New rig for haul'n toys

[griff]

I used to have an F150 SuperCrew 4x4 for haul'n and tow'n, but my wife was afraid of it. So I sold it, and bought a compact SUV (Suzuki Grand Vitara) and figured I could still use a trailer to haul stuff. My wife of course, loved it. Well, theres still nothing like a truck bed, or V8 power... so I got sick of dealing with that Suzuki. Its a nice little SUV, I've got nothing but praise for it (its 4x4 system is fantastic), BUT... its still not a pickup truck. So its going buh-bye, and I picked up this last Saturday:

2008 Toyota Tundra, SR5 Double-cab, 4x4, in Slate Metallic, Option Package 'F'. 5.7L, 6spd Auto. I'm really impressed, Toyota did a great job with this truck.

A Rappy 350 fits in the bed with plenty of room to spare!

 

[rwillis]

Niiice truck. Ya gotta love the Toyotas. I have an 05 Tacoma TRD Sport, and I love it. Congrats

 

[teamexileracing]

Nice lookin tundra, not a big fan of tundras or toyotas new body style. But yeah you cant beat toyotas till they have a recall on the tacoma and you get more out of it then you payed for it ;D

I had a 2000 tacoma sr5 and they had a recall on the frames so they bought it back from me. Payed 12k for it, got 18k from toyota ;D. Im looking for a 2000-2002 dodge ram 1500 or 2500 4x4 manual 5 speed. I cant wait to get a full size truck. I might be able to pull more then just my quad! ;D

 

[worm1]

I've heard great reviews about it from a male perpective....How's the wife liking it?

 

[griff]

Thanks guys

Oddly enough, my wife likes driving it. Despite its size and weight, shes not afraid of this truck. My old '03 SuperCrew used to scare her, but this Toyota is much more driver friendly, so she has an easier time with it.

 

[griff]

I had a 2000 tacoma sr5 and they had a recall on the frames so they bought it back from me. Payed 12k for it, got 18k from toyota ;D. Im looking for a 2000-2002 dodge ram 1500 or 2500 4x4 manual 5 speed. I cant wait to get a full size truck. I might be able to pull more then just my quad! ;D

Heh, my friend just passed 166,000 miles on his '02 Tacoma, still runs good!

On those Dodges, get the 2500. My old work has had both 1500's and 2500's for field duty, about 10 of each (rest of the fleet were Ford F250's and F450's) - The Ram 1500's were an absolute nightmare for reliability. Trannies, racks, rear-ends, and A LOT of electrical, not pretty.

The 2500's did OK, all diesels. Minor stuff would go wrong on occasion, but nothing crazy. They held up decently, unlike the 1500's.

 

[missouritrailrider]

I am not so sure i agree with the opinion above, but to each his own. I have owned many dodge trucks, all the 1994-2001 body style and never had a problem from one, the auto tranny is a little weak but if you fix it before the torque converter explodes, they are great, lol and you cant beat the raw power of the 360 gas or the cummins diesel, they are great trucks, far superior to any other brand in those years, solid front axle is the **** too.

 

[griff]

I am not so sure i agree with the opinion above, but to each his own.

Those trucks in that fleet I mentioned, did exactly as I specified. All fully documented by the company that owned them. That is hard fact, and not my opinion.

Now, my opinion of all 1500's, based on that companies history with that truck (which is fact), is that they all suck

 

[jasonp]

I am not so sure i agree with the opinion above, but to each his own. I have owned many dodge trucks, all the 1994-2001 body style and never had a problem from one, the auto tranny is a little weak but if you fix it before the torque converter explodes, they are great, lol and you cant beat the raw power of the 360 gas or the cummins diesel, they are great trucks, far superior to any other brand in those years, solid front axle is the **** too.

I'm going with griff on this one.. At work we had a bunch of 1500's with the 360 in them and solid POS front axle. Needless to say we got rid of them because we were sick of the constant $2000.00 front end bills, alinement issuse/dog tracking and tranny problems.
By far the worst pickup we've owned for light duty as far as having to fix it time after time.

