When driving with tail gate down on freeways ect. Do you get stone chips or such when you do this say for thousands of miles. I'm planning on getting a small truck camper and towing my wave runner behind the truck. Going to different lakes around the U.S and Canada on vacations. What do you think? Its a 2016 screw XLT with a leveling kit and big Micky Thompson's. Or how hard to remove tail gate a couple time per year with the back up camera/light in tail gate?

 

Yes, it will chip. Easy to remove. Folded down it is easy to steal.

 

They should have given you a cap to put into the plug when you have the tailgate off, other than that about 10-15 seconds to remove with a small screwdriver to lift up the tabs on the cables.

 

I don't think you can steal it if there is a camper sitting on top of it.

Just like when I haul my sled, tailgate down, and when I get there I flip it up and lock it.

 

Buy a roll of self-adhesive clear plastic - like they use to protect carpeting in a house during remodeling, or for wrapping cars & boats before loading them on trucks, or for wrapping pallets of loose packages. Stick it to the t/g before folding it down, and peel it off when you're done. The roll should be easy to throw behind the seat, or in the camper.

 

Gets some of that 3m clear stuff and place on it.

 

I drove 2,000 miles once like that to Florida and back with 2 dirt bikes loaded in the bed. I didn't notice any rock dents, but I'm not very particular about my truck either so I may just have not noticed.

The 3M film is a good idea though, it should protect the paint from most stuff.

 

IMHO I don't think there would be much in the way of stones bouncing up that close to the rear bumper. Perhaps it could happen but my logic says it would be difficult for much to get to the tailgate.

FWIW I have spent many winters driving around with my tailgate down because my sled hung out. They use heavy amounts of sand and salt around here and I never thought of that issue nor noticed anything during spring clean up.

 

I asked the same question about 5 years ago. I drove thousands of miles over the past 1/3 of a century and ask that too. I never had any chips from stones being kicked up. I asked if anyone else did and most said no also. For me it was all paved highway driving with the tailgate down. I'm sure if you were on a dirt or gravel road it might be different. Also, none of my pickups ever had mud flaps.