My little experiment

Today I was frustrated with gas prices and it's impact on my spendin' money, so I decided to do something about it. I decided to remove my tailgate completely from my truck. I don't haul anything so it shouldn't be a problem. Then I removed my spare tire from under my bed and took the tools and jack out as well (that should be about 100-150lbs worth as well as less wind resistance). I will keep you all informed on the difference in feel as well as my change in mpg.

If anyone else has any Ideas of uneccessary parts, bars, or things I can remove that wont negativley effect the driving of the truck, let me know.
Every pound counts.

Stop eating.

LOL.
In the Aero tests that I've seen, removing the tailgate very seldom resulted in better mileage. Replacing the tailgate with a net results in the worst Aero drag.
Placing a toneau cover on the bed gives 50/50 results (some better, some worse). Having the tailgate in place causes a high pressure area in the pickup bed. That high pressure area keeps a vacuum from forming behind the cab.
In most cases the air hitting the tailgate results in less Aero drag than removing the gate and causing an Aero drag condition behind the cab.
The best results I've seen is to "shorten" the bed by placing a hard cover 1/4 to 1/3 the length of the bed at the tailgate. You can experiment with the length of the cover and either walling in the front side or leaving it open.
The plans I saw called for walling in the front side of the cover to make a nice 2-3ft covered storage compartment between the wall and the tailgate.
You can easily make a plain plywood device and do your experiments. After you get the measurements right you can make a permanent solution from better finish materials. It helps if you have an instant MPG readout, you can find one at scanguage.com .

Hear me out on this one....Bear with me on this...When i was watching mythbusters on discovery ch. I saw that they tried this and found out that when the tail gate is up, the guy was able to go 30 15 more miles then the other person.

To make myself a little more clear, I haven't been driving with my tailgate down, I've been driving with it off(the thing is pretty heavy too). I've also completely removed the spare tire. Combined 100-150lbs approx. Although I haven't used the first full tank I've already seen a durastic difference. Where before, I would be at a half tank and have driven 90 miles, now I am at 120.

You don't have to believe me, but until I get my bed cover, I'll be rolling gateless. Try it yourself if you wish. I'll give more numbers when I see how much gas I actually used, when I fill up next time.

You can use all the money you save for a tow truck when you get a flat and have no spare.

lol

Maybe I will. And If I don't get a flat, I'll buy myself something nice.

This say's it all.

http://www.mopeds.com/

Believe it or not on the myth busters they proved that the dropping/removing of the tailgate is negative on fuel consumption...the cab of the truck creates a vacuum and the air travels over the tailgate (this is why trash and dirt and stuff end up blowing up and hugging the bed closest to the cab, its being sucked towards the vacuum)

http://kwc.org/mythbusters/2005/11/episode_43_seasickness_cures_f.html

I think at lower speeds it might help, but highway speeds its negligable

I found that if I keep my tires at 35psi I get ok gas mileage...but it rarely changes

Brian
AwPhuch