Tundra vs the Big 3 Continued III

bco

here's an interesting thought (yes, in fact, it IS a blue moon). when i brought up the airbag issue on the tundra, YOU're the one who cried about it being the most irresponsible thing ever (that i would post a potential safety issue without any "facts" to back it up). how 'bout this - why in the hell should anyone take your jack-knife theory seriously? i've never seen nor heard of a pickup truck and trailer jack-knifing. from the posts here, YOU appear to be the only one truly concerned about this happening. i know what you're response is: "i'm only trying to point out a potential reason for abs not needing to be standard on pickups." yeah well, if you remember, i was only trying to give a heads up to current and potential tundra owners on a potential safety issue in their trucks. so...why don't you come on back with some "factual/statistical" data on the likelihood of abs being liable for jack-knifing pickup/trailer combos? i can show you 3 cases where people involved thought their airbags should have deployed...surely you can show me 3 cases where abs was responsible (or even a major contributing factor) to a jack-knifing? right???

bco

swobig

gave up on us...hehehe...

gotribe1

I hope his truck & trailer didn't jacknife and wipe out rewellbaum, bama, and the other tundrats:<)! Or an exploder rolled over on them, or.........., please fill in the blank. Frankly I was wondering how a busy Toyota salesman had so much time on his hands; especially at the end of the last month when salespeople should usually the busiest, and at model changeover when the real bargain hunters are out. How 'bout it Cliffy?

ratboy3

that's nice

rwellbaum2

Got back from the tire balance shop. I've got a piece of lead big enough to go deep sea fishing attached to my left wheel. No more shimmy though. That's the good news. Spent most of the weekend traveling up to oregon and down the coast via 101. I saw Tundras (20) and new silverados (100). Most of the trailers were being pulled by minivans. Also with 35psi I noticed improved mileage 350 miles@19.6mpg and 540 miles@19.2. Now, the horrible and bad news. The only reason I'm telling you guys this is to pay pentence via the harranging and mockery that will follow this post. I'd been up for way to long with little sleep. Approx 100 miles from home the incident happened. I'd been putting the truck in neutral going down long hills to save gas. I started to place the shift to neutral when I hit a large patch of sunken asphalt. My foot depressed the brake slightly and my arm bumped the shift passed neutral to reverse. I quickly pulled it back just as the rear end locked up going @55mph (this stalled the engine). After cussing and assessing what, if any thing was wrong, I coasted to the nearest turnout. I got out looked over the rear end and drive shaft. Everything looked okay, so I got back in and started the truck. It took about 3-4 seconds to start(seemed like an eternity). I cautiosly drove away still shaken and very awake.
I feel so stupid and foolish that I need to be verbally spanked and I'll, for sure, get it here. Thanx in advance!

cdean

if Toyota has any sense, the computer controls of the tranny will not allow it to shift into reverse. also, they should not allow it to downshift if the forward speed is too much, even if you manually throw the shifter into first.

My '94 Chevrolet had the feature. it was an electronic shift tranny, and i used to always back out of my driveway and throw it in drive while the truck was still drifting backwards. My old (non-e shift) would clunk very hard if I was going back too fast. The new e-shift tranny would never clunk and would actually KILL the engine when moving backwards too fast. nice feature.

same with moving forward...if I was doing 50 and accidentally thru it into 1st (as I did when descending a steep hill one time), the tranny would hold it in 2nd gear until the truck decelerated to a slow enough speed where 1st gear was safe shift. then it would automatically downshift, if still in the 1 position.

My new truck does the same thing downshifting...haven't tested the reverse on this one though...different driveway.


And yes, you should never shift into nuetral..EVER...when going down the road. you are asking for trouble.

ryanbab

( i might be repeating what cdean said but ill say it)

Someone said that in the silverado if you take off to fast or do something that is harmful (like reverse to drive before complete stop) to the engine or tranny it will shut down various things (cylinders and other stuff). Im sure it didnt do any harm to your truck.

On my trip (second fill up) i had 328.5 mls with a mpg of 16.2. 60% Highway and 40% city

Ryan

f150rules

Never thought I would see the day when posts in here are more civil than in the domestic only topics.

Glad you got your truck shimmy fixed. So it was the wheels then? Or tires? Both? Sorry, I got in on the tail end of this one so I didn't see what led up to the heavy balance weights.

So is this the fix for the Tundra vibrations?

