The gate hinges are welded on. Removing the gate is not a weight thing. It's wind drag with the gate up that's the issue with the Mirage. I think the wind drag accounted for more required power to overcome than the weight.
Say for example pulling that ATV down the road with the gate up required 40 hp, and I have 50 hp available (at that rpm, and this is just for argument sake), then a small bunny hill would require all 50 hp, and it would get the job done. But bigger than a bunny hill I'd drop to 4th. My feeling is that if I could have dropped that load gate instead of it requiring 40 hp to roll down the interstate (flat level, no headwind), dropping the gate might drop the required power down to 30 hp. Giving me more buffer for bigger hills, and using less fuel to boot.
Now those are not real numbers, just for argument sake.
I'm also remembering "mechanic." He doesn't seem to post much of late. But he moved from I think it was Minnesota to Texas. It took him 3 trips as I recall. And he towed a good bit more than 1,600 pounds with his G4.
The difference between myself and mechanic, and the guy that towed the Chevette is ... I have access to 2 very capable pickup trucks. They did not. For me to choose the Mirage over a more capable vehicle is just silly. But that's just who I am, just silly. I'm resisting though. I'm going to stick to blue truck.