Payload Upgrade

I'm trying to stay positive here! LOL.

Anyone with this set up? https://activesuspension.com/products/toyota-tacoma-2005-2021

 

You guys are bunch of weenies. I run a set of dakar heavies on my truck and regularly have a ton (literally a full skid) in the bed. Have like 2 inches to the bumps.

 

I'm highly active on a FB group for Scout Campers (an admin actually), and I know multiple people on there who swear by them. Haven't heard of a failure yet. Not sure if anyone of them use them off the pavement, though. And they're hauling a lot more weight than you would be.

 

Weenies? I've scaled my truck at 2000 pounds over GVWR, and have driven thousands of miles like that. Definitely not suggesting other people do that, lol.

 

Don't feel bad. My truck has the lowest payload rating of any 2023 Tacoma= 945lbs. C'mon Toyota! I don't even get an even 950!?

My truck is mostly stock, but I put a roadmaster active suspension on. When my truck is loaded to the hilt, I'm always sitting level. When empty, I maintain the factory rake.

 

Thanks. How does it perform off-pavement /dirt road?

 

You’re in the right track with a full leaf pack and/or air bags. One thing to consider is if you really need all that stuff for camping on forest service roads. Do you need 180 pound sliders if you’re not getting rowdy? Any other skids or heavy tires? 180 pounds of fuel and water- can you find gas and refill drinking water along your route? Any chance of sleeping in a ground tent?

Your awning, tent, scepter cans, and sliders add up to almost 600 pounds. A large ground tent will save you 125 pounds. Cutting water/fuel could save 50-100 pounds and still allow several days of drinking water. A tarp can provide shade and save you another 49 pounds.

Camping in a Taco is similar to backpacking- think of ways to shave weight while still having what you need. All the overlanding gear is cool but quickly adds up to a heavy-ass rig that isn’t fun to drive and more likely to break on the trail.

 

Ive redone my set up to shave weight. I ditched my fiberglass topper for bed bars, aluminum platform, and softopper to save 150 pounds. My gigantic 8 person ground tent only weighs 35 pounds.

Only you know what you truly need, see if you can cut weight.

 

Agreed. Need to revise my project. I was planning on installing sliders (better safer than sorry), but put this off for now.

Tent is from my other vehicle, so I can't change that.

 

Yes without a doubt, many egregiously so! I've personally settled on the conclusion that with my suspension and brake upgrades, I am comfortable exceeding my truck's GVWR by ~150 lbs max. I have a relatively low risk tolerance, don't want to get stranded 50 miles from the nearest paved road, and really really don't want to hurt/kill someone in an accident.

Many of the kitted out Tacomas you might see on Youtube/Instagram are easily 1500 lbs overweight with their 1000+ lb campers, heavy steel front/rear bumpers, full sliders/armor, etc. I think it borders on gross negligence for these folks to mislead their followers into thinking that what they are doing is legal or safe.

 

I'm one of them folks that is far over weight, and I absolutely don't promote going over payload. Wife and I plan to buy an F450 next year, and until then I'm being as careful as possible to make sure my truck lasts til then. Definitely no hard off-roading with the camper. And at this weight, I don't even drive the speed limit if it's over 65 anymore. I'm very much looking forward to getting this truck back to slapping my tonneau and swingout back on and doing some ground camping with my lil two man tent. I'm sure my truck will breathe a huge sigh of relief when the 1000+ pound camper isn't its problem anymore, lol.

 

Nice, I've been dreaming of doing something similar. Even barely overweight, my truck is NOT a pleasure to drive when loaded out for a big trip. Coupled with high winds, mountain passes, and 80 mph speed limits, I am often wishing for at least a 3/4 ton truck and a more sensible setup. I also plan to ditch the camper and move my tacoma back to offroad duty when that day comes.

 

So…the sliders and RTT and rack equal 500lbs. You could toss a big ground tent in and lose the racks and the RTT and gain back hundreds of pounds. You may not even need sliders? I know this is obvious, but the hoary backpacker/mountaineer gremlin comes out sometimes.

 

This

 

I live in Moab and I do class 3 and easy class 4 trails on a regular basis. I have to go slower down ledges and obstacles because of the extra weight, but it performs fine. No complaints so far.

However, all I have on my truck is a 150lb Leer shell and Yakima roof racks. When I go camping, I regularly load myself to my payload limit and about 80 to 100 lbs beyond. We will see how my leaf springs hold up in 6 to 10 years. If you're turning your truck into an overlanding rig, you probably want to go with something beefier than an RAS.

 

I realize this is my 3rd post in a row. Sorry.

So I carry an extra 150 lbs of weight for my topper plus 180 lbs for myself all the time. The RAS is advertised as having 2 settings: 500 and 1000 lbs. I used a dime to set mine somewhere in the middle, maybe 600 or 650 lbs. I wanted a RTT but it would have eaten up too much of my payload. Instead, I use a family size REI ground tent that weighs 20lbs. Sweet! Saved me about 100 to 150 lbs and now I don't have to worry about climbing (falling?) down a ladder in the middle of the night to take a piss.

So these are my calculations for my camping trips but I may be wrong since I'm no expert.

150 lbs: topper
515 lbs: me and the family
leaves me: 285 lbs

So that leaves me 285 lbs left before I pass my limit. I usually have 200 lbs of constant weight for camping trips, so that put me at 850 lbs. I now have 85ish lbs left before I hit my gvcw limit. Now, I add water and firewood and this adds weight ridiculously fast. I usually start a longer camping trip out at 80 to 100 lbs over gvcw limit. And that's my personal limit. I really try to stay under this weight. I know as the days go on, I'll lose weight from using water, food, and firewood, and I often end a camping trip about 80 to 100lbs under my gvcw limit.

Why did I go with ras? Because it was less expensive, and my constant weight is not really that high, and because I want to maintain the quality of my stock ride as much as I can when empty.

Extra benefits from the ras that I wasn't expecting: 1) tighter steering 2) better cornering at speed 3) and better acceleration and braking control.

For my situation, I'm very happy with the ras. However, for your situation, because you have a higher constant weight, you may be better off with an add.

One thing I do notice when I'm weighted down, as other people have said, my truck breaks like a furniture moving truck.

Hope this helps,

 

Since you said slider (singular) and not sliders, are you referring to a bed slider to slide out and access things below the tent?

 

Also, no offense, but your stated weight is 1090 lbs, not 930.

 

Easiest way to increase payload is, buy a different truck…

Tundra SR DC6.5’ has a payload of 1800 lbs for an example.

 

You're right. It's 1,080 lbs. I've revised my project not to include the rock sliders and two scepter cans w/ liquid in it. With that I'll be at 680 lbs (160 rack + 160 RTT + 360 humans) which leaves me 310 lbs for other things which should be enough for me.

With that said, I wonder what the 320lbs of constant weight on bed would do to the suspension other than the leaf spring that may give in over time. My rear squatted about 1 1/4 inches with that weight.

I don't plan on doing hardcore off-roading or anything of that sort.. most likely forest roads and very light off-roading to get to camp sites. I wonder if RAS would suit my use case or just ok with stock set up.

Thanks for weighing in.