Tundra on a Texas Ranch for 100K miles

[fj80toyman]

This came through from the program manager for the Tundra today, interesting what the Tundra made it through.

Colorful Texans, too!

Toyota Tundra Deconstructed


Dan.

 

[Texx]

That is impressive. Filmed in my backyard, basically. My tacoma didn't fare nearly as well. The bed was in pieces, with probably 200 inches of welding needed to put it back together. Springs were shot all around, front axle had to be replaced, along with power steering rack, all brakes, and of course shocks. Engine did fine, but the rest was torn to hell.
All is repaired now, and I love my taco, but it's not built like the tundra, obviously.

 

[bkfj40]

there is no way that they could've hauled a gooseneck loaded without putting in some helper springs or air ride on it.

bthdty (been there, haven't done that yet)

 

[Gumby]

I hauled that much weight in mine before the air bags. It's a lot more truck than people give it credit for.


I feel safer and more comfortable with the air bags in it. For the money it's a no-brainer. I doubt they had them in that truck. In fact I'm sure you could tell in the tear down vids even if they didn't show the bags.

 

[Sam Stewart]

I've seen Tundras here that have towed WAY above the 10,800 capacity and look and ride just fine. One specifically that comes to mind is a friend of the service director that has a construction company. He regularly tows a trailer with 12,500-13,000 lbs on it with no problem. The truck has quite a few miles on it now and he's never had any major issues. Pretty much just change oil.

 

[Off Duty]

I love it!
...2 car washes...

If they'd ever get around to putting a diesel in that thing in the U.S., the "big 3" would be in a world of hurt

 

[nspctr1]

I have towed our farm tractor w/ my tundra. It's only a 45 hp kubota 4WD with a frontend loader but my F150 struggled at take offs and stopping would scare the hell out of ya. The tundra handles it well and it only has the 4.7l motor in it. Also pull 16' trailer loads of hay on occasion with no problem. I gotta say it out performs any of the Fords I've owned in the last ten years.

 

[Sam Stewart]

I love it!
...2 car washes...

If they'd ever get around to putting a diesel in that thing in the U.S., the "big 3" would be in a world of hurt

I'd love to see one but I'm still skeptical. Just the cost of training all of the techs at the dealerships to work on diesels would be staggering. I think Toyota is afraid to spend a bunch of money if they can't accurately predict what sales would be like. Personally though, if I had a choice between a Chevy HD, a Ford Superduty and a Toyota Tundra Turbo-Diesel Dually, well you know which one I'd pick.

P.S. Toyota already has a 4.5L Turbo Diesel V8 that they use in the Middle East in Land Cruisers and Sequoias.

 

[OGBeno]

P.S. Toyota already has a 4.5L Turbo Diesel V8 that they use in the Middle East in Land Cruisers and Sequoias.

Only the LC in the Middle East has the 1VD-FTV.

Sequoia is the 3UR-FE 5.7L

 

[Sam Stewart]

Only the LC in the Middle East has the 1VD-FTV.

Sequoia is the 3UR-FE 5.7L

They had a Sequoia with that engine up at a dealer in Atlanta the other day. The company that had it does armor plating and such. The guy said it was from Kuwait. It had the 4.5L Turbo Diesel.

Edit: And they were not able to program an immobiliser key for it. Techstream got all confused.

 

[OGBeno]

That's not a Middle East dealer optioned rig then--at least not what they advertise to the public.

That is probably some deal the company made directly with Toyota ME or through one of the ME suppliers (Al-Futtaim etc.)...

Or they were way cool and did an engine swap.

 

[Sam Stewart]

That's not a Middle East dealer optioned rig then--at least not what they advertise to the public.

That is probably some deal the company made directly with Toyota ME or through one of the ME suppliers (Al-Futtaim etc.)...

Or they were way cool and did an engine swap.

That would be way cool. It's prob one of the other options tho. Seems like it would be a lot of work to swap just one truck like that. They probably have a fleet of them suckers somewhere.

