Supercamper

[Desertdude]

Yes - Talk to Scott Born at Deaver, give him your weight and height requirements, he can then set up a custom spring pack for you. He was really able to set me up according to my needs on the Tacoma

scott@deaverspring.com

 

[p1michaud]

Talk to Scott!

Yes - Talk to Scott Born at Deaver, give him your weight and height requirements, he can then set up a custom spring pack for you. He was really able to set me up according to my needs on the Tacoma

scott@deaverspring.com

:iagree:

As Deserdude said, talk to Scott Born and he will take care of you. His contact info is:
Scott Born, Sales and Marketing Mgr., (714) 542-3703
e-mail was posted above.
Also tell him that you heard about Deaver Springs on Expedition Portal.

Cheers :beer:,
P

 

[Super Doody]

Does Deaver do the full custom thing like Alcan or do they just have a few different s to choose from? The Deavers for sale on Whelers Off Road, say that "there is a decrease in gross max weight handling capability over the stock leaf packs". Will they make packs for more weight? I know we're around 5300-5400 lbs fully loaded.

Thanks,
ryan

Those the 7 leafs deaver leaf pack. I have those. They dont handle weight very well because they were designed for tacoma that will carry just enough fuel and two spares for dez racing. They do ride awesome empty. I have them. Yes like others have said they do full custom springs. Its a family business and they having been making springs for a long long time. A lot of dez racing truck have deavers springs.

They can make anything you want them to do for ride heigh and weight capacity. Plus they are local and have very good customer service.

 

[SuperCamperos]

I've just been looking at the possibility of putting the camper on a 2005+ Tacoma if it came to that.

I noticed that the shock is now mounted on the outboard side of the frame making me think that the frame might not be any wider than on the 2004 and earlier tacomas, despite the 4" increase in track width. Anyone out there with a 2005+ Tacoma that could tell me the distance between frame rails (outside to outside)? This would tell me if the camper mounting would be interchangeable.

Secondly, I don't know if it would be worth it weight wise. Check out the specs for a 2004 vs 2007 xtra cab 4x4 V6 Tacoma...

http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/spec_engines.aspx?year=2004&make=Toyota&model=Tacoma&trimid=-1

http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/spec_engines.aspx?year=2007&make=Toyota&model=Tacoma&trimid=-1

How in the hell could Toyota increase the GVWR by 260 lbs, yet the payload is reduced by 190 lbs?

I really would like a new truck, with no miles, and a warranty, etc but the numbers aren't making sense to me. Can anyone give me some good reasons why an overly heavy camper would prefer a 2007? The wider wheel base would be nice for stability but 190 lbs is a lot of Tecates. I'm just not seeing it...

I'm gonna give Deavers a call as soon as I can rule out putting the camper on anything but a 2003-2004 tacoma.

Thanks for any input and all previous help...
Ryan

 

[Dave Bennett]

2005 frame width is 45 and 1/4 inches, rail to rail measured from the outside :ylsmoke:

 

[slooowr6]

Payload went down cause the truck got heavier. GVWR= truck weight + payload. I've a 06 Taco, I can go meause the frame tomorrow and report back.
The plus for going to a 05+ Taco is you get a 4.0 V6 with 268lbs torque. It's a brand new well design engine. But making you camper fit on there will be more complicated.

 

[SuperCamperos]

260 increase in GVWR and 190 decrease in payload = 450 lbs increase in vehicle weight. I just can't imagine taking a 2004 Tacoma and trying to add 450 lbs of steel to it without actually beefing up whatever is needed to increase the payload.

 

[slooowr6]

05+ Tacos look much bigger than 04 Tacos.
How much is your camper weight? I'm getting a camper weights at around 750lbs unloaded.

 

[SuperCamperos]

I don't know the exact weight breakdown of truck vs camper, but its somewhere around 1000 lbs including extra battery, refrigerator, compressor, mattress, etc. Just no clothes, food, and water. I'll get the real weight in a couple of days since I'm going to be taking the camper off the frame this weekend. I'll let you know...

 

[SuperCamperos]

Thanks for the info Tacodoc. Our 2004 taco frame (slightly bent) is 41" rail to rail. Wouldn't be an easy swap as my mounts would be coming up short. oh well...

 

[slooowr6]

I asked awhile ago about how much can a truck take above GVWR, there is no real hard and fast rule to determine that. One thing for sure is IF the truck get in to an accident AND it's cause by your truck overloaded. Insurance company may reject the claim and other leagal issue might show up as well. BUT, I have not heard a real first hand experience of this happen.
My 06 Tack 4 doors long bed with me and my wife (270lbs) and a full tank of gas, the truck weights a 4480lbs on a landfill scale.

 

[SuperCamperos]

overload springs necessary?

Hey Scott Brady or anyone else with a heavy truck and Deavers: I'm trying to piece my rig back together and get custom leaf springs. Scott Born at Deaver said my best bet would be to get new stock springs (since they are broken) and then take it to him to add leaves as req'd. He says keeping the over load spring on is the best way to go. Anyone know why this would be better? I thought the overload spring is there mainly to compensate for large load ranges, not just large loads. We're running between 5000-5400 lb all of the time.

What was the reasoning in not having an overload on your 6000 lb rig, scott? Was you 10 leaf off-the-shelf or was there some design discussions?

