Pickup tailgate up or down - SAE Studied

[lunarhighway]

came across this a while ago. looks nice but probably expensive
there might be benefits to the fairings at the front though...
they don't look as though they would make things worse anyway

in case someone's looking for inspiration

[VetteOwner]

yea i was thinkin somehting liek that (Looks downright fugly on that truck tho)

[Snax]

I think that's a case of makeup on a pig.

I doubt that given the shape of the truck however that the shell really adds much to efficiency.

[101mpg]

That's fugly indeed, but I can tell you I got better MPG with a 1998 Nissan Frontier King Cab 2.4 4 cyl with the tailgate down and/or off. Up to 36 MPG hwy at 55-60 MPH, same stretch (Seattle to Los Angeles), same gas pumps, etc. Over 40K miles real-world testing on it.

That tailgate pushed the back end down for more friction guaranteed. On bigger trucks I don't know but that Nissan - every single time.

Wind tunnel experiments don't always get it right - they don't take into account all factors of travel.

[VetteOwner]

ye alike crosswinds, etc.

id like to test the tailgate theory but i have to have sandbags in the bed for winter traction...and yea they do slide around and 3 are up aginst the tailgate....so its a summer testing thing for me...

but if anyone has a 94-97 chevy s-10 (prolly best with the 4banger) that could test for me that would be great!

[8307c4]

Originally Posted by PaleMelanesian

If you look at the tables on page 8, the results are different for crew/extended cab than they are for regular cab / long bed. Ext cab - tailgate up, reg cab long bed - tailgate down.

Agreed, my old 86 standard cab did see an improvement thou I will say I would rather remove the tailgate completely and install a mesh. But on my '95 club cab I am as well if not better off leaving the tailgate in place.

I would further bet it varies from one to the next, you just have to try it and see for yourself, but I do believe either way could work and there is no specific one-size-fits-all solution here.

[VetteOwner]

yea i agree that some trucks it works sone it doesnt, all depends on how the wind comes off the top of the cab

[8307c4]

Originally Posted by ffvben

I just watched part of the re-run of mythbusters on the pickup tailgates. you may loose .02 cd but if the 80+ lbs tailgate is removed wouldn't the mpg go up some if 100lbs = 1mpg. they didn't factor the weight reduction just focused on air disruption.

I noticed that too, but my truck weighs something like 3,700 pounds empty and the tailgate itself doesn't weight but maybe 50 to 70 maybe 80 pounds. It's not ueber light but I don't think it weighs 100, I can take it off pretty easily.

Then I have to remove at least 200 pounds to make a difference (400 is more like it), however on a club cab there's always the useless back seat (for some of us), and of course any of an amount of crap we like to carry with us might be best left at home, it can and does add up...

But in and of itself tailgate weight alone is not that substantial, however if you notice an improvement leaving it down then I would recommend removing it entirely and putting in place an air mesh.

[bestmapman]

Originally Posted by Snax

Who makes that one? We looked all over for something like that.

(Although we have sold our most recent pickup, we will get another to haul our boat.)

This is not a photoshop job. Check out this post.

[VetteOwner]

well im testing no tailagte in my s-10, so far doesnt seem to be making a differance at all(still gets its regular 25mpg in the winter)