Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Do not put tailgate down to save gas...
I ve seen many pick-up trucks on freeway with
tail gate down. THIS IS NOT GOOD, CAN WEAKEN
HINGES, also there is no MPG improvement, you
aeronautical and engineering buffs would know
this. A Vortex is created at rear of cab,
trapping the air.
A toneau cover will do the trick.
TO ALL TAILGATERS: Stop using your tailgates to
save gas. If you claim you are getting better
MPG, recheck your math.....
tail gate down. THIS IS NOT GOOD, CAN WEAKEN
HINGES, also there is no MPG improvement, you
aeronautical and engineering buffs would know
this. A Vortex is created at rear of cab,
trapping the air.
A toneau cover will do the trick.
TO ALL TAILGATERS: Stop using your tailgates to
save gas. If you claim you are getting better
MPG, recheck your math.....
0
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
Just kidding.LOL!!!!
car pool also. See thousands of cars, trucks
everyday. See many many trucks with tail gates
down, mini, full size, in fact saw a F250HD
reg cab long bed with tail gate down.....INHO if
(another topic) people want a true economy car then BUY A 1969 CHEVY NOVA WITH IN-LINE 6 from
wrecking yard, offer $200.00, then rebuit motor for under $300 if you can and you should get
16 mpg for 10 years. THIS IS TRUE ECONOMY CAR,
NOT SOME IMPORT THAT GETS 50-60 MPG FOR $20,000.
twenty thousand big ones buys lots of gasolene....
In So. Ca we have SANTA ANA WINDS that you can feel while driving no matter if driving a HUMMER or YUGO SS...
cast iron FOMOCO 60 degree block, LOL....
Be thankful that they're riding in the bed of the truck. They're just preserving the gene pool for the rest of us.
Rich
It always cracks me up to see trucks with the tailgate down, usually it is a truck with a 6-10" lift and 35"+ tires and suddenly he wants better mileage??
Mike L
Harry
Rich
GET OUT OF YOUR MOPAR GOODIES LOADED TRUCK, GO TO
FRONT OF HOOD AND TURN THE RAM HEAD 180 DEGRESS
FACING THE WINDSHIELD" the wind resistance should be somewhat less to the tune of an increase in
fuel mileage by about .0003 %
Harry
Blazer TAHOE 4.3, '00 S10 reg cab XTREME 2.2L.....fuel tank gauges
are very erratic in these vehicles and therefore a true accurate
calculation is difficult, approximations are ord of the day....
statement. I have filled the S10 gas tank to the spill level and
have run mileage checks based on odometer readings and the
amount of fuel at each fill up (spill level). I have received
various non consistant readings also including tail gate in down
position. If I average out all readings they are same with tail gate
down or up. I have run 500+ mile checks from Los Angeles to San
Francisco on the infamous Grapevine and highway 5.... the variance
has always been +/- 2-3 mpg....I also used my HP32SII RPN SCIENTIFIC
calculator...(mult, divide and enter keys) also pencil and small
notebook for manual calcs....
94 Ford Ranger ext cab 2wd
A cap might make up 1 mpg. But due to it's extra weight that might X out any increase in mpg..
I have heard that if you put your arm out the window, that right there is 3 mpg loss...
Allen-
I have a hard tonneau cover on my '00 Z71 ext cab and noticed a small improvement (.5 mpg) but then Vegas changed to that oxygenated gas and everything went to heck.
I know you said it was a theory "greg116" about a bug shield improving mpg. That was pretty funny, 3mpg wow! I think that it would most likely block the wind don't you think?? If I could get 13mpg as opposed to 10mpg I'd buy one tomorrow.
Allen-
I completely agree with you and kit1404 about slowing down. Texas is at a 70mph limit, and there's talk about taking it back down to 55 to help with the smog problem (even though vehicles are the smaller of contributors to pollution in the Houston area. I'm all for it. Too many people around driving 85 and thinking the highways are a racing contest.
Ps rea98d you really should read up on subject before inserting foot in mouth.
Think about it.
As far as airplane wings go, those airplane wings cost a whol lot more than anyone would ever want to spend on a truck. And most of the metal-winged airplanes in our Air Force can black the pilots out and be nowhere near the plane's limits.
Sporttrac, I'm gonna send you an e-mail. I'd like to read that link.
