Why no HD or SD

In the 80's pre Tacoma, Toyota offered a 3/4 ton option in their line of pickup trucks. These are the trucks that would become the Tacomas. Why don't they offer a true 3/4 ton HD option in their Tundras? They were able to do it their lighter framed trucks.

Most of the more serious builds around here are on F250 Superduty's, 2500HDs, etc.

Then maybe throw a Cummins in.

 

But when you look at 1500 lb capacity vs 2000 lb capacity, there is a difference.

 

They planned on making HD Tundras but then the economy crashed in 2008.
They were also rumored to put the 5.0 Cummins in the new Tundra, but that thing has turned out to be a big bag of crap

 

Based on how "many" Titan XDs are out there, Toyota made the right call

 

I've only seen two or three Titans in total around here, mainly Dodge, Ford, and Chevrolet/GM with a lot of Tacomas.

Being in a rural community where the number of trucks and SUVs is almost equal to the number of cars, there are a lot of 3/4 and 1 tons running around here. On my street alone, every house has at least one truck and one SUV with many having two trucks plus a car or an SUV with about half of the trucks being 3/4 ton. Almost all the 3/4 ton are diesel and I've seen a lot of Colorado's or maybe they're Canyon's with diesels lately.

Just curious why Toyota dropped the 3/4 tons when they had them in the 80's and if they planned on bringing them back in the future.

 

I think if you look at the 3/4 ton back in the 80s vs the 1/2 ton now they are about the same.

Half ton use to mean 1000lbs in trucks. Now days, it can be a lot more as its used to define a "class" vs a weight.

 

BTW, the Toyota engineer said any truck with torque numbers around 400 lb-ft could have done this.

https://jalopnik.com/5951454/how-a-5600-pound-toyota-towed-a-292000-pound-space-shuttle

 

I'm sure that's true but the Ford transmission would've been smoked or the doors would've fallen off....

 

True, but when I jump in the back of the Toyota and jump in the back of my F250, I can feel the difference.

Granted, anything too heavy to carry or tow with the Tundra I can take care of with another vehicle, but it just seems that in many regions of the country they may be missing an opportunity.

Ford is bringing back the Ranger because they finally realized they are missing a huge market that Toyota dominates with the Tacoma. I notice when I drive to the VA and get into urban areas, full size trucks decrease and Tacoma sized trucks increase proportionately.

GM figured out that there may be a market for a diesel in their midsize trucks. I see lots of farmers and ranchers abandoning their full size and going to the diesel midsize for towing equipment because of economy and torque of diesels. Of course, I remember the fiasco GM had when they started playing with diesels way back when so we'll see how well they implement this.

On our ranch, it's all full size 3/4 ton or larger so the Tundra is like a personal vehicle.

 

Hey, Ford transmissions were my project when I worked for Ford Corporate. Not really, I had the same email name as an engineer who worked in transmission development while I was in IT Security. His email name ended in a 2 and mine ended in a 1. They kept sending me emails asking transmission questions and I had no idea what they were talking about.

It would be nice if Toyota did upgrade the transmission from six speeds to be more in line with what others offered. Might help the performance and economy a bit. I think almost everyone else is using 10 speeds now.

 

To this point yes, it would be nice if they did offer an equivalent to the modern 3/4 and 1 ton.

But you you original post, in the 80s they offered a 3/4 ton, and they still do. They just call it a half ton.

And that 3/4 ton ford you got is more like a 1 and 3/4 ton truck (claimed).

Those numbers don't mean anything anymore. Just a class of truck really.

 

I would buy a proper 3/4-ton class Toyota truck if it existed. The T-250, Tundra 2500, Tundra HD or whatever it would end up being called. A true heavy duty option with comparable frame, suspension, and engine options as one of the big 3 heavy duty options in the 3/4 ton class. I just think Toyota feels they wouldn’t sell enough to make it worth the investment. And unfortunately, they’re probably right, as they usually are.

 

Toyota probably barely justifies the Tundra at this point, when its 10-15% the volume of Ford/GM. I think the only way for this to ever happen is if multiple government/fleet customers were clamoring for one, not us chumps on an enthusiast site.

 

I would buy a HD Toyota truck if they made it also, but at the current sales rate of the Tundra I doubt we will see one. Considering how well the Tacoma is selling and the San Antonio plant has been running at full capacity, there is not much room for Toyota to build another line of truck at that plant.

I'd be happy if the next gen Tundra has similar max capacity to the big 3 (2000-3000 payload and 12,000 towing). The current limiting factory of our trucks is the low payload rating, the truck can tow good but it seems to run out of payload capacity very quick.

 

Agreed.

I’d be just fine with that.

 

Spend a few days in Anchorage AK. You will be stunned by how many Tundras are up there in town and more Tacos than Mexico!!!! Of course there are plenty of Big 3 HDs but I never saw such a large concentration of Tundras and Tacos anywhere. Same with the F-22s..haha

 

There are huge profits in selling full size trucks. Even for Toyota. Tundra production is at capacity. Toyota has never been too big on fixing something that's not broke. Very slow to change. By the way...the Tundra 10.5" rear gears where the largest in class in 2007. Much larger than non HD big 3 gassers.