In regards to the bed cover, Myth Busters did an episode addressing the aerodynamics of truck beds using the Chrysler wind tunnel. As it turns out, people who remove their hard tail gate or leave it down actually hurt their aerodynamic performance. Air has to move over the cab and then shoots back down farther than it normally would (this increases drag) to drag along the bed floor and out the gate. Although a bed cover is somewhat helpful, its nearly negligible compared to no bed cover with the gate up. The reason being that the air in an uncovered bed circulates and creates a vortex. Aerodynamically speaking air traveling over the truck will cruise right over the vortex, just as it does a covered bed.

That being said, bed covers are very handy to have. Just don't get one thinking you'll get a noticeable increase in mpg's. Ok science lesson over for today.

 

Agent Man:

That is interesting. Ill have to see if I can find some info on that. I would hate to do the work for little or no gain.

 

Agent man:

"Gotta Love Youtube". I found the episode and was stunned. Forget the bed cover. They said the only real means of saving gas is with a net. I am not putting a net on a new truck. Ill save for the hard tonneau cover for security, and travel reasons in the future. Thanks again!

 

Nice truck! I really like the white 4th Gens. Up here in Canada we NEED the 4x4 with all the snow we get.

 

I went with the White because it hides scratches, and reflects the heat better. The down side is it shows the dirt quick. I hear ya about the snow. I grew up in MI, and also lived in Maine for three years and I had my fair share of it. With all the crazy weather patterns here we even are getting a good amount of it here in Virginia. It litteraly shuts everything down here.

 

Always happy to help. Even though it doesn't help with my mpg's I still got a Mopar tonneau cover for my Ram. I wanted the covered dry storage area. I liked the soft cover because it was cheap and easy to roll up if I ever needed the bed open. I realize soft covers are the least secure because anyone can pull it back to see what you have in your bed, but the way I figure it, if someone is willing to pull back your tonneau cover, they're already committed to doing something malicious. At least with the bed covered, it deters the opportunist type thief, which I believe there are more of out there.

 

Agent Man:

I as well will more than likely go with a soft cover to keep the sun off of the groceries. Im not in a high crime area--yet--and like the idea of rolling it up when hauling something large.