ok i know i have seen it on here and i have done the search but i must not be searching right cause i cant find it...... some one on here posted a study done about tailgates being up or down and camper shell or tonneu cover and the did a study on it to see which one is the most gas saving way. so could someone post that study again or find it

 

tailgate up gives better MPG and tonneaus and shells give even better MPG (although very minutely)...

 

yea it would take like 100,000 miles to cover the price of the tonnea...

 

espically if using a hard top tonneau. the extra weight takes away from some of the gain.

 

i tried driving on the highway 75-90mph with my tailgate down and got a completely different result than expected. I thought I would recover some MPG, but instead I lost stability. with out the gate closed i could feel the bed sides flexing a bit. like diving perpendicular to a really strong wind.

 

Yep. It is totally counter-intuitive, but you're much better off with the gate UP.

 

Yea, gate up unless it's raining. The only reason I have a tonneau is because I wanted to keep stuff dry if it rained (usually stuff for the mom)

 

People who drive around with their tailgate down make me laugh.

 

^^^^Yea, plus theyre getting their tailgate all scratched up from rocks!

 

I just thought that with it down you have no downforce, could be faster but not safe....with it up it pushes the rear down to keep traction right???

 

Yea, and Hondas with wings have mad downforce too YO!

 

i drive aroudn with my tailgate down often. And there is also 3 50lb sand bags sitting that the end of my bed. Who wants to pull up on my azz now? Ive found that leaving my tailgate down keeps people from havin the urge to ride right up on me, espically if the bags are there.

I could care less about the gas, im running 31s on a 4 banger withouth regearing, gas mileage is not my friend anymore.

 

I have a vinyl tonneau with aluminum framing. The whole thing weighs about 5lbs. So how much am I saving?

 

my shell killed my gas mileage, I'm lucky if I get 16mpg since I put the shell on, and I've gotten as low as 13.2mpg on the highway with it...

 

I got my hard tonneau for looks and to keep stuff locked up in there, and dry.

 

I've got a shell on mine, plywood covered with carpet on the floor and tool boxes, and get 26 to the Imperial gallon on the highway, I think thats around 21 to the US gallon.

In town sucks though

 

My buddy used to drive the crap out of his Ranger out on backroads, and he would have his gate down. One time we were skipping college and were traveling at a high rate of speed and was hitting some bumps/potholes/whoops in the road and his tailgate was bouncing up and down.

Well, we hit something just right and the sucker flew right off the hinges...thank the lord that the straps caught it, lol.

 

I gained like 1 hundredth of a second (.01) at the local eighth mile track when Leo forgot to close my tailgate.

I think this is the link in question:
http://www.sitemaker.umich.edu/um.gm.truck

 

Although it may be counterintuitive to most people, myself included, it has been proven that lowering the tailgate increases fuel consumption. The faster you go, the greater the effect.

Running with the tailgate down increases drag.
Running with a flow-through air gate increases it more.
Running with the tailgate removed increases it more.

http://truck-bed-covers.com/Tonneau_..._save_fuel.htm
http://www.awtrucks.com/tailgateup.htm