I read in one of the RV sites that yes it is true that when the tailgate is up it is easier on fuel with the truck alone but they recommended no tailgate or a flow through when hooked up to a fifth wheel trailer. I don't know how they tested this though. I use a flow through tailgate all the time. My truck has seventy thousand miles my tailgate is in the garage with about twenty miles on it.
Jim O

 

have driven many times is Wa. State no tailgate , I believe the rule is if yah got something that can blow out or come out of the bed it must be contained by the entire bed . Have had WSP behind with no tailgate no load in the bed and no stoppin and givin the summons .

 

Does it work the same with a 5th wheel trailer? I would think that with a 5th wheel trailer you'd have better luck with the tailgate off completely or one of those slooted gates.

Edwin

 

I keep seeing people refer to "I read on..." without any real scientific evidence. Of course everything on the Internet is fact . How about people in the real world who have tried it? I have, with several different vehicles, over a long period. Here is what I have to say:

'88 GMC S-15 long bed, std. cab, 4x2: 2 mpg better with the tailgate either off or down...didn't matter which. 2+ years of testing.

'95 Ford Ranger, 4x2, x-cab/short bed: 2mpg better with the tailgate down. I never pulled it off to see what happened. Over a year of testing.

'96 Ram CTD, std. cab/long bed: Doesn't matter...the only thing that seems to effect mileage is the weight I'm towing or the speed I'm driving. Only about 15K miles of testing.

'95 Chevy S-10, x-cab/short bed, 4x2: Same mileage up or down, on or off. I don't know why. Almost 2 years of testing.

As for Mythbusters, I have seen some wrong info on that show. Definately more entertainment than science. Sometimes its fun to watch, but I get mored with shows that aren't correct, or B.S. us. Thats why I gave up watching Junkyard Wars. I saw them go from a pile of parts held together with kite string and tape when the "out of time" buzzer sounded, to a finished project (must be magic) the next morning for the competition.

Jim

 

First
Mythbusters is a commercial entertainment program , not Mr. Wizard on PBS...
second
Kari is hot, so was the other one they had on for a while.

Now to the point
They said it would be revisited so I think they knew that there were too many variables like cab design bed length and design to cover in the 10 minutes air time allotted. Much better ratings to stick a jello finger in a shotgun barrel

 

I wanna know how that worked out for them... And how they came up with that brilliant idea

 

I think the dirt just shot out . Really jamming the barrel caused the end of the barrel to mushroom a little . They got the idea from a cartoon charecter sticking his finger in a gun barrel that was aimed at him and when the trigger was pulled the rifle blew up and the shooter got the worst of it .