Tailgate on or off?

[Riversdad]

I'll be picking up my Scout Kenai in a couple of weeks. It will be going into F-250 crew cab, so 6'9''bed. The guy at the camper place said I need to run my tailgate for support but the Scout website says it's ok to remove. This is my first truck camper so am new to this. What do those with experience say? Tailgate on or off?

 

[AbleGuy]

I'll be picking up my Scout Kenai in a couple of weeks. It will be going into F-250 crew cab, so 6'9''bed. The guy at the camper place said I need to run my tailgate for support but the Scout website says it's ok to remove. This is my first truck camper so am new to this. What do those with experience say? Tailgate on or off?

If you’re gonna leave your tailgate on, you might want to look into getting some aftermarket straps that are stronger to hold it in the down position than the cheap little rubber coated wire straps that newer trucks are coming with these days.

Best ones I have seen in the aftermarket are heavy duty pieces of hinged metal. Some of the rubber coated wire tailgate straps in use have trapped moisture under the rubber, causing rust and diminished strength in those straps.

Another thing, if you use the solid metal hinged tailgate straps, you could even fashion some kind of a sliding metal brace to put over the hinged joint, just to make them more rigid and strong.

 

[AbleGuy]

Like this

 

[GeorgeHayduke]

You'll be fine either way, I've run with and without a tailgate on our Ram 6' 4" bed and Scout Kenai. The camper is stiff enough to be cantilevered out of the bed without a tailgate so I don't think it transfers all that much load to the tailgate unless you really screw up some angles when loading it.

Keeping the tailgate on saves the hassle of removing it and gives you a bit of a porch to stand on. Removing it saves ~60lbs that would otherwise be way behind your rear axle, avoids damaging it from kicking up rocks, and if you use the shower pan drain it wont dump onto your tailgate. We kept ours on for quick trips but removed it when we were going long or heavy.

 

[Riversdad]

You'll be fine either way, I've run with and without a tailgate on our Ram 6' 4" bed and Scout Kenai. The camper is stiff enough to be cantilevered out of the bed without a tailgate so I don't think it transfers all that much load to the tailgate unless you really screw up some angles when loading it.

Keeping the tailgate on saves the hassle of removing it and gives you a bit of a porch to stand on. Removing it saves ~60lbs that would otherwise be way behind your rear axle, avoids damaging it from kicking up rocks, and if you use the shower pan drain it wont dump onto your tailgate. We kept ours on for quick trips but removed it when we were going long or heavy.

Thanks, that's the information I was looking for. I live on a rutted dirt and rock road and plan to travel on them frequently so really didn't like the idea of the tailgate picking up rock chips or any other damage.

 

[ITTOG]

Like this

View attachment 718383

Man, you went back to the 70's, or older, to fine those.