Well, not a show truck here however I remember seeing a single cab turbo silverado do the exact same thing about a year ago and it looked sick, I just cant remember how it looked like exactly.

This should save me some cash, I wont need to buy a bed cover to reduce drag generated by the closed tailgate, uncovered bed. Reduce weight, but then im messing up the weight balance since im installing a rollpan, removing the tailgate, removing spare tire, and removing trailer hitch

Im trying to balance off the front by say draining the windsheild washer fluid, removing the jack, and maybe you guys have suggestions?

4WD launcher here.

 

Idk about where your from, but the "tail gate delete mod" as we all it is just as ricey as a fart cannon on a Honda IMO. All the ricers that got ahold of lowered trucks around here all take off their tailgate

 

ops, no one does it in this part of the world though, ive just seen one and with that said there are ALOT of modified trucks everywhere here.

In this part of the world, too much chrome, say big chrome wheels, handles, or slammed trucks are ricers.

Do others have anything to say? Would be nice if I could find some pictures to help my decision though.

 

Your gonna drain the windshield washer fluid to save weight? Ever heard of runnign in "street trim"? damn lol

 

Haha i never use it really so might as well get rid of it

 

Although it is not a factor in 4wd (as much), removing the tailgate tends to make your truck perform worse. As odd as it might seem, the aerodynamics involved in bed design is quite advanced. As you drive, a vortex of circling air builds in the bed, which in turn pushes the rear of the truck down...creating downforce. This leads to better traction.

If you delete the tailgate, it removes this 'planned drag' and reduces weight, but the result is much poorer traction. Some friends of mine have tested this theory multiple times. Every time we removed our tailgates, our 1/4 time decreased slightly and (on the highway) fuel economy went down slightly. The engine has to work harder to compensate for the loss of traction.

Since you are 4wd, the effects might not be as noticeable, but I have no idea what the front/rear ratio of traction is on these trucks. All the trucks I tested this theory on were 2wd.

Mythbusters sort of proves my point, as well. Removing the tailgate, adding a cover, and the stock setup are about the same on fuel economy. Riding with the gate down is worse, and adding a mesh gate actually improved fuel economy. These, however, weren't performance tests...which I'd love to see.

Insert from MythBusters - Tailgate Up or Down 2 (from More Myths Revisited) fuel consumption test - YouTube

 

Well thus doesnt make sense riding with an open tailgate vs the mesh thing?

Im concerned about performance, having that gate is like a parachute on the bed, i could try it out open vs closed but i cannot see how it would get worse for high speed runs?

 

What i wanted to say is im concerned with reducing drag more than the whole traction issue, thanks!

 

Better Traction = Better Performance

If you reduce 'drag' by removing your tailgate, you are likely going to forfeit any performance gains with losses in traction.

Did you watch the video?

 

Traction has nothing to do with your fuel economy on the highway. No matter what you do in your truck you wont break the tires loose at highway speeds. You need way more power than you can put down to do that. This is more of an aerodynamics issue. The added traction off the line comes from the weight over the rear tires, not weight added by downforce of the wind, but purely from the weight of the gate.