Also, a while back you were dogging the Fords for the Firestone tires. I mentioned some Toyota trucks having the same tires and you said your truck has Bridgestones. Firestone and Bridgestone are basically one and the same. Just fyi and no crap intended.

rwellbaum2

Nope, my truck has dunlops. The weight is about 2.5 in long. Also the shop owner ran out to yell at the guys for using a airwrench to snug down the lugs. They also didn't bother to take of the plastic hubcap and wore groves on the insides of the holes. There is lots to know about properly servicing tires. Unfortunately, many tire specialty shops may have ill-trained or incompetent workers. I hate to have anyone work on my vehicles. But when it comes to tires, I have no choice.
Ford is in a bad light because they knew of the tire problems, but did nothing until many people were killed and/or maimed. There was a lady getting her explorer tires changed at the shop. The manager asked her what year her vehicle was. She got very indignant and said "how should I know, I just drive it". This typifies lots of SUV buyers and helps explain why Explorer sales have not been hurt at all by the recall. BTW, can you imagine the same scenario happening with the 4runner. You'd be ranting and railing at Toyota's criminal behavior.

rwellbaum2

I took the Tundra for a 50 mile trip today, flooring it and testing for shimmy at various speeds. The shimmy is gone and the engine/tranny performed flawlessly. I'm really glad about that. I have been running 35 psi on all tires and it has increased my gas mileage. It has also increased the amount of road feedback. But I actually like it better than the 26/29psi Toyota recommends. It feels alot more solid and I think the tires will last longer.

ryanbab

My tires were at like 32 PSI. ABout 3 wks ago i changed it to 35 fronts and 34 rears. Rides a little rougher can feel more bumps (i guess like you said road feedback) but my milage has also increased by 2-3 mpg.

Ryan

cliffy1

Check out topic #2254

bco

glad you got the shimmy fixed.

that little "neutral on the down-hill" sounds to me like someone desperate to get an extra mpg or two! damn, man, that musta scared the sh*t outta you. good thing you didn't maim it or yourself.

bco

davids1

When I was learning to drive years ago, someone told me it was illegal to take you vehicle out of gear on downhill grades. Kinda hard to enforce, but sounds like a good idea.

lariat1

This may sound stupid but is there any advantage of putting a vehicle in neutral going downhill? I cant see how it would affect gas mileage and I would think it would increase your chance of overheating due to the fact that normally you just gone done climbing a hill to get to where you are going downhill and the engine and transmission are hot,putting the vehicle in neutral slows the fan and the water pump down giving you less cooling.
Another point is if you are that conserned about gas mileage you should have got a diesel my 4X4 ram gets 23MPG empty and 18-19MPG towing my 6000# boat over the mountains.

obyone

does save gas as it lowers the revs of the engine. Overheating is not a concern as the air passes through the radiator cooling the antifreeze as the truck is still in motion, it really doesn't need the fan.

f150rules

"BTW, can you imagine the same scenario happening with the 4runner. You'd be ranting and railing at Toyota's criminal behavior."

No. It may sound cruel, but this is just typical any business. Nobody is going to create havoc and mass hysteria until they know for sure that the tires are in fact defective and need to be recalled. I don't believe that they knew the tires were a fatal safety hazard and continued to ignore it. It took time to gather the facts.

Although not a safety issue, Toyota has known of several things that they should have notified the public on, but chose to wait till it became more critical to do so. That will happen with anything, not just cars, and not just Ford.

Glad your truck is fixed.

ratboy3

I never had tried that and never will.. this is my first automatic transmission vehicle.. I used to do that in manual transmission vehicles I had.. coast to save gas..

swobig

been there, done that...probably wouldn't do it anymore though. Was doing a little 4 wheeling today and when I was done I put it back in 2wd and it kinda clunked (pretty hard). Just wondering if any of you other GM guys had this happen - seems to be ok, but it was rather loud. BTW, I have autotrac...

cdean

Yes, it is illegal to put it in nuetral. for safety reasons.

And it does NOT save you any gas. If you foot is not on the pedal, you are using the same amount of gas, regardless of rpm, whether it is in gear or not.

the only thing you gain is you end up going faster when you reach the bottom of the hill.

rwellbaum2

Come on guys....I asked for a real slamfest delivered my way. It's the only way I can start to feel better. "You've got to be cruel, to be kind"!

ryanbab

Nah we arent bad guys.

You wanna see pics of my truck go to

Http://www.picturetrail.com

At the left where it says view album type in Ryanbab

Ryan

bco

'bout time.

rwell,
sorry i couldn't make you feel any worse. i harbor no negative feelings towards anyone when it comes to their truck. i know i'd be crushed if anything ever happened to mine. now, you're a dumb-[non-permissible content removed] for shifting to reverse at 65 mph or whatever...if that makes you feel better ok. other than that...glad your shimmy is gone...

bco

obyone

If the size of the tire weight bothers ya, you should go back to the tire shop and have them lazy bastards break the bead and remount the tire. Of course you could also go to Menards and buy some "chrome" paint to paint the weight....

ryanbab

If you go the menards route let me know i can hook you up with my 10% discount

Ryan

ratboy3

nice truck...

would I tun into the shimmy problem if I put on bigger tires on my Tindra?

swobig

Have bigger tires on my truck 285's. Wondering if 265's would give me better gas mileage. Most Silverado owner's seem to be getting 18 on the highway and I can only get 16. Wondering if the tires would make a difference (smaller). Suppose this would apply to all brands...

ryanbab

My average on highway with the 265's are 16. I drive kinda crazy though too.

My overall average 80% city 20% highway is 14.4 after 4 months

ratboy3

I replaced the stock wheels/tires of my Tacoma.. had shimmy problem since.. had it balanced and will only last a few months and back to balancing again..

