I hope I bought the right truck...

Look, don't get an American-made POS. It's just not worth it. And plus, American made vehicles don't come with anything on the base model! I mean, you get a stripped down POS when you go American.

 

Relax and enjoy your new truck. You may have a little quirk here and there but I doubt it will be anything major. Remember, it's a Toyota, and compared to everything else out there you're way ahead of the game.

 

we will fix it for you when it breaks. Because we are masters of taco!!!!!

 

Quit your bitching and enjoy a great truck..........your looking to hard into it already and dont even have any problems yet!

 

It's the irregular handling characteristics that are the problem. If a vehicle well within its payload rating is handling abnormally because of a known suspension problem, that's a safety issue.

All loaded vehicles handle less agile than unloaded - that's just physics - but a bed loaded well below its payload capacity should not cause the frame to ride on the framestops - that could definitely give enough of a jolt to affect someone's ability to hold onto the wheel.

Fair enough. I thought it was above 1300 but seemed to recall my owner's manual saying 1290 for some reason. In any event, load under 1000lbs shouldn't be causing problems.

No it's not, but it can definitely make the difference between being able to handle the spec'd payload reasonably and not. And I don't know that I'd call it outrage, although annoyance is definitely a reasonable term.

I'd have no problem with Toyota's policy if they applied it to all affected vehicles. That they don't is what's bothering me.

And I agree with you that the most elegant solution would probably be more than one Taco suspension - one for the heavier models (i.e what I'm driving) and one for the lighter units.

 

I disagree, I feel the driver is the safety issue more so than the vehicle.

Perhaps I should mention that I drove my truck halfway across the country on the bump stops. Unintentionally of course but we had two barracks rooms that we needed to get from DC to Kansas. There was a blizzard in DC/MD, a mixed storm of slush and crap in the PA mountains, and great plains cross winds once we got out on I-70. Both my friend and I were relatively inexperienced driving trucks at the time and at no point did we think the steering wheel would jerk out of our hands or that the truck would go flying off the road. I think you're exaggerating again and that in order for a bump to effect the front suspension (steering) you'd have to have enough weight in the bed to seriously effect weight distribution, which would be pretty interesting to see in a 4500lbs truck with most of the weight forward of the bed. I think the composite bed would crack before you got that much weight in. Not to mention the ridiculous amount of weight you'd need behind the rear axle to leverage the front of the truck at all. Or the front would be riding on the bump stops which isn't the issue we're discussing at all.

Probably due to adjustments in model. As Toyota states it's effected by model, accessories, what you had for lunch, and dark matter altering gravitational forces on the earth changing the earth's diameter and the amount of atmosphere pushing down on your bed. I bet two extra cylinders, a back seat, twice as much cab, and all sorts of electric gizmos alter the payload capacity a bit. Fill up the gas tank (200lbs), and put a driver and some stuff in that truck and you're down below 1000lbs in a big hurry. At 1350lbs payload under the best conditions I'm not surprised at all with some of the weights it takes people to bottom out their suspension.

No it's that they didn't apply it your vehicle that upsets you. Regardless of the fact that the option to upgrade is available and FREE you feel wronged because they catered to the majority. Most people, double cab long bed owners included, are perfectly happy with the smooth ride of their 3 leaf pack.

I didn't really suggest that. The problem with this solution is there are so few regular cab trucks. Most Access cab and double cab truck owners seem perfectly happy with 3 leaf springs. If they produced enough 4 leaf springs for all the larger cab trucks, cost would go up and they'd probably lose sales as people were discouraged by the stiff ride. Personally I feel the stock front suspension is too weak also.

The current solution is just fine. Most drivers leave the lot happy and never go back. If you felt the ride was to soft on the test drive you could have gotten the TSB done before you took delivery. The bottom line is there's nothing wrong with the 3 leaf pack. The 4 leaf pack is simply personal preference. That's coming from someone who went through the trouble of getting a TSB on an 09 at the first opportunity.

 

It's always going to be a composite of the two, I'll agree with you there.

You haven't noticed some of the body sway that occurs in late model Tacos, even over unladen bumps? Maybe I need to have my truck checked out because something actually is wrong with it, but I know I'm not the only person who's experienced a mushy rear end over bumps - as you pointed out, this forum has been done to death with threads dealing with similar complaints (here's another).

And that may be part of the problem and the reason Toyota has resorted to stickering many of the new 09s. I would, however, argue that's it's a bit disingenuous of them to list the "best conditions" numbers for all models. I suppose that's my own fault of expectation however, because marketing is marketing after all...

Tomato tomahto. Yes, by extension I am displeased that my Taco personally doesn't have the TSB springs (yet), but that's just a side effect of Toyota's overall handling of the situation as a customer service issue. The roundabout point is this: The option to upgrade isn't available and free to everyone who may be affected by the issue, unless there's some $0 dealer installed accessory dealing with this that I'm unaware of...

In any event, would it not have been easier for them to throw the beefier leaf packs into the Tow Package and just tack a few hundred extra bucks on to the price of it? I'd bet this "issue" would've been far less common under those circumstances.

Certainly. I am a bit of an oddball (like most of the rest of us on here) in thinking that a truck's work abilities should be prioritized higher than things like ride quality. My response to the people who didn't care for the stiff ride would be "buy a car".

I don't know about you, but I did not bring 2/3 of the rated payload with me to test drive my truck. Silly me, I chose to trust the manufacturers numbers. After all, I hear Toyota makes a good product...in any event, I didn't have a problem with the ride of the unladen truck during the test drive, but never test drove it loaded as that was highly impractical. Having no prior experience with Tacomas certainly left me uncalibrated - all the other trucks I had driven were older American made full-size units.

I'm not horrendously worried about the situation. The 09s will in all likelihood be added to the TSB at the end of the year or early '10 (much like the '08s were), but it would be nice to have the issue over and done with. I don't see why Toyota isn't just willing to offer the swap on the part #'s rather than limiting elgibility to certain models and years.

 

09 rear spring TSBs are hardly unheard of. More than a few people have gotten them done. Myself included.

 

Oh I'm aware, and I'm in the process of working on it right now.

I just don't understand why it's so much like pulling teeth. I have the same complaint as others, my part numbers match, my VDS matches. The truck was even built in 08.

Granted I'm early in the process. We'll see how it turns out. It would be nice to be able to deal with it without numerous phone calls and three way coordination between myself, Toyo CS, and the dealer.

 

All I have to say is come on fellas, lay off the guy! If I were coming from a history of less reliable vehicles, I would be skeptical that shit would start breaking too. There have been a good number of posts about issues with the '09s recently.

To the OP, just think of this. Toyota customer service backs up vehicles even if they do prove to have issues. The TSBs address many concerns, but if something else fails, they will take care of you. Proof of this lies in the frame rust issues on the early models. How many car companies out there would offer to buy back vehicles that have hundreds of thousands of miles at 1.5x the KBB value?

To TW members, back off and stop posting if you are just going to roast the OP.

To the OP, just remember that if anything does go wrong with your reliable vehicle, the company has your back.

That is all, flame away at ME, not the OP

 

I'm not going to get into your pissing match over the TSB vs 3 leaf but I will direct you to my thread as my response: http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/38196-wilson-needs-rear-tsb.html

Anybody who says " The bottom line is there's nothing wrong with the 3 leaf pack." obviously hasn't experienced what I have. There is no way in HELL that anyone can say "there's nothing wrong with the 3 leaf pack" after that.

Oh, and the OP is a whiner. Quit your whining and switch to Stayfree. You'll feel drier and fresher if I am to believe the commercials.