Went to a training session on the new F-150 today: great stuff. The most amazing thing was the comparison of the frames of the F-150, Chevy Silverado, Dodge Ram, and Toyota Tundra. F-150 far stronger than anything else (and a great test they had to prove it; I wish you guys could see it), Dodge a close second. Chevy's was pretty weak, but the SHOCKER was the Toyota Tundra. The front of Toyota's frame, the part that supports the engine and transmission, the part that's supposed to be the strongest? It's not as strong as the part of the Ford frame that supports our REAR BUMPER. Toyota may make a fine car, but trust me: they know absolutely NOTHING about building a truck. I can't believe they can get that kind of money for a truck with such a flimsy frame. Sad.......

 

How exactly do they test the frames?

 

This does sound interesting......i would like to know how the frames were tested.

 

Were there any tests on midsize, like Rangers and Tacomas?

 

Are the results and test posted anywhere or will be? I want to show my brother this he is all kinds of bragging about his new tundra and getting down on me for my 77.

 

Oh, this part was cool! They attached the front of 4 similar-sized frames to a large base set on the floor. Picture a large box with a frame attached to each one of the 4 sides. (Since no 2 companies make identical sized frames, they picked the 4 closest in wheelbase. They then supported each one of them 168" back from the front to equalize the test.) They supported the rear of the frames on the left side, leaving the right side hanging in the air. Attached to the right side was a long bar, perpendicular to the side rail, and below that was a digital potentiometer(?) that could measure to within 10,000th of an inch. The instructor then put all his weight on the bar, lifting his feet up off the floor. (I don't think you could come up with a fairer way to measure a frame's ability to resist twisting.) The F-150 frame deflected .310 inch. The Dodge deflected .494. The Chevy, due mostly to the open side rails at the back, deflected almost 2 inches! But the Toyota was the worst: it deflected almost 4 inches! When he took his weight off the bar, the Toyota frame oscillated up and down AT LEAST 10 times. Ford should take this show on the road, but the legal dept. would never let 'em do it. It's a shame- you really can't appreciate the strength of this new truck until you see a demonstration like that!

 

Ford had a little presentation on the net about that. I remeber the dodge being almost 6 inches though.

They had it on the ford website.

 

GMC/Chevy had a test that they put trucks up on mboguls on the front left and the back right. The other two wheels were off the ground. This was to simulate frame rigity, the doors of the Dodge would not open due to all the frame twist. The Ford performed similarly to the GMC/Chevy. Sounds like a test similiar in theory. Ford wants to taught its new truck, I can't blame them, its sweeeeeet!

 

Grapegravy,
Your brother is comparing a 77 F350 to a Toyota Tundra?? What's there to compare? He should pick his 'battles' a little more carefully. I would just laugh and not even give it the time of day.

 

Mark11,
I heard about that test also. I also heard that while testing the prototype of the new '04, the testers loaded the tundra and hit the woods: the frame of the tundra actually snapped.

Ford sold 900,000 F series trucks last year. They see no evidence that the tundra is taking market share from them or the other domestics. They think the tundra is just taking sells from their own small truck segment.

Another thought. If you are a farmer (and any other truck guy) and live outside of a major city, are you going to buy a truck from your local Ford dealer (who will service it and sell you parts), or are you going to drive 100+ miles to a big metro area and buy a foreign truck (that will be hard to service)?

 

what he failed to mention to you is that the toyota tundra frame was designed to have the body attached for some of its strenght .
toyota did this to keep overall weight down in the truck for better fuel economy ................what he also failed to mention was that the toyota tundra crashed tested better than any other pu as well if im not mistaken ......................just because you saw a magic show does not mean it was an accurate show. ive seen lots of demonstrations like the one you went to and i have yet to see one that tells the whole truth and nothing but the truth. jm2c's

 

The Toyota Tundra does not crash better than the new 2004 F150. I've seen full frontal and offset frontal test crashes Ford had of the 2004 and the cab was completely intact.

I've also driven all of them one after the other and can tell you that based on the off-road tests the statements about frame ridgidity are true. The F150 was first, Dodge second, Toyota third and GMC last. Part of the reason the Toyota wasn't last in the offroad test was due to its size. If it boiled does to it I'd buy the Ford first, Dodge second, Toyota third and GMC last (it performed poorly in pretty much every test).

 

I'm letting him get his digs in now. He's always liked Toyota for their reliability. He had one of them little toyota trucks for many years, driving in the winters of Cleveland. Never a problem, was 2-wheel even. And he hears me talking about cracked blocks, etc. It's all good Becuase next spring I'm driving out to his place in AR and we're going offroading. I prefer to let the trucks do the talking for me. He also always parks the truck at the end of his driveway, so when I show up, I'm gonna ease up to it and push it forward to take his parking spot

 

I was in a wreck in December in my '99 Ranger. A brand new Tacoma caused the wreck. The Tacoma was totalled and had to be towed. My Ranger needed a new bumper.

If that's not real-life proof that Toyotas don't crash test well, I don't know what is.

 

doesn't your brother realize that he's got over 20 years of technology on you? I bet you can still outpull him though. Chain the back of your trucks together and do a pull off...It will be like those cartoons where you just yank his frame out from underneath his cab, and all thats left is him in his seat holding his steering wheel, lol