Help!!! My older brother is wanting a new truck. But he wants to look at the Tundra. He now owns an '00 f150 SCAB 2WD 5.4 with 182K, and maintains it OCD style. Even changes his synthetic motor oil every 3K and waxes the back side of the wheels. He says the Toy truck has some 'neat stuff'. He tows a 6K trailer 15K or more a year and loads the bed fairly heavily, including his Kawasaki Sherpa. How can I dissuade him from this upcoming heresy? We have driven Fords for over 40 years - where did I go wrong???

 

I'm sure a couple years towing that load in that Tundra will permanently dissuade him. He'll trash it in no time, despite his OCD maintenance. If they got the steel any thinner, they may as well use cardboard...

Jason

 

Let him buy the Tundra. He'll come back. I left once for a while but came to my sensess.

 

As ugly as those trucks are and that doesn't scare him away, there's not much hope. They do have some neat stuff, like weak tailgates, faulty t-cases and a cab that looks like a toad on steroids. He obviously been brainwahed my truck trend, motor trend and car and driver or some of those other commy anti-american rags. He needs to spend a couple of days in Dearborn at Henery Ford so he can find his roots. It could be a mid aged crisis thing, maybe a harley or vette would work, then there's allways intense theropy or water boarding.

 

I hear yea go on youtube and show him the tundra bed wobble how it jiggles back and forth many times r

 

Like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWjTbiYo3x0

 

Since he maintains his truck as you describe, whatever he gets will probably give him good service. If he can get over the looks, he'll probably be very satisfied with the truck. My friend is shopping for a new truck and we tried one out. It has more go and more whoa than anything I have ever been in but the looks are a turnoff. My friend has always been a dedicated GMC fan but the new one doesn't do anything for him. He is waiting on the 09 Ford before he makes a decision. He really likes my F-150 but the very tall stance and tall bed keeps him from buying one (he worries about loading and unloading his motorcycles).

 

Run that Toyota like that for very long and the frame is going to break in half.

 

I've used and abused trucks for over 40 years and I have yet to have a frame fail me. Some of the old Fords and Chevys had really flimsy frames that flexed but always held up.

 

Did you watch that video?
I've had various pickup trucks for the past 30 years myself and all of them flexed the frame when going over bumpy roads.
Not one of them wiggled around as bad as that Toyota did. The bed was very nearly coming in contact with the back of the cab on that video. The Ford and Chevy trucks danced around on the road quite badly as well, but never shook the tailgate as bad as that Toyota.

 

If he loads a bike in the bed he may be interested in the tailgate issues they are having right now. Read about it here.

 

Yea thats the video pretty bad how it wiggles

 

I did watch the video. I initial thought was that nobody in their right mind would subject a vehicle they owned to such abuse. The Gm frames in the late 60s and newer as well as the frames on the Fords in 80 (holes to make them lighter) were far weaker than the Toyota and the only real problem was after an accident and getting them repaired.

 

At the top of the page click on, "Articles/Specs" Scroll down to "Ford F-150 and Toyota Tundra- A Closer Look" That ought to convince him.

 

I'm not being a wiseass when I say this, but how do you know? Can you tell us what the strengths are of those frames?

If you have that info, I would be interested in learning more about it.