Tech with a twist of lime! & FLHybrid Club.

I see many people driving around town with their tailgates down or removed.  Regardless of what you think of this article, driving with the tailgate down when the load doesn't require the extra room,  is dangerous and illegal in many areas.  I got into a debate with someone who says if it weren't illegal driving with the tailgate down would be cheaper than driving with it up.  I found many studies including this one from Truck Trend that all say the same thing ...

The manufacturers agree with the studies so we should just put this argument to rest.  This isn't the best of the articles I found but it is the easiest to read and doesnt overload you with measurements and other figures.

(article below and photo from Truck Trend)

Whale Watching: The Great Tailgate Myth
Driving in a stock pickup with the tailgate dropped won't save gas.

Someone recently told me about a guy who puts his pickup's tailgate down to save gas. People who follow that practice point to improved fuel-economy figures as proof it helps. Although this may sound like common sense to some, it's a myth: Driving in a stock pickup with the tailgate dropped won't save gas.

We can't blame you for thinking that a flat wall of vertical steel at the back of your truck might present some additional drag, which could hurt fuel economy. However, a raised tailgate doesn't hurt aerodynamics; it helps.

In the old days of blunt-face pickups, most of the wind noise came from the front, but modern trucks draw more noise from wind around the mirrors and exhaust and road noise from behind. Air that circles the cab gets sucked into the bed where it forms a pocket and is for the most part removed from air that flows over the truck. If you've ever had a paper cup or leaves in the bed, as the truck's speed increases, they migrate into the forward corners of the bed and don't get pulled out over the tailgate.

I'm not an aerodynamicist, and I don't have access to the sophisticated equipment and extensive resources to prove this point about airflow, but places like the National Research Council Canada, Ford Motor Company, and DaimlerChrysler do, and they've all come to the same conclusion: Driving with the tailgate down decreases highway fuel economy, and removing the tailgate usually makes it worse. In many instances, it also increases rear lift at speeds, an undesirable condition in a vehicle with only a third of its weight back there to start with.

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