www.stylinconcepts.com

has a Turbo-Net painted like the American Flag...I may have to get it because it looks so damn cool, nevermind if I save any gas or not...

 

Take the tail gate OFF and you will improve your mileage due to less weight!

On older trucks if you rode with the TG down the wind buffeting would warp your bed sides.

What about one of those steel "Net" tail gates? Prolly less than a tonneau and a little more than a net.

 

Now you're talkin! Do you mean the plastic coated cable type of material? I can picture something like that and would be interested. Where can that be found?

 

Here the study a few of the guys were talking about.
Hope this helps.

Alex

http://mars.wnec.edu/~ehaffner/did.htm

 

Sometime around 1988, some Mechanical Engineering students at Texas Tech did a drag study using either a Dodge or Chevy (standard cab, long bed) truck model. I remember that the lowest drag results came from using a hard toneau cover and that gate up configuration was better than the gate down.

I don't remember much more about the study but it does kind of confirm the link that Habibi posted.

 

The steel one I am talking about is one you see when some one is pulling a 5th wheel. They attach and work just like a regular tail gate.

 

oh, the hard one with the notch for the fifth wheel. bummer

 

Great info....if you remember my first post I said my friend had a Nissan, and putting a tonneau cover on it made a noticable difference in his MPG. That study says the same thing...

looks like I will get a tonneau cover in the spring.

My tool box is a small square one that sits in the middle of the bed below the rails so a soft cover I can roll up should work great and cost only 200 bucks...