Truck Shopping Soon

[silverfz]

My truck is at 135k and I am thinking in a year or so I will be needing another truck or not. Not sure as this is my first truck so far all the cars i have had, i sold them around 100-120k.

1) I take good care of the truck. It tows 2k a year and used as a grocery and school trips for 10k a year.
2) I have airbags in the rear I run at 20 PSI and equalizer 4 pt hitch.
3) I also update the rear shock to 4600HD.
4) I sold the camper by dealer with the statement it will tow easily but nope. It took airbags and shock to be solid.

Should I go to LT tires?. Will it improve the towing experience. It already perfect as long as I air up the tire to 40 PSI rear. But just a question?

I am at or above payload now on the tundra crewmax . Will a more payload vehicle improve the experience?

The 5.7 V8 with a full custom exhaust just pulls great but i get bad gas mpg at 7-8 mpg. Will i improvement.? With 20 gallon tank to get gas light i am limited to 140-160 mile range now .

I want to start researching and test drive some trucks. My current rv is 7k-7.5k loaded depending on length of trip.My payload is 1400 and i usually do not carry anything in the bed due to it being so low.

Low mileage Used
Titan 5.6 with 1800 lbs
F150 PayLoad Package
or
Put LT tires on tundra and just ride it will an rv upgrade or it breaks down enough to warrant a change.
or
F250 gas - as my vehicle. I work from home so really it will be MY vehicle and wife will keep the tundra.

[Range_Maggot_Bo]

I'm a bigger is better truck guy myself, but it sounds like you have a really nice truck that you've taken well care of. Don't get rid of it! Ever! I have a half-ton 03 Silverado, still less than 100K on the mileage, that we bought new, and when we went to get our RAM, right at the last minute my wife asks me why we have to trade it in. We don't, I said. So we kept it. Save up for a big truck. You won't ever regret it, and you never know when you may want to upgrade you RV. But keep that nice half-ton!

[Ron3rd]

Grit dog wrote:
Agree, the little tanks s uck. Went from a Dmax with a 26 gal tank and many gassers with little tanks that require a stop every 2’hours to fill up. Sooo annoying.
IMO one of Fords best new selling points is the 48 gal tank option. Wonder if it’s offered in both gas and diesel? Think it’s long bed only though.

Yeah, the Tundra's 26 gal tank gives it "short legs", and my rule of thumb was to fill up at the 200 mile mark, which worked OK for my needs. Our new RAM has the bigger tank and the CTD mpg is better too making the fill ups fewer and far between.

[Grit_dog]

Agree, the little tanks s uck. Went from a Dmax with a 26 gal tank and many gassers with little tanks that require a stop every 2’hours to fill up. Sooo annoying.
IMO one of Fords best new selling points is the 48 gal tank option. Wonder if it’s offered in both gas and diesel? Think it’s long bed only though.

[silverfz]

Ron3rd wrote:
I read your post several times and have no idea what you're talking about. No Tundra that I'm aware of comes with a 20 gal. tank. My old Tundra Crew Max that I sold at 106K miles (26 gal tank btw) was flawless and towed 8,500 lbs, which I admit is 3/4 ton territory which is why I upgraded to the 2500 Ram CTD. Last thing I would consider as an upgrade over a Tundra is a Titan. Power is less and mpg sucks big time. You already have a bulletproof truck in the Tundra so why would you want to trade down to something less capable?

I did put LT tires on my Tundra. For the small amount of towing you do, I would stick with the Tundra. If you want to "upgrade", go to a 3/4 ton. Many like the newer Ram 2500's because they have the coil spring rear suspension and ride as good as your Tundra.

