We’re easing into Project Deepwoods as new aftermarket products become available for our 2007 Tundra Double Cab 4x4. The easy-to-design, easy-to-install items are always first out. Such aftermarket items are all that’s needed to make a new Tundra work quite well for many Off- Road Adventures readers’ lifestyles.
Today’s full-size pickup manufacturers continue to push the towing and load-carrying limits of their newest offerings. Toyota’s all-new 4x4 Double Cab Tundra is a prime example. It’s rated to tow more than 10,300 pounds while carrying 1,655 pounds in the bed. It’s a truck designed for some serious load totin’.
However there are a lot of owners of new 4x4 trucks, no matter the make, who will never tow a trailer or haul a load that comes anywhere close to the pickup’s maximum capacities.
More than likely, most 4x4s will be burdened with a small boat, travel trailer, motorcycles or ATVs on a trailer. So that nose-low, tail-high stance — designed to keep the truck on a relatively level attitude when fully loaded — might not be that appealing.
To change a truck’s nose-low attitude, the cure is simple: install a suspension leveling kit as we did as our first suspension modification to Deepwoods (we’ll be installing a 6-inch lift later on as Deepwoods morphs towards our end goal of building a really rugged and versatile ride).
The kit that puts it on an even keel is from ReadyLift and takes a knowledgeable DIYer about 1-1/2+ hours to install. But we were stumped why the traction control system would suddenly kick on and dial back engine power and make up-shifts sluggish after we had the front-end realigned and the 33s in place. After a lot of head-scratching, it all pointed to the onboard computer just doing its job.
The sophisticated Steering and Yaw sensors, part of the truck’s vehicle stability control system, are so sensitive that after any suspension change the alignment has to be brought back into tight factory specs — and a “Zero Point Calibration” done after the alignment to re-set the on-board computer.
If these are not done, the sensors may trigger traction control under heavy throttle load causing the traction control light to flash and the engine to lose some power, even though there’s been no loss of traction. Typical cost to have a Toyota dealer do these two critical adjustments is around $125.
But laying out Benjamin triplets and spending a little creeper time under the truck is well worth it; not only does the 2-1/2” lift set the truck level, it allows plenty of fender well clearance to run our new Interco TRXUS STS 33x12.50 radials we mounted on the stock 18-inch steel wheels.
Warren Spears, of Spears Auto Repair in Long Beach, Mississippi, showed us the nuts-and-bolts of installing the ReadyLift Toyota Tundra suspension leveling kit.
