, and 1 on each end.

So with the valance completely removed you'll see the towhook rubber filler panels are exposed (the bracket on the left is my foglight hanging). Other than that there isn't any junk hanging below the bumper so you could theoretically stop here.

I decided; however, that it would probably look cleaner if part of the airdam was reinstalled. So out came a razer blade (was late, didn't want to wake the neighbors with powertools) and sandpaper.

Then finally after cleaning that up I put it back on the truck.

One thing of note, I noticed without the airdam the plastic that passes under the towhook is a bit flimsy. It will probably be fine, but I decided to put a few zip ties on it for good measure. You probably WONT need to do this, but you'll understand why I did once you trim yours.

I recommend trimming it ON THE TRUCK if you wish to go that route. Will turn a four hour job into about 10 minutes. Hindsight.

The Tremor Skidplate will cover the entire towhook area, and I believe it will use a different lower valance altogether as well. Looks like just end pieces.

So this will do for now on my truck for the extra clearance.

I'll post some pictures in the daylight later today.

Any check engine codes?

 

[SpaceWhiteF150]

Removed mined also. Looks like a real truck now.

Space White? I hat sizes wheels and tires?

 

[M4X]

We meet again. New truck, new air dam...

I'm going to take a slightly different approach this time. Learned from trimming other airdams, I'm going to retain about a 1.5" lip underneath using tape as a guide.

Now I HAVENT TRIMMED IT YET, but I've marked it off and photoshopped what it will look like here:

Before:

The guide:

Photoshopped using the guide:

The idea here is to retain some strength to the lower part as well as provide some side lip to keep if I put a bash plate over the center.

 

[M4X]

So. Marked with tape. Cut below the line with a jigsaw using a wood finish blade, then I sanded up to the tape line using a random orbital sander and 80 grit. Then finished off the edges with 220 grit and hand rounded the corners with a 220 block.

I'll try to get some better pics tomorrow. But overall I like this better. It leaves strength in the plastic under the tow hooks and has just the slightest deflection left to assist with road noise underneath.

 

[M4X]

Just went on a little evening road trip and spent about 80 miles on the highway averaging about 73mph and about 21mpg (everything is still breaking in with only 500mi on the truck) -- but the important thing. No new wind noise that I nor my wife could discern -- and no buffeting. So other than what I will assume is a slight decrease in fuel economy at highway speed, it's pretty much perfect. I think the scotch tape guide leaves just the perfect amount of deflection.

And no -- no check engine lights. This is now the second truck I've done this to. I believe it does trigger a silent fault with one of the computers -- but nothing that limits/disables any functionality or triggers any lights. Nothing a code-scanner would return, you would need Forscan or better to see it.

 

[M4X]

Daylight pics. I'm very satisfied.

 

[Nevadajack]

Daylight pics. I'm very satisfied.

Looks great...major improvement.

 

[M4X]

Few more... Better lighting.