Ask TundraHQ: How Much Camper Weight Can My Truck Handle?

We regularly receive questions from readers via our contact form – here’s one that comes up quite a bit about in-bed truck campers and payload ratings.

I have a Toyota Tundra DoubleCab and I’m thinking about buying a 1,482lbs slide-in camper. My question is, What is safest weight I can haul in the bed of my Truck?

Here’s how to calculate your truck’s actual payload rating: Read more…

Falken Tire Toyota Tundra – Big Blue

This year’s SEMA show was crawling with interesting items. We got some great video and interviews, did some quick demonstrations of a variety of parts, and of course we found a lot of cool Tundras.

That's a Kawasaki KX250F and a Kawasaki KX450F in the back.

Click any of the photos in this article to see a larger image

However, this 2011 5.7 Tundra 4×4 from Falken Tire is the only Tundra we saw with a genuine solid front axle. Check it out: Read more…

2011 Dodge Ram Diesel Coming?

Allpar.com, a long-time Chrysler enthusiast website, has reported that Ram dealers are seeing order codes for a 2011 5.0L diesel and a two-mode hybrid transmission in their vehicle ordering system. This is intriguing news considering all the vehicle updates and redesigns we’ve seen out of Chrysler since the Fiat takeover. While the hybrid transmission is probably a red herring – GreenCarReports does a good job of explaining why – the diesel Ram 1500 seems feasible.

Ram dealers are seeing order codes for a 5.0L diesel engine on the 2011 Ram 1500 - could that be proof that a Ram 1500 diesel is coming?

Despite a near-collapse in the North American truck market in 2008, a government bailout in 2009, and stringent new fuel economy rules in 2010, the diesel Ram 1500 has never officially been killed. Instead, Ram has been coy – they’ve never said that the diesel 1500 Ram was off the table, but they’ve never committed to anything either.

Allpar’s news – combined with numerous other pieces of evidence – could be proof that Ram will release a diesel 1500 Ram in 2011. But before we start lobbying Toyota to make a diesel Tundra in 2012, let’s walk through this whole thing. Read more…

Mandatory Backup Cameras by 2014?

According to NHTSA, 18,000 people are injured each year and 300 are killed because of “backovers” – situations where people back their vehicles into obstacles, cars, bicyclists, or pedestrians. This is a startling statistic to be sure – it’s hard to imagine how this can happen so often – but if you think about it the number (sadly) makes sense.

How many times in your life have you jumped out of the way of a vehicle in reverse while walking through the parking lot at your local mall? How many of us have backed into an unseen obstacle? How many friends or neighbors have had close calls with pets or children behind their vehicle? If you think about the number of people backing their vehicle up every day, it’s easy to see how the injuries could add up.

The question is, should automakers be required to include a backup camera on every new vehicle in order to try and prevent these accidents from happening? Read more…

Three Reasons to Install Satellite Radio In Your Pickup

Satellite radio has emerged from its troubled financial status of just a few years ago to finally post solid quarterly gains in both revenue and subscribers. The high cost of acquiring subscribers combined with actually launching and maintaining a network of satellites broadcasting digital music from space took their toll on America’s only two satellite radio players – XM and Sirius – forcing them to merge in 2008 into the entity known as Sirius XM radio. The company broadcasts over 150 channels of music, news, talk and sports to subscribers who have added the service to their homes or vehicles.

Full disclosure:  I am a former long-time XM subscriber who had multiple accounts with the service. I ended my subscription after the merger due to the fact that the Sirius XM channel list was largely homogenized and removed many of the stations that I had enjoyed listening to, particularly those that focused on non-mainstream genres such as electronic music.

That being said – satellite radio does have a lot to offer listeners who don’t mind the fact that some of its more eclectic content is missing in action. Let’s take a look at three reasons to install satellite radio in your Toyota Tundra: Read more…