Also, I think I'm going to get the demello frame reinforcement and Rivet it on to minimize stress concentrations due to welding. 3/16 structural rivets can take 1000 lbs each in shear, so it shouldn't take too many (25 each side?). has anyone done this or used bolts?

I've looked through the archives and can't find out if the tacoma frame is heat treated. I believe that the detail parts are heat treated but the assembly is not heat treated as a whole. Therefore you get normalized (weaker) areas wherever its welded, plus a stress concentration going from lower strength to higher strength, which is bad in fatigue.

 

[p1michaud]

Leaf springs.

Hey Scott Brady or anyone else with a heavy truck and Deavers: I'm trying to piece my rig back together and get custom leaf springs. Scott Born at Deaver said my best bet would be to get new stock springs (since they are broken) and then take it to him to add leaves as req'd. He says keeping the over load spring on is the best way to go. Anyone know why this would be better? I thought the overload spring is there mainly to compensate for large load ranges, not just large loads. We're running between 5000-5400 lb all of the time.

What was the reasoning in not having an overload on your 6000 lb rig, scott? Was you 10 leaf off-the-shelf or was there some design discussions?

Also, I think I'm going to get the demello frame reinforcement and Rivet it on to minimize stress concentrations due to welding. 3/16 structural rivets can take 1000 lbs each in shear, so it shouldn't take too many (25 each side?). has anyone done this or used bolts?

I'm suprised to hear that he recommends using stock leaf pack and keeping your overload springs. I've gone through 2 sets of OEM leaf springs and my friend with a 99 Tacoma broke his OEM leaf springs. The OEM springs just plain suck IMO. I now have 9 leaf Deavers and they are great, but sag easily when loaded due to the overload springs being removed. Others have had their 9 leafs rebuilt to 10 or 11 leafs to handle the additional weight and seem to be happy with the results. I would suggest you go with a 10 or 11 custom leaf set up from Deaver. The price is going to similar to what you would pay for the OEM springs but you are going to have a much better product at the end of the day. Choosing the right shocks for your heavy load is also key to proper suspension performance. Scott and Chris can elaborate on this better than I can. If you search this board for "Tacoma Suspension" you should find some very useful discussions on Tacoma suspension upgrates.

As for the frame reinforcements, I'd have it professionally welded. The key is to keep your welds on the outer part of the 3/16 plate on the horizontal. Weld in all the holes but don't weld the ends of the plate (i.e. vertical weld). A good stitch weld (1" to 1.5" weld with same spacing in between) and sufficient time to cool between welds won't harm your frame. The key is to alternate between sides of the truck during welding this allows for proper cooling between welds. I have yet to hear of anyone bolting or riveting these on. It could be done.

Good luck with the repair and I would suggest that anything you have to replace take that opportunity to upgrade the component as well.
Cheer :beer:,
P

 

[Super Doody]

Hey Scott Brady or anyone else with a heavy truck and Deavers: I'm trying to piece my rig back together and get custom leaf springs. Scott Born at Deaver said my best bet would be to get new stock springs (since they are broken) and then take it to him to add leaves as req'd. He says keeping the over load spring on is the best way to go. Anyone know why this would be better? I thought the overload spring is there mainly to compensate for large load ranges, not just large loads. We're running between 5000-5400 lb all of the time.

What was the reasoning in not having an overload on your 6000 lb rig, scott? Was you 10 leaf off-the-shelf or was there some design discussions?

Also, I think I'm going to get the demello frame reinforcement and Rivet it on to minimize stress concentrations due to welding. 3/16 structural rivets can take 1000 lbs each in shear, so it shouldn't take too many (25 each side?). has anyone done this or used bolts?

I've looked through the archives and can't find out if the tacoma frame is heat treated. I believe that the detail parts are heat treated but the assembly is not heat treated as a whole. Therefore you get normalized (weaker) areas wherever its welded, plus a stress concentration going from lower strength to higher strength, which is bad in fatigue.

I'm kinda surprised at the stock springs and overload springs too but they are the experts. But one of the benefits of military wrap leaf pack is it helps to prevent/elimnate axle wrap. But I dont know if you experience axle wrap with the static heavy load.

If you do need to a replacement the stock leaf springs, I'm sure you can get some locally for cheap. If you want to pay for shipping from nor cal, I a set that only has 15K miles on them.

Interesting on idea on the rivets. Will they loosen over time?

Keep posting guys. There are a lot of resources here and on TTORA. Good luck.

 

[devinsixtyseven]

well, you guys got me curious...

fwiw the 05+ extended cab tacoma is the same size, within inches, of the 00-06 extended cab tundra...wheelbase, width, length and height it's almost exactly the same truck.

that seems to be about where the similarity ends. the 00-06 tundra is rated almost 400# more load capacity than the 05+ tacomas, despite a very similar configuration.

perhaps toyota was feeling wary and underrated the tacoma, or they may have overrated the tundra. the tundra's entire drivetrain, save the v8 engine, came from v6 toyotas, including the transmission (despite the different part numbers)...the tranny is from a supra, and everything else is from the tacomas (literally, the parts are drop-in except for minor details on the v8 tcase due to the minor differences in the two v6 transmissions used in the supra and tacoma).

the -04 tacomas are very stout overall. toyota was apparently confident enough with the running gear that they wholesaled it to the tundra, with a higher gvwr.

dunno what all that might mean to you, or if it helps, or if it just makes things muddier...but there's the facts, for whatever theyre worth.

-sean