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This was not the question. Fuel economy should never the question with a pickup.
The question is and the reason I am here as well. How do we stop the tailgate from bouncing with a load on the tail gate. Sometimes we cannot leave it up, depends on the load.
If there's a secured load on the tailgate, why is the tailgate bouncing? Tie your stuff down properly and it'll hold the tailgate down.
A little off topic but that does happen, but I believe the reason they bounce is there is a counter balance mechanism that makes the tailgate easier to close.
I'll play too despite this being a silly thread that is too old.
My dirt bike has to be loaded at an angle to get the gate to close. If I load it straight in, the rear wheel is barely weighted to the tailgate and it will bounce a lot. The wheel is on the gate just enough to let it bounce but not enough to secure it. I suppose I could get crafty with extra straps pulling the gate taut to the wheel.
I'm pretty sure the older gates never bounced this badly. I had a 1993 and 2003. Can't recall driving much with a lowered gate on the 2003 but the 1993 gate was driven with the gate lowered enough that I would remember it bouncing and would not have done it.
I'll play too despite this being a silly thread that is too old.
My dirt bike has to be loaded at an angle to get the gate to close. If I load it straight in, the rear wheel is barely weighted to the tailgate and it will bounce a lot. The wheel is on the gate just enough to let it bounce but not enough to secure it. I suppose I could get crafty with extra straps pulling the gate taut to the wheel.
I'm pretty sure the older gates never bounced this badly. I had a 1993 and 2003. Can't recall driving much with a lowered gate on the 2003 but the 1993 gate was driven with the gate lowered enough that I would remember it bouncing and would not have done it.
right. strap the tailgate down. or put a bed extender on it to secure the tailgate. or buy a truck with a longer bed. Or put the dirtbike on a trailer and close your tailgate.
Tailgate bounce issue solved - 2021 Lariat w/ power tailgate
I have same gripe as original poster. Newer trucks with power tailgate are spring-loaded to fight gravity, hence you need significant down-force to prevent the bounce. Heavy lumber that fully extends across the gate will do this, but objects that require the tailgate "open" but don't fully extend across the gate, or don't place enough downward load will result in bounce. Tailgate Boss by RIDE88 does a good job at solving this fairly inexpensively. I solved the problem on my 2021 Lariat (with power gate) using 3/4" x 1-1/2" poplar boards with a 7/16" thru bolt to connect to the latch. I cut tapered slots to act as a wedge where it lays over the pins at the top - this wedges the tailgate down as the struts are engaging, then I tie it off with the ropes and everything is snug. Cost me under $20 but it turned into a tuning game to get the lengths and fitment to work perfectly. I'll store these in the truck whenever a have a weird load that does not push down firmly on that gate. Thanks to the others who agree this is something worth a fix.
