Archive for December, 2008
Toyota Continues to Tease Diesel Tundra Enthusiasts
Update: Read the complete story of the diesel Tundra
Here’s what our sources at Toyota have told us the last couple of years…
“Toyota’s going to build a couple of diesel Tundra’s, and one of them will be a real live heavy-duty monster. Count on it – 3 years after launch tops.”
“No – wait – we’re not going to build a HD diesel right now, only the light-duty diesel. The big diesel and the HD Tundra will be delayed until this whole truck market bounces back.”
“Uh, we decided to go ahead and back off the light-duty diesel too. We’re not sure that with fuel prices being the way they are that blah, blah, blah.”
In case you were wondering, this is an editorialized version of Toyota’s steady backslide on their commitment to build a diesel version of the Tundra. While Toyota is certainly entitled to change their mind about building a diesel Tundra (despite promises made to Toyota dealers to the contrary), what doesn’t make sense – what irritates the hell out of us, actually – is that Toyota continues to trot out the one-of-a-kind Tundra Diesel Dually that premiered at SEMA last year.
Visit Jalopnik.com to see their comments on this truck.
What’s the deal Toyota? You haven’t stomped on our hopes enough? Why keep showing us a truck you’re not going to build for at least another 5 years (if ever)?
Popularity: 10%
Toyota and The American Auto Worker
If you’re a patriotic American and you drive a Toyota, you know first-hand the number of people that attempt to draw a distinction between “being a true patriot” and “driving a foreign car.” With the Tundra, the loyalties of Ford, Dodge, and GM owners are especially pronounced. It’s quite common to speak with someone who owns or drives a domestic brand and here a comment – whether a simple tease or an out-right insult – about the lineage of the Tundra.
To anyone who doubts the “American” credentials of the Tundra, or Toyota in general, we point to the following:
Popularity: 1%
Leveling Out A Heavy Load – Air Bag Suspensions
Heavy duty suspension systems are a key component of being able to tow large trailers or haul massive amounts of cargo safely and with full control. Springs which are designed to facilitate this kind of driving while fully loaded are able to maintain their height under the mass of whatever is being moved. This keeps a truck level and helps the entire suspension system perform at its best without sacrificing any control while cornering or braking. Unfortunately, in order to exhibit this characteristic, heavy springs must be extremely stiff, which makes the vehicle subject to a harsher, bouncier ride when not under load.
From left to right, a visual explanation of the benefits of an air-lift suspension system.
Air springs have been used in place of coil and leaf springs for decades
Popularity: 4%
Tundra Headquarters Blog Goals For 2009
The Tundra Headquarters website has grown by leaps and bounds during the last 2 years or so, and we now enjoy more than 20k visitors a month! While this is very exciting, the fact is many Toyota Tundra owners have never even heard of us! Here’s what we’re going to do to become more popular in 2009:
- Reach out to more Tundra owners. People really seem to enjoy our ‘Featured Vehicles’ segments, and we’re going to work on boosting the number of trucks we write about.
- Boost the number of RSS and email subscribers to 500. We’ve worked on posting on a regular basis (every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) and we’re starting to get pretty darn consistent. The next step is to increase the number of people that read our site regularly, even if it’s just from their inbox or RSS reader.
- Develop more useful resources for Tundra owners. It’s hard with all the other stuff that we’ve been doing, but it’s important to keep giving Tundra owners useful info, how-to videos, reviews, exhaust sound clips, and more.
- Ask for more reader input. We’ve done a couple of surveys and gotten some really good info and feedback on ways to improve the site, but this is an ongoing process. So, if you’ve got suggestions for making TundraHeadquarters.com better, we’d love to hear them.
P.S. You won’t hurt our feelings – let the comments fly!
Popularity: 2%
ARB Sahara Bumper and Bull Bar for the Toyota Tundra
ARB announced a new “modular” Sahara bumper bull-bar combo unit for the 2007-and-up Toyota Tundra just after Thanksgiving, and we completely missed the announcement (until now). ARB, for anyone who doesn’t know, is an Australian company with a (deserved) reputation for building top-quality off road gear. They’re especially well-known for their solid steel winch bumpers that offer a great mounting surface for a winch, Hi-Lift jacking points, and enough steel to blast thru almost any obstacle.
The new Sahara bar offers a chrome hoop top bar that installs above the bumper. The idea is that the grill and hood (and the radiator underneath) aren’t quite protected by the solid steel bumper, so adding the hoop bar is a way to protect some more of the truck’s vitals. Of course the hoop bar looks pretty good, so that’s another reason to consider it.
The Sahara Bar from ARB is now available on the 2007 and up Toyota Tundra. You can find them at 4WheelParts.com.
Popularity: 8%
