What have you broken/replaced on your overweight Tacoma?

[dstefan]

I want add a light popup shell (AT Summit, Go-Fast, Vagabond, etc.) to my ’09 Tacoma for more comfortable post-retirement wandering. Like many, I’m surprised by how heavy my rig is. Still a bit under the GVWR, but my front is only 35lbs under the GAWR -- not fully packed. Even a light weight popup puts me over with any build out plus typical trip/camping crap. I don’t know what its gonna do to the truck, if anything. I know plenty of folks have more weight than I’m thinking of, but . . . .

Do I need beef up my rig to avoid breakdowns on the trail or road? It’s almost always just my wife and me, no other vehicles. Certainly rear springs, and a brake job, but wondering what other mechanical, drive train etc components are at risk. I’d rather spend $2 to $4k now on parts than an off-road tow/recovery.

I know from a month of reading posts on here, Wander the West, TTORA, and Tacoma world that a LOT of folks are over payload. I don’t want to re-hash the “is it OK to be over GVWR” argument, but learn in the real world what does overloading cause to break on a 2nd gen Tacoma — and how much overload does it take?

It would help me, and I bet lots of others, if you would post what your rig is (brief build description), weight, and what’s broken. IYHO was it trail abuse, weight, or what? Suspension, bearings, seals, driveline components? What would you retrofit to avoid that? I’ll start:

Truck:
- ’09 DCSB OR with 71K miles, mostly highway and off-road — not a commuter. Not abused but wheeled pretty vigorously with a few hard hits and stucks, religiously maintained
- Two Odysseys in front along with recently rebuilt ICON mid-travel resi COs, Icon alum UCA’s with recent delta joints, and reinforced front spindles, 265/75/16 DuraTracs on stock wheels. Deaver 1.5” lift springs in rear (clearly not adequate), new Icons, and front and rear Timbrens.
- Relentless Fab’s alum front bumper, some lights, a Warn VR 10K winch with synthetic line, 5 non-bar LED lights, stock front skid, DYI UHMW tranny skid, All Pro steel TCase skid, Schrock Works sliders, All pro diff lock skid, All Pro plate steel rear bumper with the side wings, no hitch.
- ARE hard tonneau cover, with Yakima tracks, ARB 50qt fridge, 10lb CO2 tank, Hi-Lift in the bed, MaxTrax on top of the tonneau

Weight: 5000 lbs, (front 2720 — only 35lbs under the GAWR which concerns me, but I had my full 185 on the front platform; Rear 2280). Usual recovery gear in the truck, the ARB, the hi-lift, no racks, MaxTrax or travel/camping gear. Truck just off the rear Timbrens, but rides on them with any real load. So, 450lb under the manual’s listed GVWR, but typical tent camping load is > 400lbs (that’s with camera gear and tripods as I’m a photographer) plus at least 400 for the popup and mods to it. Plus my wife at 105. Put's me 500lb or more over GVWR, and I figured 63 pounds over combined GAWR, with the front

Broken: one front wheel bearing around 40k miles. Maybe due to weight as I’ve only done one breif river crossing that came a little over the front hubs. Nearly every part of the AC/vent system except the compressor, but not weight related. Otherwise pretty good, well except for a new tranny at 1200 miles, but not weight related . . . No offroad breaks or breakdowns

Preventative:
I’m planning to shed the tonneau, the sliders (never touched them off road), the rear bumper wrap around wings, and move the second battery to the bed to manage weight and distribution. Reduce what we pack too. Springs, new tie-rods (maybe HD), the other front bearing. Wondering about what else people have experienced breaking/wearing out on fat, middle aged 2nd gen Tacomas?

 

[bkg]

such a loaded question. My Tacoma is over weight... but everything except the frame, engine and trans have been replaced.

 

[dstefan]

Yeah definitely loaded for sure!

So, was that to mod it primarily for capability, busted stuff wheeling, to support a too high a payload, or busted due to a too high payload?

 

[dstefan]

Been away, so just getting back to this. Sorry for the long initial post, but seems to be a topic that comes up a lot.

Nobody besides BKG has f’d up something on their Tacos due to overload?? They’re well built, but …

 

[DaveInDenver]

I try not to be overweight so can't answer your question. I'm sitting maybe 100 lbs under GVWR normally loaded. I have a WilderNest, simple All-Pro bumper (no swing out or anything, 235/85R16 BFG AT KO2 spare is still under the bed), just a front IFS skid, nothing under the belly, ARB with XD9000 and synthetic, bolt-on Mobtown sliders. I've broken some stuff still, though I couldn't say how weight factored.

Sitting at 95k and have gone through two sets of front wheel bearings, a clutch, my rear driveshaft carrier and u-joints need attention, replaced both upper and lower control arms for bushing that were done (upper at 60k, lower at 90k).

I'm not running stock suspension but have added an extra leaf to my CS047R Dakar packs. My shocks need a rebuild at ~30K (Fox 2.5" IFP front, 2.0" IFP rear, no reservoirs). All new bushings in the leafs and shackles.

I have a pair of Odyssey batteries (group 25 and 35) in the stock location and my fender is failing, drooping to the point it almost touches the UCA bolt. I'm running Daystar poly body bushings so it's not that they have collapsed. The gap on the passenger side between the hood and fender is about 1/8" wider than the left side. The gap between the body and bed grows slightly wider at the top by about 1/16". Not sure if it's always been like that or not, though.

