Do "vented" tailgates help on 5th wheels?
Friend of mine says he gets better mileage with a vented/louvered tailgate. Do they really make a difference or is it just another novelty item that's nice to have but not needed.
Forum Discussion
What they found in the mythbusters episode was that if there was something solid blocking the airflow (like a tailgate), a high pressure area would immediately form and after that, the air would just flow over it. Therefore, no measurable difference in gas mileage between tailgate up and tailgate down. Same would be true with towing the fiver as far as the bed of the truck is concerned. However, you still have airflow around and under the trailer. That would seem to be fairly consistent between tailgate/no tailgate, but I have never seen it run through a wind tunnel to find out for sure. My guess would be that the air resistance of the fiver would be so much greater than anything in the bed that you wouldn't notice the fraction of a mpg you might get anyway. However, I have a notched tailgate for the ease of hitching and unhitching and as someone else has noted, things have been sucked out unless they are tied down.
joe
joe