 

[ridinfast03]

On the Dodge 1500 my job has 8 2002's and 4 had new trannys put in less than 2k miles and all they did was haul 2 small push mowers. Needless to say I will never own a dodge personally unless it bears a Cummins badge.

 

[snakebyte]

Nice truck I like the Tundras I think they did a good thing there.
If it wasnt for Dodge I'd own one.

About the documentation on the Dodges, they di have trans problems in mid 90's to late but like missuritrailrider posted if you take care of that torque converter your all right.

I work for the state and they have a small fleet of Dodges and they hold up more then the Furds and Chev-whys. Dont even ask how long the list is on the Furds I dont want to hurt anyone feelings....I'm still new to this site ;D

 

[yamarider]

I'm just waiting for the old 3 speed automatic to die on my 84 dodge van so I have an excuse to scrap it and get something newer, fuel injected, and maybe even with air conditioning this time. I have to admit though, it has been very reliable to me so far, and i've really beat the **** out of it. I figured somewhere around the 5th full throttle neutral bomb it would have went, but it still just thuds, squeals tires, and takes off without any complaints.

 

[missouritrailrider]

ya, they had their problems with the trannies in the early 90's but truthfully i have seen way more chevy 700R4 trannies go out than dodge 46RE trannies. About the axle, not sure what you guys mean by POS solid, it is a dana 60, proven to be one of the best exles ever made and way better than the POS IFS cv **** that ford and chevy had, that why people do solid front axle swaps all the time on trucks with IFS. Plus the only motor that can give the 360 a run is the Votec 350, i'll give that motor props And the Cummins, never touch it with any other diesel

 

[teamexileracing]

yeah well ive done some reasearch and i found out that dodge fixed most of the tranny problem in 99 and up. Ive talked to several owners of the ram 1500 99 and up and they all say the only downfall of the truck is the gas mileage but its a truck so your not gonig to get good gas mileage. Im currently looking at 2 ram 1500's year 2001, both are really nice with low miles. Cant wait to get the check in the mail for my tacoma lol.

 

[snakebyte]

I dont want to start anything but on the subject about axles. How many people ever see a rear axle under a ford and compair it to a axle under a Chevy. If you have you will notice that the axle under the Chevy is smaller in diameter, and the fords look to be over size for the trucks. The reason is because of the thickness of the tubes themselves. FACT Ford uses .180 steel for there tubes, and they make them larger in diameter to regain strenth, as were Chevy uses .250 for there tubes so the strenght is already there.....Dodge uses .250 and the larger diameter . I will leave the number of bolts used to hold the ring gear to the carrier for a different thread... ;D

You guys probobly know I'm a die hard Dodge guy by now ;D
Toyota is second
Great! Toyota you got there. Have any goodies lined up for it yet like an exhaust?

 

[griff]

Heh.... yup, ordered a JBA Cat-back for it already, should be here next week. Not gonna do a CAI though, just a drop-in K&N or AFE filter. Theres a minor mod you can do to the stock intake to make it flow, so I dont see the need to spend the extra cash on a CAI.

That all I'm gonna do to it, I'm not into lifts or Super Swampers or any of that ****. This is a workn truck primarily, tow'n and haul'n.

 

[snakebyte]

I just read in my 4 wheel book that Magna flo put a cat back system on and gained16.5 peak HP and 21.6 lb/ft.
That mean you will have 316.5 HP at the rear wheels.

 

[ncwarriorrider]

I've been looking at dyno numbers and exhaust tundras are right around 300-305 rwhp, right where they should be.

 

[griff]

Most of the baseline dyno's I've seen are in the 305 to 320 range, which is still about right for a 15% to 20% drive-line loss. The dyno's numbers themselves dont matter to me, only thing that matters is the difference in before and after runs.

Baselining at say 300 and ending up with 315 after mods on the same dyno, in the same conditions.... its no different than another dyno that baselines the same vehicle at 310 and ending up with 325.

I know a lot of people that get hung up on the #'s, and get bent cuz some other guys is supposedly making 10 more HP than him, with the same ****, but on a different dyno, with no baselines for comparison either.

Kinda stupid...

 

[ncwarriorrider]

Ok, just saying that 15hp without a tune is pretty hard to believe...

Best way to compare is throw em on the track anyway