I've been using my 2010 DCLB to tow my Outback 250rs (28' 7600lb) trailer for the past two years. The Tundra has done a superb job of handling the trailer.
It has been a while, but I used to own a 01 F250 7.3 diesel and pulled a 30' fifth wheel toy hauler with that and it seems from my distant memory that the Toyota pulls just as well, and almost as stable with my current setup (nothing beats a fifth wheel for stability though)
I do have a E rated tires, a Reese Dual Cam WDH with 1200lb bars and firestone air bags. the only time I need to put more than 10lbs of air in the bags if I have a few dirtbikes in the back.
Now that being said, I know I am at or over my payload capacity by the time I have the wife, kids, dog, kayaks, bicycles...firewood and all the other crap in the truck.
I am really happy with the Tundra and I only have 2 payments left currently at 100k on the odo, so it will be nice not to have a truck payment for a little while....but I'm thinking of upgrading to a Ford or Dodge 3/4 ton gasser just for peace of mind with whole family in the truck. (don't want or need diesel as I only tow the trailer ~10 times a year)
My questions are for people that have owned both a HD truck and a Tundra:
1: I know the HD truck will be a stiffer ride, but how bad should I expect it to be?
2: as mentioned I only tow ~10 times a year and the rest of the time it's my daily driver (75 miles a day to and from work)..will I be miserable?
3. seems like the 2014 Ram 2500 crew cab can be had for about 34k with the 6.4L hemi, anyone have any experience with this motor and drive train? My last Ram truck was a 96 2500 with the 360 v8 which I dove for 140k miles with no trouble...but I was not towing back then.
I should also mention that if I keep the tundra, I'm going to put some kind of leveling kit in with some larger tires, I'm currently running 275-70-18, might go up to 295's with the leveling kit so that may bring performance down a bit?
I must admit, that every time I stay at a campground, I see all the nice HD trucks and I start to get truck envy....just don't know if I'm trying to justify something I don't really need or making the natural progression to a HD truck to suit the weight I'm now hauling?
1. My friends F-250s ride better than my tundra IMO.
2. The 6.4L Hemi is a improvement for sure and has been getting better economy than the 5.7 hemi. Still, in the 15s. The Ford 6.2 is plenty powerful too and drinks fuel. I would say not a huge difference than your current truck.
3. I have an acquaintance with the Power Wagon with the 6.4L. He is pretty impressed with the drive train.
You said your overweight when fully loaded. That is justification enough for me.
I was looking at that same set up tonight in a Laramie quad cab long bed with the air ride suspension to hopefully help it ride a bit easier than the regular 3/4 ton and have it ride as level as possible.
One day I want to get a toy hauler (28'-30' minimum) and with the dog box I plan on buying will need the long bed to get that and other gear in the bed (hopefully an elk too). Lots of hills here in Idaho and I want to do this as easily and safely as possible. I could even go 5th wheel or goose neck and have room for the dog box too.
FWI...here is the dog box I want from Ainley, scroll down to D & E Triple Dog Crates
It will take up to half of the wheel well humps in my 6.5' box. I bird hunt and train my dogs (GWP) a lot and am tired of moving dog crates and training gear in and out of the truck.
I'm in the opposite position as you I have a duramax diesel an like it but don't have a need for it I don't tow much.. I am looking at selling and stepping into a tundra. I plan to get a travel trailer but nothing huge. I think the tundra suits my needs more!!
exactly why I'm not looking for a diesel. I'm just looking for a little more payload capacity...otherwise I love my Tundra....
I know there is no "real" way to increase payload capacity.....air bags just mask weak springs. E range tires must help but I don't know if that really ads anything?
I must ad that at no time towing did the Tundra ever feel like it was not up to the task, I just know I'm close to, or slightly over my "paper" payload limits.
You might go ahead and look at a one ton. The last time I was looking, there was not a lot of difference in price, and a few I found were cheaper than a 3/4. If you are going to take the plunge and go big, go all the way in case you ever want to upgrade the travel trailer in the future.
If you purchase or lease the Hemi let us know how its reliability/dependability rate with you after about 30k miles or so. Curious to see if my Hemi was the only piece of garbage on the planet that needed a prayer everyday not to have an issue arise. lol
I know you don't necessarily want a diesel, but have you heavily considered possibly a Cummins?
You can go to this link and check out other 6.4 hemi threads on ramforumz. Good forum with a lot of great information and people. This thread is back in July about some issues.
NOT considering a Diesel at this time, They are 8-10k more up front, and because of the emissions garbage they don't really get that great mileage they used to. Also Diesel is ~$.75 more per gallon around here
IF I was towing every week I would consider one..otherwise they are just not worth it to me.
