Overweight tacomas

I'm minus the sliders, rear bumper, and I don't have my roof top basket on . With me I'm 5400lbs.

 

I've been looking at all the comments in these threads about frames rusting out and needing to be replaced, and wondering if they have the same kind of discussions on the Chevy/Ford/Dodge/Nissan forums... because I've never seen a frame as weak as the Tacoma. I've been rebuilding totaled trucks and searching for parts in wrecking yards and it is amazing to me how many of the Taco frames I see have stress cracks, especially in the rear about where the shock mount is located. The idea that a heavier set of springs solves overloading with these tissue paper frames is ridiculous.

 

Archive Garage Hammer hangers with cross tube is almost mandatory when you really start packing on the pounds, strengthened and controlled the rear end in a way nothing else will.

 

I added hundreds of pounds of tires, skid plates, bumpers and a winch (with sliders coming) and all I did was use 700 pound springs on the lift. No issues.

I agree with others, you're probably overthinking it.

 

Everyone overloads their trucks. But especially Tacoma and 3/4 ton truck owners.

 

If you are anything like many here I reckon you can start by losing all that weight around your waistline. Many people blame Toyota for their poor mpg, hmmm.

 

I’m not asking a lawyer for legal advise on how much I can put in the bed of my truck. I’m just saying if you beef up the springs, you can carry a lot more weight before you’re looking up towards the clouds in the driver’s seat. As we see from the thousands and thousands of built-out Tacomas around here and everywhere on the road, the engine, tranny, frame, brakes etc… hold up fine to significantly more weight than the manufacturer payload cap… especially when the suspension is upgraded.

 

Here’s an idea, add your choice of overload springs, sumo springs or air bags you’d like to increase the load carrying capacity of your truck. Then load it up with whatever passengers and cargo you’ll be carrying and head to your nearest state weigh station. Stop in and show the DOT officers on duty your door sticker and inform them of how you’ve added these items to improve your GVWR, then run your truck across their scale. I’m interested to see what they would say.

 

If you’re worried, buy a 3/4-1 Ton truck…no need to up grade springs or whatnot, and will get about same mpg as an overloaded Tacoma. Can do all that weight and then some, won’t even flinch.

 

I would not have bought a Tacoma size truck if I was using it like that.

 

Be sure to run numbers on a 3/4 ton. You’d be surprised how low the payloads are, especially in diesel trim

 

Still better than a Tacoma, even with a diesel it is going be over 3000 lbs, triple of the Toyota, couple of my buddies have them. One has a pop up camper on his CCLB can have 4 of us in the cab, pulling a trailer with 4 dirt bikes on it. Doesn’t even flinch. Love my Tacoma and all, but would be struggling and getting 10 mpg…

 

They’ll carry it, just not legally. Diesel drivetrains eat up tons of payload, and they’re often under 2000lbs total payload capacity.

Always buy a one-ton.

 

I did say 3/4 to 1 ton in my original post. Even with lowest payload still better than the Tacoma. From what the OP stated for his setup, “ovrlnd camper shell + interior build out (including mounted solar, battery, diesel heater)” 3/4-1 Ton would do it with ease, with little worry about being overloaded. Said his payload is 940, the camper is around 300, two people say another 300, about another 200 lbs for solar, batteries, diesel heater and fuel. Leaves roughly 140 left and haven’t even put any extra gear, food or water in it.

The Tacoma is a great truck, but a lot of people try and make it something it is not.

 

Yeah I was more warning people to know what they’re getting into, not really arguing against this particular case. Canadian cops, for instance, frequently look for 3/4 tons with two snow machines on them because they’re always overweight. And slide ins for 8’ beds come in pretty heavy. Throw a 4wc granby in a 10000lb GVWR diesel f250 and you have under a thousand pounds left…and that’s about as light as slide ins get

 

I was suggesting a 3/4-1 ton in this particular case, or even a 1/2 ton with a payload close too 2000 lbs, leaves a bit more wiggle room than a Tacoma, really sweating the numbers with the Toy. Lots of those bed racks for snow machines here in Idaho, seems like an awful lot of weight up high to me, but more for tight parking areas at the trail head, some places have even banned trailers because they take up too much room.

 

That legal rating is probably more to do with the tires. Those 4 ply tires are probably what keeps the rating the lowest. Same reason a lot of trucks are governed at a specific mph which most times is the rating for the tires

 

Yeah, I know. Same team. As I said, I wasn’t specifically refuting anything you said, just warning people that 3/4 tons aren’t nearly as capable as people think

 

Those pics aren't far from my place.

Agreed on all points.

 

Grabbed them off the OVRLND Camper FB page, I used to live in Tucson, spent an awful lot of time in Flag mountain biking in the summer…know the area quite well. There are a couple full sizes they have done with 8’ bed beds. If I was spending 50 nights a year camping that is the way I would go.

Have a Wildernest on my 1st Gen, have spent two weeks straight in it here and there, always go a little kooky by the end of the trip, especially if we got a bunch of rain…stuck inside with relentless rain for a couple days will you drive nuts. Was going to do a OVRLND or similar on my 3rd Gen, but decided to do a trailer instead, towing capacity is much better than the payload on these trucks, plus can get a lot more room for the money. Nice to drop it, so no constant load.