Tundra's Non-Boxed Frame?

[bluenote]

Hi, A newbie here. I'm looking to buy a used Tundra and then look for a used Four Wheel Hawk. A friend mentioned to me the fact that the Tundra has a non-boxed frame and I should be concerned with the stress driving off road with a camper. Should I be concerned? Are there mods to compensate for the frame weakness?
Thanks in advance.

 

[DirtyDog]

We had a member here who was local to me that had an ATC camper on the previous generation Tundra. He claimed that he was getting bad wobble due to the flexible Tundra frame. He traded the truck in for a newer Tundra and said that while it was better, the frame was still more flexible than he would have liked.

BUT!

Lots of guys here use Tundras and they like them just fine. So I can't say what the final conclusion on the issue is.

 

[billharr]

Hi, A newbie here. I'm looking to buy a used Tundra and then look for a used Four Wheel Hawk. A friend mentioned to me the fact that the Tundra has a non-boxed frame and I should be concerned with the stress driving off road with a camper. Should I be concerned? Are there mods to compensate for the frame weakness?
Thanks in advance.


I have not noticed any flex that I can feel. 2005 Tundra and a 2002 Hawk

My Tundra working off road.

 

[SunMan]

I've been carrying a Hawk on my 2006 Tundra for the better part of three years and have logged a lot of pretty rough offroad miles with no issues. Fingers crossed for another three years of abuse!

 

[leadsled9]

When I had my Hawk on a 2000 Tundra....I never noticed any issues with frame flex.

 

[bluenote]

Thanks for all the info. I guess everything is a trade off in some way. I want to go with the Tundra and I don't think the frame will stop me.

 

[brett13]

Hi, A newbie here. I'm looking to buy a used Tundra and then look for a used Four Wheel Hawk. A friend mentioned to me the fact that the Tundra has a non-boxed frame and I should be concerned with the stress driving off road with a camper. Should I be concerned? Are there mods to compensate for the frame weakness?
Thanks in advance.

First, flexible does NOT equal weak. I did my homework on this and everyone here can tell you: rigid is not necessarily strong. You have metallurgy to consider, shape, stress points and why the engineers designed in a slightly less rigid frame. Toyota engineers are not morons, they designed the new Tundra to be a "real truck" and not a "7/8ths" truck. They wanted it to tow and haul. Do you think they'd send out a truck, given their reputation with the Tacoma, with a "weak" and incapable frame? They designed the flex into the truck.

Second, on 07 and later models, the frame is partially boxed, partially double-c channel and partially open c. The frame is designed mostly for towing, but it carries weight just fine. I have a 2007 Tundra and can tell you that it doesn't know the camper is there even when offroading. It does flex a little, but I've never had another PU, so I can't tell if it is more or less than other trucks, but it isn't enough to worry me.

Third, if you try to "reiforce" a frame you might cause more problems because in effect you transfer stress points to other places. Engineers design frames a certain way for a reason. FYI, the Sequoia is based on the Tundra platform and while it certainly doesn't need more hauling capacity, they box the same frame. So, Toyota felt the need to make the frame more "stiff" for the Sequoia, but not "stronger" in the workhorse Tundra when the factory was set up to do it anyway! That ought to tell you something about the inherent strength of the frame.

Fourth, if you plan to *seriously* overload a stated payload capacity, then get a 3/4 ton, period. Half tons stated payloads are conservative (see someone on here with a Grandby on an F-150, campers on Tacomas and Durangos; on TundraSolutions.com, someone had a full 2500# camper package on a regular Tundra for a jaunt around the country without problems; and Les on this forum probably had a Tacoma overloaded by 1000lbs without frame issues!), but if you are worried, get a bigger truck.

You should be more worried about passenger rated tires!

 

[Stan@FourWheel]

Hey bluenote

I don't think you have anything to worry about.

We have put hundreds & hundreds of campers on the Tundra trucks over the past 10 years.

YES, the truck frame has more flex, but it is OK.

Some people notice the flex it with the camper on, and some don't seem to notice at all.

We have a 2001 Tundra access cab here at our factory with approx. 160,000 "HARD" miles on it.

We have over loaded it and pushed it to its' limits many times.

We just can't seem to kill it, laughs.

As long as you get some good tires for the truck and do a rear suspension upgrade, the truck should handle a small pop-up camper just fine.

I have never hear of any frame problems due to the camper, off road use, or too much flex.

The Toyota trucks are built pretty tough for what they are.

Hope this helps.

Happy Camping !




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Hi, A newbie here. I'm looking to buy a used Tundra and then look for a used Four Wheel Hawk. A friend mentioned to me the fact that the Tundra has a non-boxed frame and I should be concerned with the stress driving off road with a camper. Should I be concerned? Are there mods to compensate for the frame weakness?
Thanks in advance.