 

[Watt maker]

Not a tacoma but my 2008 4runner is on the heavy side and has been overloaded a couple times, including offroad trips. Knock on wood, the only thing that has ever come close to failing in 190k miles is a rear wheel bearing, which wasn't due to weight but got water in it when our roads were flooded. Oh, and a battery, also not weight related. Yes, I've gone through the suspension a couple times but never has it failed, I just wanted something better. It's honestly been a great vehicle and I still enjoy driving it!

 

[dstefan]

Yeah, I try not to be overweight too Dave . . . hasn't worked that well on either the truck or my middle Thanks for the info. Clearly the bearings are an issue for all of us. Not too bad of a list for 95K. Is there anything you wish you'd pro-actively done/replaced at around 60/70K to future proof?

My '09Tacoma has an open space on the P side between the firewall and the air intake assembly, which is where I put my 2nd battery, so luckily, no fender issues. Do you have that space open? I've seen pics of some 2nd gens with what looks like hard brake lines? sitting over there -- is that why you doubled up? Had zero problems with the separated setup with an 8ga wire from the IBS separator mounted next to the stock fuse block and routed along the top of the firewall FWIW.

Watt Maker -- I too have a white 4runner but its an '18 SR5, unmodded for except Cooper AT3s and an ARB fridge wiring loom with a (single - 27F) AGM battery. Like the look of your bumper and that hood. May have to black ours out as the glare has been occasionally noticeable. Gonna keep it simpler than the Tacoma, but prolly do the suspension near term, especially if I decide the Tacoma can't support the camper I have in mind and go to a F150 or maybe 250. 4runner is arguably a better platform to build for more serious wheeling if I get a bigger truck that can't go quite as many places.

Anyone else care to play?

 

[shade]

My '09Tacoma has an open space on the P side between the firewall and the air intake assembly, which is where I put my 2nd battery, so luckily, no fender issues. Do you have that space open? I've seen pics of some 2nd gens with what looks like hard brake lines? sitting over there -- is that why you doubled up?

All but the A-TRAC equipped models have the ABS module in that space on the passenger side. If you look around there, you'll see the mounting point for it. Your OR has the ABS hardware incorporated with the master cylinder and electric brake booster.

 

[shade]

My 2012 OR is relatively young at 70,000 miles. I haven't weighed it lately, but I've always tried to keep weight down. Adding a Decked drawer system and a GFC pop-up hasn't helped, so I need to get it back on the scale.

Nothing has failed, and the only parts I've replaced have been upgrades to the OEM suspension. Even new, the rear springs were so weak I'm not sure they were ever capable of supporting the payload spec. I expected to be underwhelmed by the shocks, but was surprised to feel the truck bouncing off the rear bump stops while on the highway, with only a modest load of camping & climbing gear in the bed.

 

[dstefan]

All but the A-TRAC equipped models have the ABS module in that space on the passenger side. If you look around there, you'll see the mounting point for it. Your OR has the ABS hardware incorporated with the master cylinder and electric brake booster.

Ahh . . . never figured that out. Guess I'm lucky, then. Both with the Atrac, which is about damn near 80% of a front locker and having space for the house battery. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[dstefan]

Even new, the rear springs were so weak I'm not sure they were ever capable of supporting the payload spec. I expected to be underwhelmed by the shocks, but was surprised to feel the truck bouncing off the rear bump stops while on the highway, with only a modest load of camping & climbing gear in the bed.

Yeah, they sucked. I replaced 'em with Deavers when I did the suspension, but the Deavers are too soft too. They were supposed to be able to handle more load, and I guess they did, but still not enough. They're great, not fully loaded, and articulate well, but most of what I do offroad is fully loaded. I put in Timbrens, which have been a big help (in front too, since I lost the sway bar). If I add this camper, will definitely get beefier springs. Don't think I'll need airbags with the Timbrens but time will tell.

 

[yeos]

Core support was tearing itself apart with the second battery in the engine bay and ARB bumper with winch. I repaired that, but it's tearing behind the headlights now.

 

[shade]

Core support was tearing itself apart with the second battery in the engine bay and ARB bumper with winch. I repaired that, but it's tearing behind the headlights now.

I've seen others construct a tube frame to tie all of that back together. I don't think there's a long term solution short of that.

 

[calicamper]

In the end its braking ability that seems to have Taco owners move up to heavier full sized options. Mods add weight too. Except the engine and brakes don’t really get upsized with the weight.

 

[DaveInDenver]

All but the A-TRAC equipped models have the ABS module in that space on the passenger side. If you look around there, you'll see the mounting point for it. Your OR has the ABS hardware incorporated with the master cylinder and electric brake booster.

Bingo. Some 2008 and older Tacomas retained the vacuum booster on the master cylinder like older trucks and those that do, such as mine, the ABS is a stand-alone device on the right side of the engine bay.

There's some space in front of the ABS actuator behind the air intake where with a little bit of bending a battery could be squeezed in there but I did not want to risk kinking a brake line so I chose not to go down that path at this point.

Since I have the older style braking system I also do not have A-TRAC in 4WD nor VSC/TRAC in 2WD.