*Rickashay's 04' Tundra* - A build of Compromises

[theBullfrog125]

Spring steel is special heat treated stuff. It doesn't even compare to off the shelf steel from Home Depot in cost.

 

[OutOfBounds]

Out of curioisty, what kind of range do you get from a tank of fuel in your truck running the bigger tires, with the RTT and other gear all loaded on there?

I ask because I barely get 500kms to a tank (to the point where the fuel light comes on) with my stock 2005 dc Tundra just driving around town on pavement. I average between 16 - 17 liters per hundred kms of in town driving which has proven fairly similar to the 2 off road trips I've done in the truck since buying it. For backcountry trips, I find myself thinking I'll need to bring at least 40L of spare fuel along to get a more reasonable range. As such, I'm hesitating adding heavier mods like a canopy and/or RTT.

Is my truck drinking more fuel than usual or is it typical for 1st gen tundras?

 

[soonenough]

Spring steel is special heat treated stuff. It doesn't even compare to off the shelf steel from Home Depot in cost.

Not only that but the leaves have to be drilled/punched for hardware, have to be formed to put the arch into them, the ends have to be wrapped to accept bushings, then you've got to install the hardware that holds the individual leaves together... I would imagine there's a lot more labor and mfg time involved. If you've ever seen a spring coiling machine run, they crank those springs out rapidly once they're set up, and the process is almost fully automated with a less labor.

 

[wrenchMonkey_]

Out of curioisty, what kind of range do you get from a tank of fuel in your truck running the bigger tires, with the RTT and other gear all loaded on there?

I ask because I barely get 500kms to a tank (to the point where the fuel light comes on) with my stock 2005 dc Tundra just driving around town on pavement. I average between 16 - 17 liters per hundred kms of in town driving which has proven fairly similar to the 2 off road trips I've done in the truck since buying it. For backcountry trips, I find myself thinking I'll need to bring at least 40L of spare fuel along to get a more reasonable range. As such, I'm hesitating adding heavier mods like a canopy and/or RTT.

Is my truck drinking more fuel than usual or is it typical for 1st gen tundras?

I am sure Addison will chime in soon. I'll throw in my 2 cents.

I have a 2006 Tundra DC, build link in signature. Probably putting in similar gas as I am in AB aswell. I get about 450 KM indicated till I start getting near E. I am running 275/70-17, which is 5.2% bigger than stock, my corrected ODO reading would be 474.4, give or take, and that is mostly city driving.

The tank size is 100L and the light comes on, IIRC, around 90. I fill up near E and put in 80-85L, still having 15ish L left, about 100KM, give or take. When I go out in the truck I'll bring 40L in two 20L Scepter NATO gas cans. Always. General rule of thumb on the trail. 1/3 in, 1/3 out, 1/3 fudge factor. In the winter, I'll throw a 20L in the back for those what if scenarios.

These trucks are pretty piggly on gas. You can clean the MAF, the TB, change the plugs, check tire pressure to help with that, but it will never be that great. That being said, when I go camping with 2 dogs, the girl, 400 lbs of crap in the bed, I am happy to have the V8 for those long drives to get places.

 

[AaronK]

Way more material (steel) goes into making a leaf pack that a coil. If you have ever bought steel to do any fabricating you can instantly imagine that a lot of that cost will be tied up in materials. Then you have the assembling and manufacturing process (which I assume isn't too difficult) but I would expect
the majority comes from the materials themselves.

Good point. Hadn't considered the amount of material

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[OutOfBounds]

I am sure Addison will chime in soon. I'll throw in my 2 cents.

I have a 2006 Tundra DC, build link in signature. Probably putting in similar gas as I am in AB aswell. I get about 450 KM indicated till I start getting near E. I am running 275/70-17, which is 5.2% bigger than stock, my corrected ODO reading would be 474.4, give or take, and that is mostly city driving.

The tank size is 100L and the light comes on, IIRC, around 90. I fill up near E and put in 80-85L, still having 15ish L left, about 100KM, give or take. When I go out in the truck I'll bring 40L in two 20L Scepter NATO gas cans. Always. General rule of thumb on the trail. 1/3 in, 1/3 out, 1/3 fudge factor. In the winter, I'll throw a 20L in the back for those what if scenarios.

These trucks are pretty piggly on gas. You can clean the MAF, the TB, change the plugs, check tire pressure to help with that, but it will never be that great. That being said, when I go camping with 2 dogs, the girl, 400 lbs of crap in the bed, I am happy to have the V8 for those long drives to get places.

Great info, thanks! Glad to hear that I'm no experiencing anything out of the ordinary. It's a bit of a change for me as my last truck was a 2013 F150 with a 5.0L V8 and 130L fuel tank. I could squeeze 900kms out of a tank on the highway if I kept my foot out of it and averaged 650+kms to a tank of in town driving.

