I was reading the tailgate up or down and gas mileage thread.

Anyone know if its better to put my stock tailgate back on when not towing my 5er? Will the looverd 5er tailgate get worse fuel milage than the factory tail gate?

 

I know that the consesus is that leaving the tailgate up is better, but nobody talks about tailgate OFF vs up, only down vs up.

 

I know that the consesus is that leaving the tailgate up is better, but I have not heard about tailgate OFF vs up, only down vs up.

 

I have them all beat... 5th wheel tailgate & a soft tonneau cover.

 

That cummins don't care if the tailgate is up or down if you don't pull a trailer.
Likewise I have seen no increase in mileage with the towing V shape tailgate I use on my truck. The benifit of the tow gate in my opinion is, it allows the wind blast from the front of the fiver to be disapated through the luvers. Not to forget to say it sure is good for hookin, don't look bad either. (see pics)

I once ran my 93 Ford Crew Cab Dually Diesel from Melbourne to Pine Bluff AK.
One direction was with the tail gate down and the other was with it up. There was no differance seen.

Dave

 

The guys over at TTORA (Tacoma Terrority Off Road Assoc) and those two odd fellows on MYTH Buster say that the tailgate up provides the best efficiency. At speed ( I am not sure what speed that is) a bubble is formed over the bed. This bubble is created by the rotation of air passing over the cab and into the bed. As the air rolls in the bed it prssure rises in the bed and pushes an enevlope over the bed. This can be witnessed by that light debris that gets drawn up and rotates up back and then down into the bed. Without the tailgate or with the tailgate down there is no dam to cause the air to rotate in the bed. Now this may be all a bunch BS but is sounds good. Another way to look at it most engineers tunnel test body designs. The test are done with a tailgate and its up ( I am sure that they test it down too) and based upon those testing no one has come out from the designer and said leave the gates off or down. One last thing, even tho the gate is not a rigid member to the bed, it does increase the beds strength. These are just some thoughts I had.

 

i wonder if these are the same engineers that tested the door sealing efficency of the 03 cab doors

 

It has been proven that with the tailgate up yields the best mileage, tailgate off the next best, and tailgate down the worst. Would a preson with a CTD even notice any change? I doubt it. But when you have a gasser getting 11 MPG at best, any little bit helps.
Tom

 

I think the main issue is it is easier to hook up, unhook. No tail gate up/down/up/down/up/down..........
Not to mention, if you leave your gate down & have to turn while still hooked up, you could damage your fiver & tail gate. Looks better than stock, imho.

 

Tail gate... up, down or gone...the final solution

back into the racecar 5er, get in heated discussion with the boss, forget to latch the hitch, leave the landing gear down, slam the tail gate in disgust, jump inthe truck muttering how dumb some people can be , slam it gear and floor it. Leave tail gate and trailer in parking lot at boss's foot..

don't ask how I know.

mileage didn't change either.

 

I would believe that if a person is pulling a 5ver would't be concerned with the amount of fuel millage one saves with the tailgate down or up. I do know that I have had my tailgate dinged up by by rocks with it in the down position while driving down the road. The diffrence of fuel millage would be minimum.