26 Gallon but the gas light comes on at 20 gallon. So i try to not drive around with the light no. so for me the range is get gas at gas light on. at 7-8 mpg i am looking at 140 gallon for the fuel light to come on.

i think that is the way i am leaning .The truck is part of under body recall so having the whole underside coated by a rust inhibitor for free by the dealer this month. Have a few rust bubbles on body work and is pretty clean for 10 yr old truck in the salt belt. It stays in the garage during winter.

thanks

[camp-n-family]

Unless you are going to a 3/4 ton truck you should keep the Tundra. You're not gaining anything going into another 1/2 ton pls it's barely broken in.

Your Tundra should have no problem towing that trailer with E rated tires on it. You may be a bit over the (under rated) payload but you'll be well under the axle ratings. As an engineer you should take a look at the components and their individual ratings and you'll quickly see that the Tundra is capable of safely handling more than what the lawyers rated it for.

I towed the trailer in my sig (34' and 7800lbs) for 2 years with my old '07 crewmax without issue. A couple hundred pounds over payload but under the axle and tire ratings. I eventually traded up (or so I thought) to a Ram 2500 Hemi with the thoughts of a better towing experience. In my experience, the Tundra towed better and was much more reliable. If I wasn't planning a fiver in the future I would have another Tundra.

[Ron3rd]

I read your post several times and have no idea what you're talking about. No Tundra that I'm aware of comes with a 20 gal. tank. My old Tundra Crew Max that I sold at 106K miles (26 gal tank btw) was flawless and towed 8,500 lbs, which I admit is 3/4 ton territory which is why I upgraded to the 2500 Ram CTD. Last thing I would consider as an upgrade over a Tundra is a Titan. Power is less and mpg sucks big time. You already have a bulletproof truck in the Tundra so why would you want to trade down to something less capable?

I did put LT tires on my Tundra. For the small amount of towing you do, I would stick with the Tundra. If you want to "upgrade", go to a 3/4 ton. Many like the newer Ram 2500's because they have the coil spring rear suspension and ride as good as your Tundra.

[blofgren]

Redwoodcamper wrote:
Keep the tundra. Save and plan for the future if you might want a bigger trailer. Then upgrade to a diesel and be done with it.

x2.

[CaLBaR]

Tyler0215 wrote:
The Tundra is just getting broken in. It's twice the truck of new Nissan IMHO.
A friend of mine bought a used Tundra with just over 100k miles. He now has 250k miles with no major issues. If you take good care of maintanence the Tundra will last a long time. Rust will kill it a long time before miles will.

^^^^ I agree with this. If you look at some of the Tundra forums there are a lot of guys with well over 100K. I'm at 110K and still going strong. I thought about a new truck but then looked at the prices and figure I can get at least another 3 years out of the Tundra and I tow about 4 - 6K each year. I can save my money and get what I want later once I decide to upgrade the trailer. I also wouldn't waste my money on LT tires. I did that and didn't find any difference in towing stability. When the LTs are done in about a year or so I will go back to the P rated tires.

[Redwoodcamper]

Keep the tundra. Save and plan for the future if you might want a bigger trailer. Then upgrade to a diesel and be done with it.

[George3037]

Silverfz,

For many years I towed with a half ton and was always near or slightly over the limit of the truck depending on what I was towing. The 1/2T's were mainly Chevy 1500 EC 4x4 reg box.
3 1/2 years ago I bought a new cabbed 4x4 tractor with loader and some 3 pt. attachments. That tractor put me over the limit of my 7K trailer and close to the 1/2T tow limit. I don't like to tow at or over the truck and trailer limits so I upgraded the truck to a Chevy 2500HD 4x4 CC regular bed with 6.0L and 6 spd auto. Trailer was upgraded to a 22' 14K tilt bed. Then I bought a 14K dump trailer and recently a 2010 Innsbruck 30' TT that runs about 9K or so loaded.