I run Costco regular gas for the most part. Is there any point to running premium fuel in these trucks or is that just a waste of money?

 

[theBullfrog125]

I don't think there is really much of an advantage to running premium fuel overy regular on these trucks. They aren't high compression engines needing the extra octane for detonation resistance.
Not sure about the 4.7, but with my 3.4 I run premium because I get slight pinging with my high flow air filter and intake silencer delete with regular fuel. But I'm at 500 ft elevation so others may have different results at different altitudes.

 

[Climbermac]

Notable difference in consumption and performance with my 4.7 operating at 7000ft elevation most of the time and regular runs up to 10,000ft.

YMMV

 

[rickashay]

UPDATE

I haven't been too active on the forums lately. Super busy with life and then filming and working for Tamarack (follow us @tamarackmediaco on IG) in my "spare" time. However, "Colossal 2016" is just around the corner so this past week #Doug has seen some love. Went and picked up a box of part from Montana Shipping outlet last weekend, which included a 3rd Baja Designs XL-Pro and the prototype Deaver G57 + 500lbs that I will be testing. Got back to Calgary and put some little shoes on the truck so I could tuck it back in the garage and have a place to work for the week:

Sorry, photo taken with a potatoe:


IMG_20160918_154245 by Addison Rickaby, on Flickr

Deavers:

IMG_20160919_191629 by Addison Rickaby, on Flickr

While prepping the truck and getting it up on stands, I noticed that my one of my OEM bumpstops had vanished. Headed over to The Gear Shop and was lucky to find a set of 2nd Gen Tacoma Timbrens in stock. Yes please.

Here is all the new hardware installed and fully drooped out:

IMG_7753.jpg by Addison Rickaby, on Flickr


IMG_7754.jpg by Addison Rickaby, on Flickr

Timbrens w/ the included U-Bolt flip:

IMG_7755.jpg by Addison Rickaby, on Flickr

Had to bump the shackle to the rear mounting hole to get a decent angle at ride height. Here is a pick of the new shackle angle with the Deavers, at static ride height:

IMG_7762.jpg by Addison Rickaby, on Flickr

I took a lot of measurements to see how this setup compares with my OEM leafs and 3-Leaf Progressive AAL. My initial impressions are that the rear suspension finally feels like it can keep up to the front. The ride is way smoother and not as choppy. The Deavers having a proper spring rate really shows so far, and thats just on the street. I even hit the bumpstops a couple times ripping around the city and I can't believe how much smoother the Timbrens are. It's a modification that I always thought I could live without, but now that I have it, I would never go back. Can't wait to test it all offroad next weekend. My only quam right now is the ride height. I was expecting to be within 1/2" of where I was with my previous pack. However I am about 1.25" lower with the Deavers. This being a prototype pack though, I'll be interested what the guys at Deaver say when I ring them this week.

In the name of data:

Screen Shot 2016-09-25 at 10.15.07 PM by Addison Rickaby, on Flickr

Got the XL Pro installed tonight as well as one of their rock lights that I mounted under the tent cage to light up the cargo area at night. I'll grab some pics of everything in the next couple days when I have some daylight.

Stay tuned for Colossal 2016 as we will be doing a short video of the outing through Tamarack. Can't wait to share it with you all!

 

[WillBeck]

I have J59's on my Tacoma and love them. A good leaf pack does amazing things for the back end of any truck. Even running Kings up front, my rear is far more capable at speed than my front.

 

[WillBeck]

Excited to see your spring testing. I'll be interested to see their price point. $800 for ALCAN springs is a little more than I want to spend. Actually a lot more. Probably gonna do wheelers progressive aal for now.

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Deavers are generally about $750-$900 depending on application.

 

[toyotech]

Surprised for such a small lift wok deaver. What was it rated for as far as lift besides the extra load/spring rate.


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[spazstic]

Stoked about the shackle flip kit. I looked into making one a few years ago but the frame taper stopped me. Going to have to put this on the to-do list - all spent for the time being. Right now putting in an ARB locker in the front, 4.88s, and bypasses on the front.

 

[rickashay]

Not my truck, but a cool project I've been working on lately. Check out The Gear Shop in Calgary if you have a chance, they build some wicked rigs and cars!

[video=vimeo;184440075]https://vimeo.com/184440075[/video]

And a Hellcat we just shot for a local Dodge dealership. This thing is ************!

[video=vimeo;184439824]https://vimeo.com/184439824[/video]

 

[smokeysevin]

Are the leaves custom or are they something off the shelf like the g57's I have? I need to get another leaf or 2 added to mine.

Sean