 

[Combat Chuck]

I have my doubts about the 1VD in a Tundra (besides the obvious doubts that it will ever happen, of course) I really don't think it could compare to the kind of use the Cummins and Powersmoke are meant to do. However, if Toyota did an end-around, and used the Hino I6 Diesel that's taking over the tow truck world, the end result would be a monster.

 

[Sam Stewart]

I have my doubts about the 1VD in a Tundra (besides the obvious doubts that it will ever happen, of course) I really don't think it could compare to the kind of use the Cummins and Powersmoke are meant to do. However, if Toyota did an end-around, and used the Hino I6 Diesel that's taking over the tow truck world, the end result would be a monster.

I believe the concept Tundra diesel DID have a HINO diesel. This is an old link and old information but it does say that the concept had a HINO and that the production version would likely have a 4.5L V8 diesel. Which of course, we all know is unlikely at this point.

"October, 2007 – Toyota debuts a dually version of the Tundra (shown below) with a 8.1L HINO diesel at SEMA. Rumors of both a Heavy Duty (HD) diesel Tundra and a light duty diesel Tundra continue."

Diesel Toyota Tundra Info | Tundra Headquarters

 

[Tapage]

I have my doubts about the 1VD in a Tundra (besides the obvious doubts that it will ever happen, of course) I really don't think it could compare to the kind of use the Cummins and Powersmoke are meant to do. .

X2 been driven the 1VD here in the 200 series .. it's very capable engine .. but it's not a monster engine like the Ram cummins .. or any powersmoke from ford .. it's plenty to move the 200 series good .. but isin't a rocket .. and if you ever drive new Ram ( even the old ones with the 12V 6BT ) or a powersmoke F350 they are just rockets ..

 

[Gumby]

I don't think it's in Toyota's best interest to crush the big three with a big diesel.

 

[Off Duty]

I don't think it's in Toyota's best interest to crush the big three with a big diesel.

Just curious. Why?

 

[Gumby]

The US government doesn't play nice when the big three cry poor.

Toyota got hammered in the late 70s, early 80s and just recently when the US car makers were having problems, arguably of their own making. If Toyota was to crush the big three at the only thing the US manufacturers do reasonably well at I have to think there would be repercussions.

 

[Gumby]

Besides, MB is pulling out of the IL market because the lawmakers have to subsidize farmers to get the downstate votes. They give huge tax breaks to gas stations that use bio, but there are almost no standards in place so the signs on the pumps say the bio content could be between 0 and 20%. MB (and all manufacturers) don't recommend more than 5% and then it needs to meet ANSI standards which isn't guaranteed at IL pumps.

Why would anyone want to jump through all the federal diesel nonsense just to deal with state by state crap like that?

Toyota could spend millions developing a US only diesel only to have protectionist folks in the government hammer them if they actually sell enough to make money or to have the fuel rules change again.

 

[Combat Chuck]

I believe the concept Tundra diesel DID have a HINO diesel. This is an old link and old information but it does say that the concept had a HINO and that the production version would likely have a 4.5L V8 diesel. Which of course, we all know is unlikely at this point.

"October, 2007 – Toyota debuts a dually version of the Tundra (shown below) with a 8.1L HINO diesel at SEMA. Rumors of both a Heavy Duty (HD) diesel Tundra and a light duty diesel Tundra continue."

Diesel Toyota Tundra Info | Tundra Headquarters

I just drooled on my self.


Like Gumby says, the Feds gotta look out for whomever's suckling at DC's teat and vice-versa, and this would be pretty threatening to them, if sales totaled enough (which I am doubtful of, to be honest). Also, if Toyota went Diesel here, it may undercut their partnetship with Ford on the Hino Ranger trucks (or whatever they call 'em now), too.
As to smog and fuel regulation issues, I think a Hino motor would be the only feasible way, because Hino keeps up on that kind of stuff in their current product. Much like the Cummins/Dodge partnership, doing so would enable Toyota to sell a US-compliant diesel that's maintained by two dynamic organizations that can effectively divide and conquer on the subject. The other reason why this would work is because it would offset the development costs of either a new motor from the ground-up, or redeveloping a 1VD to be Federally compliant (which would likely require a ground-up retool), if two companies under the same roof are using the same engine, it'll cost less for them to do it overall.