Dirt Every Day Takes 2015 Toyota Tundra TRD PRO on Epic 3500 Mile Adventure
Tim Esterdahl | Jul 08, 2015 | Comments 3
Fred Williams and his team over at Dirt Every Day got a really cool opportunity to take a 2015 Toyota Tundra TRD PRO on an epic 3,500 mile road trip from border to border. The Tundra TRD PRO showed off its abilities as Williams drove it on pavement, sand dunes and everything in between.
Throughout the trip, Williams encounters this various terrain all while in the stock Tundra. The truck’s suspension is lauded throughout the video and Williams seems generally impressed by its capability.
After watching the video a couple of times, a few things stand out for us:
Plant Capacity
Toyota team member, Jay J, says they build around 1k trucks a day at the San Antonio, Texas plant. This caught our attention since Toyota has long said they are “at capacity,” yet we have never received a true maximum production number. Doing the math, in June 2015, there were 22 working days (not counting Saturday overtime shifts). Our math says that if there are 22 working days and 1,000 trucks are built a day, then capacity is 22,000 trucks. For reference, combined sales in June 2015 were 25,885.
E-Locker Anyone?
About half-way through the video, three different drivers take a stab at Devil’s Revenge in Moab, Utah. While Williams and Andy Bell (he co-drove the winning Baja Tundra truck) are experienced drivers, Ian (regular guy who won contest winner) wasn’t billed as a professional. Nor did Ian face that obstacle before. Yet, all three traversed the obstacle with no problems. This brought up an interesting question for us: do you really need an E-Locker?
Many times on this site we have debated the usefulness and need of an E-Locker. In our minds, this video downplays that need. Why? If the stock Tundra can scale that obstacle (remember the TRD PRO just has better suspension and shocks), then we don’t see a big need on the off-road side of things since besides the obstacle Williams did just fine on sand and back-country trails.
What do you think? What stood out for you?
Filed Under: Tundra Videos
What stood out for me: They finally found Big Foot’s cousin – the Pink Gorilla.
Jay J: I believe he said 1k trucks a day and Fred Williams confirmed the same? With about 280 working days per year that would be 280,000 trucks per year. Some days are possibly 1,100 per day and other days 800 per day. There are a lot of variables there. I think most others that try to calculate the annual production of San Antonio come up with about 240,000. One of the difficulty’s is knowing the production levels at the Baja plant and how many Tacoma’s there are made for the USA vs. other countries. Again more variables.
E-Lockers: I have witnessed personally several times the basic TRD with the same wheels and tires transverse and “easily” climb steep hills covered in solid ice that the best from the other half tons cannot conquer and that includes those with E-Lockers. The advanced electronics that Tundra’s has for the A-Trac system is not matched by any other truck maker.
Randy,
You are correct on the number built each day. I re-watched the video again and noticed he said 1k between both shifts. Originally, I heard 1k on each shift. I amended the story.
Good catch!
-Tim
The places that one would need a locker probably wouldn’t physically fit a Tundra anyway. That’s probably why Toyota put lockers on Tacomas but not Tundras.