bignissan
11-21-2008, 05:52 AM
Specs: Bone stock 2008 Tundra 4x4, 5.7L, double cab (not the real big one), prodigy brake controller, steel rims, SR5 package with a few up-grades.
Load, full backseat of hand tools, power saws, drills, notcher etc etc.
Bed full of scrap tube, some 1/4" plate, bender, stand, couple of dies, notching table.
Trailer, 20 ft steel deck car hauler, 5200 lb axles, 87? bronco, one tons, 36 tsl sx's, bead locks on H1 rims, cage, sliders etc.
Not 100% sure of the exact weight of everything, but my 18' steel deck car hauler with 3500 lb axles was 2300 lbs. I'm going to ASSume the 20' car hauler is roughly 2800 lbs with the goodies it had on it.
The trip was 130 miles or so, from College Station to Nacogdoches Texas.
Heading out was pouring down rain, really bad storms blowing through. I had a bad wreck in weather like that several years ago so I was being extra careful.
The truck handled the weather with the load phenominal. It was solid, steering was spot on and the brakes were top notch. It was very "hilly" (for texas) so I kept it about 55 mph the whole way due to the weather and being at night. I arrived in one piece, without being overly stressed about the conditions.
Overall impression, towing success. I was pumped it handled so well. Two issues:
1) MPG 8.5
2) Rear suspension: the suspension FEELS solid, and controlled, however, people thought I had my brights on because the rear was squating a good bit. I never bottomed out or anything, it was a controlled and consistant squat. Air bags are in order.
The trip back:
Same road, day time, beautiful weather that happens about 3 weeks of the year here.
Long story short, power is not a problem. Brakes not a problem. I decided to maintain 65-70 the whole way just to see what the results were. Even on long climbs it maintained speed without a problem and felt stable around the long back road curves.
For grins, on the longest grade of the trip, I pushed the gas about 5/8-3/4 throttle to make it downshift another gear. Pulled to 80+ mph no problem with out making the engine scream past 4k rpms. (redline is ~6k I think).
Return trip MPG: 9
Overall, I am very very satisfied with the truck and performance. It tows great and handles wonderful.
I am adding some air bags and that's it. My rig is a nissan so my normal load should be about 2k lbs less.
For all the nay sayers, I used to tow with a 95' F-250 psd flat bed, 5 spd. It got much better fuel mileage, but the technology the Tundra brings to the table now is still King in my book.
If you need to tow ~11000 lbs or less, this is a great truck.
If you need a high payload capacity or towing more than 11k, I'd go with a new or used 3/4 ton. I'm confident with the Tundra probably up to 12-12.5k lbs on a trailer, but the payload capacity isn't quite there.
This is just my .02, take it or leave it. I just haven't read any real towing stories yet for what we do here.
Load, full backseat of hand tools, power saws, drills, notcher etc etc.
Bed full of scrap tube, some 1/4" plate, bender, stand, couple of dies, notching table.
Trailer, 20 ft steel deck car hauler, 5200 lb axles, 87? bronco, one tons, 36 tsl sx's, bead locks on H1 rims, cage, sliders etc.
Not 100% sure of the exact weight of everything, but my 18' steel deck car hauler with 3500 lb axles was 2300 lbs. I'm going to ASSume the 20' car hauler is roughly 2800 lbs with the goodies it had on it.
The trip was 130 miles or so, from College Station to Nacogdoches Texas.
Heading out was pouring down rain, really bad storms blowing through. I had a bad wreck in weather like that several years ago so I was being extra careful.
The truck handled the weather with the load phenominal. It was solid, steering was spot on and the brakes were top notch. It was very "hilly" (for texas) so I kept it about 55 mph the whole way due to the weather and being at night. I arrived in one piece, without being overly stressed about the conditions.
Overall impression, towing success. I was pumped it handled so well. Two issues:
1) MPG 8.5
2) Rear suspension: the suspension FEELS solid, and controlled, however, people thought I had my brights on because the rear was squating a good bit. I never bottomed out or anything, it was a controlled and consistant squat. Air bags are in order.
The trip back:
Same road, day time, beautiful weather that happens about 3 weeks of the year here.
Long story short, power is not a problem. Brakes not a problem. I decided to maintain 65-70 the whole way just to see what the results were. Even on long climbs it maintained speed without a problem and felt stable around the long back road curves.
For grins, on the longest grade of the trip, I pushed the gas about 5/8-3/4 throttle to make it downshift another gear. Pulled to 80+ mph no problem with out making the engine scream past 4k rpms. (redline is ~6k I think).
Return trip MPG: 9
Overall, I am very very satisfied with the truck and performance. It tows great and handles wonderful.
I am adding some air bags and that's it. My rig is a nissan so my normal load should be about 2k lbs less.
For all the nay sayers, I used to tow with a 95' F-250 psd flat bed, 5 spd. It got much better fuel mileage, but the technology the Tundra brings to the table now is still King in my book.
If you need to tow ~11000 lbs or less, this is a great truck.
If you need a high payload capacity or towing more than 11k, I'd go with a new or used 3/4 ton. I'm confident with the Tundra probably up to 12-12.5k lbs on a trailer, but the payload capacity isn't quite there.
This is just my .02, take it or leave it. I just haven't read any real towing stories yet for what we do here.