How fast on bumpy roads TRD OR

The Tacoma TRD Offroad’s shocks overheated and catastrophically failed after SIX miles on that gravel road.

 

Thanks for all the great feedback and advice. The Edmunds article is kind of amazing and scary; it should be a must read for every third generation owner. It seems like where we live, moving on from the factory shocks is in our future.

 

I can tell you the reservoir on my Penske motorcycle shock on my Kawasaki KLR gets to hot to hold onto on these type of roads, hotter than a hat cup of coffee!

 

Lower PSI in tires will minimally affect the dampening and shock fade

 

I have 65K miles on my 2016 TRD OR and though the shocks ain’t great anymore, I never noticed any significant fade in quite a few miles of washboard in Death Valley, the Mojave and Moab. I think that video scared a lot of people into selling brand new shocks. I’ll probably pick up a pair of used TRD OR Bilsteins when I get around to replacing mine.

 

It’s all about the road. I have spent some time in Death Valley and the roads are generally ok. I find 15psi and about 45 mph get the Tacoma out of the filling rattling zone. Much faster and you can’t stop.

I got my old 4 runner air board in DV. It did not end well, two flat tires a rock punched a 4” hole in a rim. I don’t go much over 45 mph since that crash.

 

Yes. You will wear out your stock suspension (blow out a shock or 2), possibly get a flat tire or 2. Possibly blow out a CV joint or 2, a ball joint or 2.... and many more issues.

A professional off road driver will have a long travel suspension put in their Truck for this.

 

Go whatever speed you feel comfortable with! But with some common sense behind it, like obviously don't go 60+ over really rough terrain like big pot holes and small boulders

 

I’ve got what’s probably a dumb question. I ride dirt bikes and have for about 30 years and single track to me means one track for motorcycle tires. Is there such a thing as single track for off road vehicles with four tires? Does single track in this instance mean tracks wide enough for each tire but not more? Just curious.

 

I think the 4 wheel equivalent would be a two track, where the road doesn't get enough use and vegetation grows in the middle

 

The reason was that they didn't lower the tire pressure and were going to fast.

 

If you are asking how to drive you should not be driving.

 

Yep

 

To me it sounds like you were driving the correct speed. The slower you go the less likely you are to damage your truck. The faster you go, the more likely. How fast can you afford to go?

Those folks that passed you were accepting a higher risk of damage, even if they didn't know it. There is always someone who seems to be willing to tear their stuff up to be the fastest thing on the road. I know because that used to be me . I hope I've got a little smarter of the years.

 

In the MTB world it is called double track. Usually fire roads sometimes overgrown in the middle, sometimes not.

 

Just a pic for comparison of the size of Bilstein 4600 vs 5100.
Reservoirs are the way to go for the best chance at survival.

 

It's OK to take it slow off-road and let others pass you. It's easy to not notice a rock or dip at high speed that you would easily avoid going 15-20 MPH. Just let someone else tear up their truck.

 

Thanks for posting, that’s a really neat side-by-side comparison that I hadn’t seen before. Kind of sad that Toyota cheaped out with the OEM shocks.

 

Honestly depends. The saying is as fast as you can afford.

But with my experience, I ran the Mojave Road three times on different setups each time. These are average speeds over 120 miles.

Completely stock, my average speed was 15mph. Bumpy and the washboard was not fun.

Midtravel, my average speed was 20mph or so. Washboards were smoother at speed and no bottoming out.

Long travel, my average speed was 40 mph. Washboards were butter and honestly, it felt amazing. Few valving things could be done but no real complaints. You can drive faster but watch out for your cam tabs bending, as well spindles. I bent my spindle at 20mph on a rock, so it's not that hard to do. But with $4-5k, you could be pretty setup to bomb roads.