In reply to some of your questions I found the 2500HD ride quality to be almost equal to the 1/2T.
The 2500 has a slightly larger engine (6.0 vs 5.3).
Trans. is a 6 spd auto vs 4 spd. Gears are 4.10 vs 3.73.
BP Tow capacity is 14K vs 11,9K.
Downside is Truck MPG (empty) is currently 13.5 vs 16.5 for the 1/2T for local driving. I have seen 15.5 (3/4T) and 20 (1/2T) on long trips however, towing MPG on the 3/4T is better at 8.5-9 vs 6.5-7 on the 1/2T.
MPG on my 3/4T may or may not go up once it gets broke in. Only have 6K miles on the truck today.

Advantages of my 3/4T is bigger brakes (discs all around vs disk / drum) for better stopping power, Heavier duty suspension, higher capacity rated tires, higher tow cap. and better tow hitch, sits higher, better MPG towing.

I've had many friends ride with me and they commented on the ride quality and had no idea it was a 3/4T. I have owned or leased a few diesel 3/4T and MPG was definitely better towing and empty but for the added expense of repairs and fuel costs and the few miles I tow each year I couldn't justify keeping them.

[Tyler0215]

The Tundra is just getting broken in. It's twice the truck of new Nissan IMHO.
A friend of mine bought a used Tundra with just over 100k miles. He now has 250k miles with no major issues. If you take good care of maintanence the Tundra will last a long time. Rust will kill it a long time before miles will.

[coolmom42]

Do you feel that your "towing quality" is bad? Do you frequently feel instability in your steering and handling? Are there episodes of trailer sway or bounce? Do you have a lot of correction to recover from the sideways "push" from a passing semi?

If the answer to any of the above is YES, then you need another tow vehicle. Otherwise, maintain what you have and keep it until it dies---which could be another 100K miles, or more.

[BenK]

What kind or area of engineering?

The ratings mentioned above is to "Manhandle" the setup in the worst day out there.

Being at to over the ratings limits...says you will have less to no safety margin to 'Manhandle' the situation...when you might need all of that safety margin spot on...not time to go back to the store for bigger/better....or the mentality that, that day Mr Murphy cross the path only happens: "To the other guy"...

Maybe the fake half ton is the right thing for you, as they are/were designed for folks who insist on only a half ton... Most half tons are in the 6K GVWR and 4K RGAWR range. Older half ton HD were 7.8K GVWR and just under 6K RGAWR. Today's fake half tons are in the low 7K GVWR and below 5K RGAWR. Vs 3/4 ton's +8K GVWR and 6K RGAWR...not to mention the larger frame, larger suspension, Diff, etc, etc

My Silverado in sig was mom'n dad's specialty grocery/butcher shop I ordered for dad. He insisted on only a half ton for ride quality and since most all pickups have the exact same base body from half ton up through the higher classes...he though the 8 foot bed is all it takes...

Picking up produce, loads of chicken/turkeys, canned goods, etc in the +2K to 3K pound range...installed 1 ton coil helper springs. Solved the loaded down to bump stops...but...the wallowing was still there. Albeit a bit better with those 1 ton helper springs.

It still 'can' do it today while being 37 years old loaded with fire wood or fire pellets...but know it and only take streets. The rear axle bearings come apart often and replacing them only takes an hour or so. The roller bearing cage deforms to allow one or more rollers to come out and into the axle tube.

It has LT flotation tires and better ride quality than the LT tires most half tonner's consider. As your thoughts of going to higher class tires will reduce the ride quality, but improve the TVness

Good luck

[silverfz]

I know I am all over the place. Sorry about that.

I really do not want a HD series to do nothing HD. Now the 1/2 Tonnes are nearing the 2000 LBS payload capacity .

The payload bugs me as i am an engineer and seems like i hate keeping this in the back of mind all the time.
my buddy brought a dually and hates it as he says it drives very hard and is putting some 3k air suspension. He jumped from a Ram 1500 loaded to a Ram 3500 and seem to not enjoy the ride or length. so i am cauious. He did update from a 34 ft TT to 40 ft 5th. Then went seasonal .

we love to travel so i am being a bit more cauious.