Bed Gate off - better gas mileage or BS

If i remove the gate off the bed will i get better gas mileage. Some people say yes it does. Some people have told me it can worsen your mileage. What do you guys think? Any experienced with this? thanks

 

http://www.cartalk.com/content/i-read-your-recent-article-which-reader-also

http://community.cartalk.com/discussion/2293880/tailgate-up-or-down

 

Depends on if you believe Myth Busters or not. They did a test on it and with the gate was better. The gate created a low pressure vortex behind the cab. Without the gate is put more down force on the back of the bed. Or at least I think that is how they explained it.

 

Gate on is marginally better than gate off or down... it's not significant, but it is measurable in a wind tunnel.

Absolute worse is a tailgate net.
The net allows the bubble in the bed to burst, so there's no smoothing of the airflow over the roof of the cab, but the webbing is extremely high in parasitic drag... it may as well be a solid sail on the roof of the cab.

 

Do you live in Chino? I used to live there on Shafer and San Antonio.

I did notice that when I have stuff in the back like paper, it flies around in circles before it shoots out the back. It just seems that the gate should be angled to make the truck more aerodynamic but Im not an engineer so I could be wrong.

 

Ya... near Central & Walnut.

The paper swirling around is demonstrating the bubble that forms in the bed.
Even though the tailgate looks like it would be a sail, it actually causes the bubble to form from the roof of the cab down to the top of the tailgate.
The area of high drag is actually the flat part of the REAR of the tailgate... the flat front presents very little drag (maybe the top couple of inches).

But the flat back with sharp top and sides causes turbulence behind the truck. Fairing that area would improve aerodynamics a lot by creating a smoother separation for the boundary layer, but it would look ghetto.

 

lol i hear ya. so i guess ill be leaving my gate on since it would be worse to take it off. i used to frequent that target right there and tailor shop.

 

Ya, Chino PD moved into the Home Depot, they opened a new Depot and Lowes along with a JC Penny down at Ramona & the 71.

 

Those nets dont support the bed sides either, also not a great scenario.

 

A friend with a 2wd 2.7 base model bought a hard top for just the bed and claims better mileage after install. I can't see that because it is heavy and a awkward unit to remove if needed, but if the better aero numbers are there I know it would/should get better mileage by improving flow at certain speeds,,like around 60mph.

The body sculpted truck/suv's of the mid 90's tried to improve the aero numbers,,and they succeeded in all ways. Heavy ugly units with better aero numbers and horrible mileage.

I see those bed top hard covers as pointless unless your circle tracking, would rather have my canopy on.

Need to get down to Chino once again., steer myself back to the Planes of Fame museum. Was really cool to walk thru that disorganized bone yard back in the day.

 

Thanks for littering

 

I drop the tailgate if I'm on a road trip going into a head wind. Seems to help alot with mileage and performance.

 

I wonder if setting the tailgate back part way at an angle would help.

Guess I should try it once I have a base mileage determined. A 400 mile R/T three times a week adds up fast. Got to improve the fuel mileage somehow.

Len

 

I haven't been there in close to 10 years, but it sounds like they've made good progress on a lot of the resto projects.

Show coming up the first weekend in May.

 

Probably 30+ years for me. It was a boneyard then,,stuff scattered everywhere needing fixing or resto with simple signs on a stick in front of each craft. Hoarder style dirt paths thru the yard. Looks really clean and trim now. A 45 min ride in a Liberator(yup, B-25 bomber) was $550. Same ride in a AT-6 Texan was $140,,and it was more hands on,,so fun. B-25 is $2500 per hr (wheels up) last I heard.

 

What velocity windspeeds are you driving in?

 

I removed my tail gate for the weight savings.
That might improve mpg, not the mythbuster BS...

 

I work in Chino on Ramona when I'm in town, usually go to El Rey for lunch...small world

 

25 mph and up. Dallas to Austin straight into the south wind in the summer.