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[EdoHart]

I think Brett summed it up very well. Let me just add that most heavy duty trucks, including Over-The-Road tractor/trailer rigs have open "C" channel frames. The flexibility of the frame is part of the design of the overall suspension of the truck. Boxed does not neccessarily mean better, nor worse, than "C" channel.

 

[bluenote]

Stan@FWC, Thanks for the reply. I feel better about the Tundra now. I cannot afford a new generation Tundra, so I'm looking at '02 - '05.
What rear suspension mods would you guys suggest?

 

[highz]

What rear suspension mods would you guys suggest?


Bluenote, methinks you may have opened a can of worms with this question.

Near the top of the page, search on "air bags".

Many like air bags, many like Superspring or "add-a-leaf" solutions. The first question to ask is whether or not the camper will stay on the truck most of the time, or if it will stay at home except for camping trips.

 

[DirtyDog]

 

[Cort]

What does that have to do with frame strength? Looks like they were demonstrating frame flexibility to me! Until you break it you can't say anything about strength just flexibility.

Cort

 

[brett13]

DD, go to tundrasolutions.com and search. There are over 2000 pages of discussion and debunking of those types of videos. Not to mention that in one video, Ford put both trucks on a closed test course with speed bumps spaced out then filmed both trucks going through it at the same speed. Needless to say, they chose a speed and bump space combination that made the Tundra look horrible while the Ford looked great. Of course they specifically chose a rate where the natural resonance and vibration would do that. One could easily have done it the other way. Don't fall for such flag-waving propaganda by any manufacturer.

 

[Lighthawk]

RE: Rear suspension upgrades

I've just added ride-rite air bags to 06 Tundra and they helped quite a bit.
I went an extra step and added Helweg anti-sway bar too.
My other culprit to sway was sidewall flex in the passenger tires the dealer stuck me with I bit the bullet and put on BFG A/T tires and pumped them up to 75#, which made it ride a bit stiff, but with camper, just about right.

Now I've got a tire pressure alert on my dash. Just pushed the 'reset' button under the steering wheel, but so far still getting the flashing alert. Bummer. Nothing like driving in the middle of nowhere with a d@mn alert on your dash! I checked my spare and it's only rated to 42# of air, so I wonder if the 'puter is comparing my spare to my BFG's??

Andy



Stan@FWC, Thanks for the reply. I feel better about the Tundra now. I cannot afford a new generation Tundra, so I'm looking at '02 - '05.
What rear suspension mods would you guys suggest?

 

[wanderer]

I will start this by saying that I do NOT own a F@#& and will not in the future, but this video would make me think twice about a 2007-now Tundra. I have had Toyota cars and they were great but....

 

[Cort]

I will start this by saying that I do NOT own a F@#& and will not in the future, but this video would make me think twice about a 2007-now Tundra. I have had Toyota cars and they were great but....

Hey Wanderer,

I have some land I think you might be interested in. Just send a check for $500,000 thousand and I will transfer the title.

 

[DirtyDog]

DD, go to tundrasolutions.com and search. There are over 2000 pages of discussion and debunking of those types of videos. Not to mention that in one video, Ford put both trucks on a closed test course with speed bumps spaced out then filmed both trucks going through it at the same speed. Needless to say, they chose a speed and bump space combination that made the Tundra look horrible while the Ford looked great. Of course they specifically chose a rate where the natural resonance and vibration would do that. One could easily have done it the other way. Don't fall for such flag-waving propaganda by any manufacturer.


I was only posting that for information I haven't fallen for anything. But it does relate to the local guy who did have a lot of issues with his 2 Tundras with a camper. Maybe its just that guys perception of the situation, I dunno.

 

[bluenote]

Well, I bought a 2002 Tundra FWD TRD Access Cab and pick it up tomorrow. Now I have to save some money (again) as I look for that perfect, great deal on a used Hawk.
Thanks for all the input and I'll see you around the neighborhood!
PS- I think those Ford You Tube clips are a bit of the old slight of hand, video style.

 

[brett13]

I was only posting that for information I haven't fallen for anything. But it does relate to the local guy who did have a lot of issues with his 2 Tundras with a camper. Maybe its just that guys perception of the situation, I dunno.

I spoke to that guy (I think we're thinking of the same one) as I was just ordering my bobcat at the time. Then I spoke to Ben about him. He didn't know much and it should be mentioned he had a 2nd gen Tundra with the doublecab, which is the longest frame they made in the 2nd gen and not one of the original designs. Ben said it was "a little weird" but never saw that problem with any other Tundra. Brand bashing (not that you were) gets my hackles up when it comes to false and misleading propaganda.