Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

You get better gas mileage with the tailgate up, not down.  Mythbusters did an entire show to disprove that thought.  First, they got two identical trucks and filled them with the same amount of gas.  They headed down the highway on cruise, to make sure they went the same speed.  The truck with the tailgate down ran out of gas about 30 miles before the one with the tailgate up.  They went back to their base and built a wind tunnel and used a mini truck & oats to experiment to see why it worked that way.  The tailgate down required the wind to go over the cab and hit the bed and created drag.  The tailgate up created a sidewise tornado effect, or wind bubble in the bed, so oncoming wind continued over the cab, over the bubble and would come down and hit behind the truck, so no drag at all.

 

Rae

Tall C Arabians - Central

Sisu West Ranch <ranch@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> "....Removing your tailgate will reduce your drag..."
>
> I have no idea if the experiment was true, or true for those hauling horse 
> trailors, but Mythbusters on TV showed an experiment where they tried this 
> and got substantially identical mileage.
>
> Disclaimer: Your actual mileage may vary. Closed course, professional TV 
> personalities.
>
> and most importantly: I wrecked my tailgate so to save money I put on one of 
> those vented plastic ones and the only difference I noted was the difference 
> in tailgate price.
>
> Ed
> Ed & Wendy Hauser
> 2994 Mittower Road
> Victor, MT 59875
>
> (406) 642-9640
>
> ranch(at)sisuwest(dot)us 
>
>
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