Frontier Crew - Bed Extender & Gas Mileage

n5xbs · Dec 14th, 2004, 07:46 AM

I am planning on a long drive (approximatelt 3,400 miles - North Texas to California coast & back) and was wondering if it is adviseable to do so with the bed extender deployed. Does it really improve fuel economy significantly? If I do deploy it for such a trip, should I be concerned about stone chips on the ground-facing tailgate? FYI, I don't expect to do any off-road driving, but may have some sand/snow/ice travel in the higher elevations of New Mexico and Arizona. Thanks...

Dave.

blitZ · Dec 14th, 2004, 08:26 AM

For the best mileage, keep your tailgate up:

Tailgate Myth

obxstyle · Dec 14th, 2004, 07:08 PM

Somewhere I read a guy who did a test with his truck it was like 17.8 with the tailgate down and 17.9 with it up.

obxstyle · Dec 14th, 2004, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by obxstyle

Somewhere I read a guy who did a test with his truck it was like 17.8 with the tailgate down and 17.9 with it up.

You can probley throw a tonue(sp?) on it and should improve mileage

didnt mean to quote myself :dumbass:

cryption · Feb 8th, 2005, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by obxstyle

You can probley throw a tonue(sp?) on it and should improve mileage

didnt mean to quote myself :dumbass:

i have a tauneau on mine and it didnt help mileage at all, i still get about 16 on my XE-V6

formula4speed · Feb 8th, 2005, 02:30 PM

Basically having the tailgate up makes a pressurized pocket of air in the bed which the wind goes over, when its down it increases the turbulent air which is bad for fuel economy. A tonneau cover will probably help a small amount on highway driving but I didn't notice any gains when I put in on for city driving.