mkirsch wrote:
Yes, keep the tailgate on if you enjoy broken tailgate cables from the camper bouncing up and down on it, and a dented/scratched tailgate from all the rocks and road debris that gets kicked up behind your truck. Not to mention the lovely slots you will have to cut into the saddle bags to make it fit.
It's entirely up to you but most leave the tailgate at home, especially considering there are more downsides to having it on than off.
Maybe if the tailgate somehow sits higher than the truck bed and takes an undue amount of weight. If the camper will cantilever off the back without a tailgate, it's not going to break the tailgate.
Or did you just read that it's a bad thing to do?
Kind of like the other old wives tale about dented and scratched from rocks. Or maybe I just have a super tailgate that is impervious to rock chips....well I do have good mud flaps on the Dodge, but the other couple,dozen trucks that have run a lot of miles on dirt, winter and paved roads with the tailgates down didn't get trashed either. Maybe a couple tiny rock chips over the course of many miles, but way less than fenders, hood and rocker panels.
What about the upside of actually having your tailgate when you reach a destination and dump the camper for a while?
