Heavy load

Hi Everyone,

Have a 2002 Tundra. Live off grid and have to haul water. Usually hauling about 1750 to 2000 lbs. Suspension not liking it. Any remedies that do not cost a fortune? Thanks in advance and take care.

Willie

 

RAS if it's available, or maybe air bags. I think a dedicated trailer would be best though.

 

That's way too much weight. A trailer is your best bet. Hauling it in the bed will be causing serious wear, and that's the best case. You may be doing damage overloading like that. It's not the suspension I'd worry about, but the frame.

 

And axles. And bearings. You’ll probably be fine at those weights for shorter trips though. Your only 500-700# over payload. Still close to RAWR.

 

I would 100% recommend a trailer. To haul 2000lbs you would need a 3/4 or one ton truck to do it safely. To get a trailer that will haul that much water would be cheap, hell, you could go bigger and haul more water, less times.

 

I vote trailer also. And I’m not sayin, I’m just sayin. 1 yard of soil is around 2k#

 

I can totally identify! I grew up in a rural area and we had a VERY low gallon per hour well pump. I was in grade school at the time, but my parents would load up our 1978 F250 4x4 completely with empty 55 gallon drums and drive down the hill in order to fill up the drums full of potable water. Lots of the time my parents would let me drive since we had to go so slow to keep all the water from sloshing out of the drums.

2000 lbs is definitely overloaded, but at the same time, i’m not going to judge you one bit. As long as you’re not slamming around with that much weight in the bed, the frame should be fine…as long as you have a 100% free frame. Firestone airbags aren’t nearly as affordable as they used to be, but if you install them, they will level out your truck. Don’t ever use overdrive when hauling that much weight so that your transmission lasts longer. Obviously a trailer would be a better idea. A full on water tank trailer would be the best (we switched to one of those at a later point). E load tires would also benefit you.

For the past couple years i’ve been using my little 2004 Tundra as my 1 ton truck (my old 71 F250 flatbed is currently under the knife getting a Cummins swap). I’ve been hauling waaay too heavy load of firewood in the tundra. So far so good, but it definitely isn’t good for it.

 

^^I had a lot more to say, so I'll simplify to just damaging.