Dutchmanxtr

You don't have to go on gravel, there's lots of debris on pavement to get thrown by the tires. If your trailer has a flat nose, it's definitely rocks bouncing forward into your truck. Buddy has a flat nose sled trailer and got his tailgate peppered with chips. My trailer has a sloped front guard (45 deg) so anything hitting that guard goes straight to the ground. My boat trailer has a mesh screen tapered into a V shape (like an arrow) called Bow Buddy. Anything hitting the screen goes outward instead of back to truck. Actually made to protect boat but also protects the tow vehicle. 5 years of towing and no marks on tailgate.
Sounds like a home made shield is in the making. Aluminum checker plate on your trailer shaped like a V, which will deflect the rocks outward.

bcb97

Thanks for all the thoughts. For the short term, I found a decent price on some ATV ramps on Facebook marketplace so I went ahead and purchased those. Although I might still have to worry about rocks hitting tailgate while it's down. I like the pipe insulation idea but rails are at least 2 maybe 3 inch square tubing so i'll have to find a pool needle or something along those lines, preferably black or painted black. I've got some other ideas bouncing around in my head so I'll figure something out.