I'm thinking of getting at least wider tires for the Tundra but I dont wanna deal with the balance routine.

ryanbab

Thanks for the comment

ratboy3

you are welcome

obyone

There would be a difference in gas mileage as you would be moving less mass, 285 vs 265. Think your savings would be minimal. Perhaps if you went to the 245 or 235, it may become more substantial. Your acceleration should pick up also. But, the truck would look like a Dodge with the small tires and huge fenderwells...my $.02

bamatundra

Don't feel too bad. I was backing my Tundra out of the garage one morning and clipped the passenger side mirror on the door opening. The mirror popped out and landed on the cement floor. 7 years bad luck!

I checked into fixing it and found that you can only buy the whole assembly. An SR5 mirror with power control costs $150.

On the bright side - it was easy to remove the door panel by following the service manual. It is an excellent manual. Just don't remove the tweeter - it isn't necessary. The mirror attaches with 3 nuts. Pretty easy.

Let's see - only six years and 50 weeks more bad luck. Oh boy!

rwellbaum2

Thanks for sharing. I signed up for the album site. Hopefully you'll be able to view some pics of my Tundra soon.

mgdvhman

just think how much harder it would be to back out if you had a full size truck...

- Tim

ryanbab

http://www.edmunds.com/roadtests/comparison/2000/fulltrucks/index.html

4. Ram
3. Tundra
2. Silverado
1. F-150

Ryan

ryanbab

WIth many of the rankings

They ranked the interior materials for the silverado last but in another interior category they were #1. Kinda inconsistant throughout. Also they gave the silverado last in exterior design i guess they like the radical looking designs of the other 3. Some people prefer little changes.

Also the silverado was the quickest in all categories. Braking was won by the tundra.

I guess it was a good comparison but still very biased for all the 4 truck makers. Opinions opinions.

"My trucks better than yours" there is absolutely no way to settle or prove that

Ryan

ratboy3

I like the pictures

ryanbab

HAHA

mgdvhman

Tundra wins for braking....it's the smallest and has the least to stop!

- Tim

ratboy3

Shows how much of an ignoramus I am when it comes to the specs! ha!
But I'm beginning to understand some of the posts here.

ryanbab

Good thats what these posts are for LEARNING. Please dont learn to be a dumb (add in you know what here) like some people i wont mention names.

Ryan

obyone

red again? Naughty, naughty.....LOL

ratboy3

who cares about specs, drive what you like...If you ever exceed the weight of the truck or the tires, it will let you know, the tires will explode.....

ryanbab

NO DEAN not red

bigsnag

If you own a Ford they will explode anyway!!!! Like my left front tire did. I have 16" Wilderness AT's which are NOT in the recall, but this thing blew up like a bomb about 6 days ago. I ordered some tires from a local shop and I am going to keep my Firestone's and hope they get added to the recall list and I can get some money for them. Grrrrr!

obyone

If the tire blew, wouldn't that be covered under the tire manufacturer's warranty? I can understand if you ran over a bag of nails, but if no physical evidence to why it blew, can you assume it to be defective? Did you replace just the one or all four?

bco

i hope you presented a formal complaint about yours to the nhtsa, gm, and firestone. i'm dying for these sob's to go on recall so i can afford new tires. i don't know why everyone's listing $400+ for new tires. i've been looking at LT265's and the best i've found is upwards of $600. help the cause if you already haven't man...i think i'm going to start calling gm and telling them i want something in writing guaranteeing my tires against tread separation...

bco

bigsnag

are on a Ford, but I haven't lodged any formal complaints. I thought I'd just keep them and hope that they go on the recall list and I can show them my blown out tire for some kind of refund. I guess I should formally complain, but I'm kinda lazy. If anyone knows of a number I can call or web site I can go to I'd do that. Thanks.

bco

i'd just start with www.firestone.com

course, it may be a little slow. lots of folks trying to find out the deal. don't want to sound like a mom or anything, but, the more people that report their problems, the more likely they are to recall those tires too...

bco

bco

just reread that comparison here on edmunds.
found my favorite quote:

"Overall interior design reminded us of many other
Toyota products. The steering wheel and much of
the switchgear is corporate parts-bin material, but it all operates with typical fluidness. As it's a Toyota, we were expecting a higher level of quality materials, but we were disappointed to find that they were about equal to the Chevy's. The Toyota also came up short on useful interior storage. The center console was noticeably smaller than the ones in the other trucks."

just for emphasis:
"AS IT'S A TOYOTA, WE WERE EXPECTING A HIGHER
LEVEL OF QUALITY MATERIALS, BUT WE WERE
DISAPPOINTED TO FIND THAT THEY WERE ABOUT EQUAL TO
THE CHEVY'S."

equal to chevy? (gasp!) NO! ROTFLMFAO!

whatever will you do 2 years from now, when they say:
"as it's a toyota, we were expecting MUCH BETTER RELIABILITY, but we were disappointed to find that they were NO BETTER THAN ANY OF THE OTHER BIG-THREE TRUCKS."?

bco