Tundra or Ram 1500?

[Coldfusion]

Ram


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[robkelly]

If I ever go back to a 1/2T there is no doubt in my mind it will be a Tundra. It was a great truck and towed our WH with ease. I was in all of the big 3 before settling on the RAM, and IMHO the interior quality/comfort was better than any of them. If Toyota ever comes out with an HD with sufficient capacities to handle our rig I'll likely go back to them.

[grampacc]

have owned four toyota products, all very reliable, trouble free. current 2013 tundra pulls our white hawk 24rbs with ease. would purchase another toyota in a heart beat. good luck with your choice.

[Racinforthefinish]

I can't help with the Ram but I like my Toyota. I was a Ford man until the last F250 I bought. It got 10 mpg empty and about 5-6 pulling a small utility trailer,it had the 5.4 Triton engine. At 45,000 miles I had to replace the spark plugs and wires just to keep it running. At 50,000 miles I traded it for a Tundra, 5.7 engine . I drove this one for 111,000 miles without doing anything but regular oil changes. Traded it for the one I have now and I have 55,000 trouble free miles on it. It pulls my 27 foot trailer with ease and will average 10 while towing, 14 town, 16-18 highway.

[spoon059]

I had a 2010 Tundra with the 5.7 engine and LOVED it. At your lower weights, the Tundra or the Ram would both be great options. You just need to be aware that they have low payload ratings, so you don't want to be hauling too much stuff in the bed of the truck, load it in the camper.

The Tundra created a TON of power and the transmission was smooth and seamless. The Tundra allows you to easily downshift the trans to use compression braking to help slow you down too. Fuel mileage towing my 22' 6500 lbs camper was around 10-11 mpg, towing at about 65-68 mph.

Oh yea, I bought the Rock Warrior package Tundra, which included factory E rated BF Goodrich tires. Those E rated tires sure helped the truck feel planted. I also bought the TRD Swaybar, which probably helped the towing manners as well. I paid $30,500 for it brand new (some options, but not a ton) in February of 2010.

[RPreeb]

Originally Posted by Bigdomino

Thank you all for your helpful comments and suggestions.

I am wondering if air bags in the rear of a truck would help with the payload constraints? I am assuming just helps with leveling and no more?

I saw a video where these truck guys tested different trucks pulling a heavy load up the highway (7% grade) in Colorado. It seemed the Trunda was pretty load. You Tubdra guys experience this? The truck was optioned more for off road.

Steve

Just FYI, air bags don't change your cargo ratings. Just as a WDH doesn't change the overall gross weight or towing capacity.

[tomnjo]

Originally Posted by RPreeb

Just FYI, air bags don't change your cargo ratings. Just as a WDH doesn't change the overall gross weight or towing capacity.

Very good points. My Ram is rated to 8500 but anything over 5K requires the WDH. 8500 is still the max.

[Bsikes]

We haven't had any problems with our Tundra Crew Max towing our 8500# 33BHBS.

My Tundra max is 10,000 towing.

[JFlightRisk]

I've always been a GM guy, until my first Tundra. A 2004 DBL cab 4.7 v8. After 150,000 trouble free miles, and an upgrade to a TT, the 5.7 v8 was a necessity for the long uphill grades, and pulling the wind. Love the looks of the Fords and Dodges, and I'm sure any are very capable to do the job. I guess I'm just biased from the dependability standpoint of our 'Yotas. The DW was a diehard Ford fan, and she got a new RAV4 in '08. Good luck on your quest

[blderman]

My dad has a 2012 Tundra Access cab long bed 4x4. Toes great, very reliable and quiet. BUT, he gets 6mpg towing his 24' trailer. He had an aftermarket 50gal tank put on just so he could make 300 miles without stopping. He loves his truck but wishes he would have bought a diesel instead.




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[mini4mw]

I have a 2013 Tundra 4x4 Crew Cab. One of the main reasons I picked it up over the others was reliability and back seat leg room. Fits 5 comfortably on long trips. Pulling 2015 26BHS, ~ 7000lbs loaded. Pulled through mountains with no trouble. Main complaint as someone else mentioned is tank size. Bout 6-7 mpg going 65 or 150 miles. I've looked at adding a secondary tank as well. It gets precarious on some interstates where there's no gas stations for 30+ miles. For the time being I just keep a 5 gallon spare tank in the bed, just in case. It may not get me far, but it still makes me feel better having it.

Outside the tank size for towing, I love the Tundra.

[bzeller]

The new Nissan Titan half ton is at least worth a look.


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[Bigdomino]

Just looked at a couple of tundras this afternoon. Dealer closed so I could not get in the trucks. Looked at limited models. They look really nice. About $48k each. One thing I noticed are the outside mirrors. None seemed to have tow mirrors. Are the stock mirrors ok for towing or is there another mirror I have to order?

