To Tailgate or not to tailgate.

Sounds like guys who have no experience with it say no and the ones who have say yes.

Slackjaw wrote:
"I too have a Superduty. It is a 2002 F350 CCSB, and I carry a 10 ft 1966 Avion on it."

I'm surprised. How well does it carry the load? Looks like your truck is a short bed. Any idea what your camper weighs?

I've limited myself to looking at 8' campers since I have a short bed, I would have never considered anything bigger.

So how much overhang is too much??

I have about 38" past the end of the bed. The truck has 265x70x19.5 tires stable-loads, and only recently did I add airbags, only because I added a 32" superhitch/Supertruss for towing. The truck, camper, family of 6 fully loaded for traveling around Alaska, including a 40 gallon water tank, and we scale about 10,200 to 10,600. Guys that haul a 12' camper on a 8ft box have 40 to 48 inches past the box. The key is center of gravity, and overall weight. My Avion, was totally gutted when I bought it, and I reorganized the interior to limit weight, and move as much weight forward as possible. My truck handles it well, and it only has the 5.4 gas V8, and a 6spd manual, and with all our traveling around Alaska, I still average 13-15 mpg! All hand calculated. Let me know what other info may help you out.

Garry in Ak.

When I left my tailgate on, the only reason was so I would have it when I took the TC off and just so I would not have to take it off. I had the TC raised on the bed so the wings would clear the side rails. The TC did not ride on the tailgate. I will say again I personally did not have any damage on my tailgate doing this.

"I too have a Superduty. It is a 2002 F350 CCSB, and I carry a 10 ft 1966 Avion on it."

I'm surprised. How well does it carry the load? Looks like your truck is a short bed. Any idea what your camper weighs?

I've limited myself to looking at 8' campers since I have a short bed, I would have never considered anything bigger.

So how much overhang is too much??

garryk6 wrote:
I have NO damage to my tail gate after running several thousand miles over Alaskan roads with the tailgate on with the camper.

You must be the luckiest man alive, because I can't drive home from Lowes with the tailgate down on PAVED roads without receiving at least one new stone chip.

mlts22 wrote:
I think newer tailgates are designed to be able to be run when down. If not, then why are tailgate extenders a factory option?

Do you see what they put on the tailgate with these extenders?

GROCERIES!

GM specifically warns against having the tailgate support a load with their current heavy duty trucks. It would not take much to tweak one out of alignment.

What some seem to not realize is that the tailgate when down is supported only by the two cables and their anchor points. OK for the last bit of sheets of plywood but not for a 2,000 lb. or greater camper load.

There is a reason why GM makes it so easy to remove the tailgate. I can take the one off my truck in minutes and without tools - which is why the lock is so important to keep someone else from taking it along with its video camera.

My last camper was an All Terrain Camper on a Ford F150 Super Crew with the really short bed. I ran it with the tailgate on during a 4000 mile trip to colorado and wyoming doing about 3-400 miles of gravel and jeep trail. The tailgate got chipped pretty good. Not so good that you could tell from more than few feet away, but there were probably 3 or 4 dozen chips down to the primer the size of a ball point pen tip on each side.

I'll go against the grain here. I too have a Superduty. It is a 2002 F350 CCSB, and I carry a 10 ft 1966 Avion on it. Of course my Avion is very modified from original, but my overhang is less than some of our long bed brethren. I have to use only a 32" Super-hitch/Super-Truss to clear the back of the TC.

I live in Alaska, and travel at least 25 -30% of the time on gravel roads, not to mention all the road construction and sand/rocks naturally on the roads. I have NO damage to my tail gate after running several thousand miles over Alaskan roads with the tailgate on with the camper. Being able to drop the camper and drive around with the tailgat up is a huge advantage to me.My camper is modified with a 2x4 sub-frame under the floor, so the tailgate sees minimal loading, and also provides access to the cavities between the camper and the bed to store lawn chairs, blocks etc.









I hope this helps in you decision to take your tailgate, or not.

Best regards!

Garry in Kodiak, Alaska

If the truck camper is designed to run on a short bed it doesn't need the support so it is just extra weight. If you leave the tailgate on you are running the risk of putting a load on it that it is not designed to take. The tailgate is obviously designed to take some loading while down, but not much as it supported at the rearmost edge by crimped cables. I'd check the truck manufacturer load limits for the tailgate in the down position, where it could get overloaded. Me I'd take it off and store it somewhere safe and secure.