My coworker has a 2014 CC Cummins 2500 4x4 on 18 inch wheels and factory H/T tires. I looked at his mpg gauge yesterday and it read 21.0mpg. The first time I looked at his mpg about a few weeks ago when he was averaging 20mpg. This is "city" driving. By my estimate, 18/19 miles of his 23 mile commute to work is highway. Still impressive.
By comparison, his previous truck was a 2012 F150 Ecoboost CC 4x4 with 33 inch MTs and 20 inch wheels. He ran a SCT tuner on it with a 87 octane performance tune and he averaged 14.6-16mpg making that same drive from his house to work.
I'm impressed by his MPG on his Cummins. GL in your decision.
Don't trust the display. Hand calculate and probably getting around 18mpg. All my Dodge CTD displays were generous until hand calculated the mileage. I will say the SCR system introduced in the '13+ trucks are getting their mileage back to the 3rd Gen 5.9's days.
no doubt the oil burner will have enough torque to handle any job but as far as fuel goes...it does not win even given the (claimed) better mpg. I never trust the Lie-O-Meters.
based on 20,000 miles per year driven in a gas motor @15mpg, you go through 1333 gallons of gas or ~$4,333 @3.25/gal
same 20,000 miles in the oil burner @21mpg works out to 952 gallons @ $4.00/gal is ~$3,809
so if the Diesel is ~$500/yr less in fuel, then you have to own it for 18-20 years before you get my fuel savings back since it is $8-10k more for the diesel engine. That does not include more expensive oil changes, additives and overall headaches of running diesel in the cold northeast winters
Well, that's the thing....wifey wants me to stay put and not a have any payments for a while...which I like the idea of however....
with 100k on the clock now, I can still sell it at a decent price and have a nice chunk to put down on the next truck. I put 16k down on the tundra and had a nice low payment.
I like to have a new vehicle every 5-7 years, but she would be fine driving her 2007 pilot into the ground, so she has a hard time seeing it from my angle.
if I keep the Tundra for another few years it's not going to be worth much with high mileage and then I'll be starting from scratch with a big loan and much higher payment than she will be happy with.
of course I could bank some money being that I won't have a payment anymore but we all know that money gets eaten up by something along the way.
plus you can get 0% APR right now which definitely helps things...
looks like Dodge took the incentives away and now the interest is high....I'm going to keep investigating my options while I wait for a deal....I'm not tied to the RAM, but I was initially hearing good things about the new motor, now the more reading I do the more I see some problems with the new 6.4 motor. Also reading about a very rough ride even for a 3/4 truck.
Gonna look at Ford as well, but heard the 6.2 gas motor is too thirsty!
you are correct and I do have NewTruckItis, actually I've had it for a while, and really the tundra is performing fine while towing, never feels like it can't handle the weight even though I'm close to or maxed out payload on paper. I think the one thing that really gets the new truck thoughts in my head is when I go to campgrounds and get truck envy from all the nice heavy duty trucks I see. the Tundra starts to "LOOK" whimpy to me...sad to say that at 45 years old I still want a tough looking truck.
Untill something jumps out at me I'll stay put with the Tundra...anyway, 2 more payments and it's mine.....clock is turning 100k today!
It is hard to make those decisions. I always thought that having a 3/4 or 1 ton diesel was a necessity in my sport and towing in the mountains.
The Tundra changed all that for me. My next truck will be a diesel, but only because I will need one. 30' toy haulers are just too heavy for any 1/2 truck on the market today, and to be frank, some 3/4 tons.
We have a 6.2L ford in our warehousing department at work. Very thirsty for sure.
Still to date, my 04.5 Dodge CTD was my favorite truck. After Dodge voided my warranty at 42K miles since they could never fix my truck and it just sucked having no vehicle for 4-5 weeks at a time and still not repaired. That is when I built it. 500HP/1075lb tq was a lot of fun. However it was a love/hate relationship. When it ran, lord it was good. When it didn't, my patients and wallet both ran thin. I dumped this truck at 75K miles. I could no longer afford the repair bills anymore. That is pretty sad, considering the truck was paid off, no kids and we both make a decent living.
My 02 Dodge CTD was mostly a hate relationship, but it was at 180K miles of pretty rough duty when I dumped it.
nice dodge, one nice thing about the RAM is they always came "lifted" already, nice high stance...no leveling drama necessary. I've got a softopper for my tundra also and love it!
If you get a new Ram get a can of 3 M rust exhibited to spray bed wheel wells or you won't have them in 4 years. Ram has a huge problem with them rusting out.
Keep your Tundra and put the cash you'll save away for your kid's college or something of the sort. You are within the design limits of the vehicle, it is far HD than any other "1/2 ton" out there.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Toyota Tundra Discussion Forum
2.2M posts
161.2K members
Since 2007
TundraTalk.net forum offers the most comprehensive collection of Toyota Tundra information. Find discussions on the Toyota Tundra Diesel, TRD Pro, SR5, lift kits, towing capacity, classifieds, and more!