I am now getting concerned about the gas mileage. Are they really that bad towing? 6 or 7 mpg?

Thanks.

Steve

[mini4mw]

I have snap on mirrors for towing from amazon for ~$40. You can get the optional tow mirrors if you wanted, which should be much better as the snap on shake too to see more than something is there, which is all i really need. Its my 'normal' vehicle so the smaller daily driver suits me better.

I've towed 6,000+ and always get 6-7mpg in a Tundra.

[LiftedAWDAstro]

I get a steady 8 mpg towing my 28BHBE at 8500#. I am quite a ways over the payload capacity (by 600#) but it pulls with ease in 4th gear manually selected. I set the cruise at 62 on 2 lane roads and get 8 mpg. I am sure if I tried to go 72 on the interstate, I would be in the 5-6 mpg range. I also run oversized (LT275/70R18) tires so that decreases milage slightly. So far in nearly 50k miles, I have only done oil changes and replaced the battery which was my fault. (I let it go dead several times over 1 winter).

All that said, I ordered a new diesel with greater payload capacity and being a Tundra, it has great trade-in value. About 5-6 grand more than a comparable 2013 Ram 1500 my buddy has.

[Bigdomino]

Originally Posted by LiftedAWDAstro

I get a steady 8 mpg towing my 28BHBE at 8500#. I am quite a ways over the payload capacity (by 600#) but it pulls with ease in 4th gear manually selected. I set the cruise at 62 on 2 lane roads and get 8 mpg. I am sure if I tried to go 72 on the interstate, I would be in the 5-6 mpg range. I also run oversized (LT275/70R18) tires so that decreases milage slightly. So far in nearly 50k miles, I have only done oil changes and replaced the battery which was my fault. (I let it go dead several times over 1 winter).

All that said, I ordered a new diesel with greater payload capacity and being a Tundra, it has great trade-in value. About 5-6 grand more than a comparable 2013 Ram 1500 my buddy has.

If you were going for a Tundra or a RAM 1500, which would you select? I suspect the RAM would get better mileage.

Steve

[Vaquero]

Originally Posted by Bigdomino

If you were going for a Tundra or a RAM 1500, which would you select? I suspect the RAM would get better mileage.

Steve

I can't promise. Because I don't know your driving habits.
My highway mileage in the Ram is averaging 20mpg.
I set the cruise on 75 and leave it.

Towing, I run around 9 to 10 mpg.

FWIW. I'd like a bigger fuel tank too.

[spoon059]

Originally Posted by Bigdomino

Are the stock mirrors ok for towing or is there another mirror I have to order?

I am now getting concerned about the gas mileage. Are they really that bad towing? 6 or 7 mpg?

Thanks.

Steve

Steve, at the weights you are towing, you should be able to get 9 or 10 mpg towing if you can keep your speeds at or below 65. The Tundra has plenty of power to exceed those speeds, but it drinks the gas to make that power.

My Tundra had the sport mirrors when I bought it. I bought Cipa slide on mirrors at first. They shake, they can be annoying to dial in correctly, the mirror itself is pretty small.
I ended up purchasing some OEM tow mirrors and adding them myself, pretty easy to do. If you are buying new, I would have the dealer add the mirrors as part of the deal. They are only something like a $25 option when buying new, but can cost $250+ to buy them used after the fact, or over $600 to buy them new after the fact.
With the factory mirrors, it was easy to adjust them (especially helpful if your spouse drives for short stints like mine does) and they field of view was substantially better.

[robkelly]

Originally Posted by Bigdomino

Just looked at a couple of tundras this afternoon. Dealer closed so I could not get in the trucks. Looked at limited models. They look really nice. About $48k each. One thing I noticed are the outside mirrors. None seemed to have tow mirrors. Are the stock mirrors ok for towing or is there another mirror I have to order?

I am now getting concerned about the gas mileage. Are they really that bad towing? 6 or 7 mpg?

Thanks.

Steve

Tow mirrors are an option that you should be able to work into the deal and have the dealer install. I loved them on my Tundra.

As far as mileage goes, I had a 2014 and averaged 10 mpg towing a 29' White Hawk. When not towing I averaged about 18 mpg.

[Bsikes]

Originally Posted by robkelly

Tow mirrors are an option that you should be able to work into the deal and have the dealer install. I loved them on my Tundra.

As far as mileage goes, I had a 2014 and averaged 10 mpg towing a 29' White Hawk. When not towing I averaged about 18 mpg.

I agree with Robkelly.
I paid about $350 for OEM tow mirrors. Easy to install and there is always a YouTube video on how to do it.