SMC components for the Ford Explorer Sport Trac are also manufactured by the Budd Plastics Division, at its North Baltimore molding facility. Budd recently expanded the 250,000-square-foot plant with an additional 100,000 square feet of manufacturing space, largely due to contracts for the new Ford and Silverado truck parts, relates Mike Dorney, Plastics Division vice president of sales and marketing. The company molds the Sport Trac's single-piece cargo box inner panel of structural grade vinyl tester SMC (50% glass by weight) in a 2,500-ton press. Budd also molds the box outer panels or fenders for the Sport Trac of 27% glass-reinforced SMC. Both the right- and left-side fenders are molded together in a 2,000-ton press. In addition, Budd molds the unique foldable hard tonneau cover of 27% glass-filled SMC. The formulation for the Sport Trac
cargo box was set at 50% by weight to meet Ford's durability requirements. Budd produces its own SMC material at the Plastics Division's Van Wert, Ohio compounding plant, using fiberglass from Owens Corning and resins from Alpha Owens Corning (East Collierville, Tenn.) and Union Carbide Corp. (Danbury, Conn.). On the Budd production line, few operators are involved in molding the cargo box. Two operators at the front of the press pull the SMC material off the roll, lay it on a table where an automatic slitter cuts it to length, and place it on an automated loader. Two plies of SMC material, cut in the same rectangular shape and size are used for each cargo box. The loader positions each sheet on the mold before the press closes. An automated picker pulls the finished part out of the mold and places it in a cooling nest, where it remains through a three-stage cooling period. Another operator deflashes the box with a sander before it moves on to other secondary finishing stations, some of which are automated. Bill Mellian, Owens Corning's Ford North American business manager, says he is very impressed by the high level of automation that Budd Plastics Division has attained in the production of the cargo box. Minimal handling leads to better part consistency and higher throughput," he says. "The automated charge loading and placement are very critical in terms of producing the right flow pattern and glass orientation. That and the rest of the automation speaks highly of Budd and the progress the industry has made." Secondary operations include drilling holes in the cargo box,
including four in the bed for the attachment of the box to the truck's frame with bolts. A steel D-pillar assembly is bolted to the rear of the box to reinforce the tailgate opening, enabling it
to remain square and upright through repeated slamming of the tailgate, explains Dorney. The box is painted a flat black with a finish designed to replicate the look of plastic bedliners. It is
baked in a 300-degree F. oven before shipping to Ford's Truck Assembly Plant in Louisville. At the plant, the box is lowered onto the frame and attached at the end of the trim assembly line.
Conversely, the SMC fenders are attached in the plant's body shop at the front of the assembly process and go through the normal paint system. The Sport Trac's tonneau cover is assembled by Budd from four molded panels, two outers and two inners. Molded two-up on the press, the panels are bonded together to form two halves of the cover, then painted flat black, and assembled into the final product. That includes attaching a long piano hinge
that joins the halves in the middle, adding seals around the periphery, locks, handles, an inside safety cable release, and bungy cords to hold the cover partially opened if desired, notes
Dorney. Warranted by Ford, the tonneau cover was designed to endure the OEM's same durability testing that the rest of the vehicle had to go through, he adds. Ford engineers put the
equivalent of 450,000 miles of durability testing on the Sport Trac's composite cargo area, the company says. Some of the same tests if performed on steel pickup beds would cause severe damage. That did not occur on the composite bed, Ford adds. "Not only is the inside durable as can be, but the inner and outer panels of the cargo area won't dent and won't rust," comments David Paul, Ford systems engineer for the composite area. "If someone heaves their bike into the cargo box, it will not damage the inside of the box like a painted steel box," he adds. All of the required Ford tests were run on the composite box, including dropping a 55-gallon drum on it and extreme temperature testing. In addition "typical customer tests" were conducted such as dragging cinderblocks across the floor and throwing in steel pipes and 35-lb. angle irons and stirring them around in the cargo area, Ford says.
FWIW, I don't think the sport-trac will be seriously considered by people needing a work truck. Is Ford planning on making an 8-ft F-150 version of this thing?
So, they are introducing the beds in relatively low volume, light duty applications. By the time the bring out full size beds in composite they will have many years of actual use to rely on.
Mike L