Crewmax Truck bounce-not just bed-whole truck

[uclarah]

I have the same bounce problems on the freeways and have noticed that it is usually when I accelerate above 65 mph

[los211]

I spoke with Toyota rep a couple of months ago and the guy was a total D**k. This tool told me that Toyota has looked into the problem and has ruled this to be a charactoristic othe truck and they are NOT going to fix it. Needless to say my conversation with mister "tool" was not productive and he sent me all the paper work for mediation or something for Toyota to buy back my truck. That was the only fix they had to offer. The guy wouldn't even listen to my explanation of the actual problem. He just kept saying that all trucks have "bed bounce" or "bed shake". So I guess we are all stuck with fixing the issue on our own. A friend of mine has a crewmax that doesn't have the ride issue like my DC both are SR5 versions in 4X2 non TRD and both trucks are 07's.

[Curb71]

"It is what it is."
Thats my motto. There is a spot on the 118 freeway between Reseda and Topanga that I get some bad bed bounce. Im gonna install my sway bar tomorrow and go hit up that freeway again to see if its any better. If you cant live with it, put some weight in the bed.

[GORILLA]

los211 & curb71 not all pick-up's have bed bounce. my 2005 double cab doesn't have it.
it is what it is- WELL-that shouldn't be.

there has to be a way to resolve this issue.

1st find out what exactly cause's this, i.e. spring's, shock's, etc.
than try different thing's.
i assume many of you already changed out the suspension's. what i mean is either dropped the truck or lifted it, if so, did that resolve it?

i'm sure with all that we do to our truck's, there is a way to fix this, without it costing us a fortune.

many of us with 20" rims & tire's had a handeling issue, and with long chit chat's with ton's of people on the phone with tire company's, email's, etc.
i found the fix. and posted it.

i'm sure in time, this to will be a thing of the past.
gorilla

[los211]

I am planning to use either the Ground force lowering kit or the
TRD kit to lower my truck onto some 22's. Hopefully with the rear leafs changed out the ride will change and I really hope its for the better. Though my cabin shake isn't as pronounced now with the mods I did. I am happy with the ride for now. My last resort will be to drop out the whole rear suspension and install a four link with air bags all the way around. I am sure that will piss off the wife but it is my truck.

[Charley_S]

I have a '07 DC 4x4 TRD and have never experienced this "bed bounce" phenomenon. I too have owned 4x4 trucks for 20 years and have found nothing out of the ordinary with the Tundra.

That being said, I do not deny that the "bed bounce" exists but to blame Toyota 100% for the problem is missing a major factor......the condition of the road you are riding on.

To say that Toyota should have designed the truck to ride smoothly regardless of the road conditions is a bit of a stretch.

I'm not saying that you should not voice your concerns to Toyota but if you do call or write them, then the OK State Hwy Dept. should be your 2nd call or letter written.

I think it's a bit unfair to lay this issue entirely at the feet of Toyota.

[DevinSixtySeven]

Hi all,

I've posted a couple items on this subject off and on but not sure if it's helped anyone or if many people understand what I've posted...so bear with me for a sec (again) .

There are three major "spring rates" on the truck.

The first obviously is your suspension. This should handle everything...a perfect suspension would let you ride on the rims and never notice, but that's only a theoretical end. Realistically, it means choosing this spring rate assuming you have no other springs in the system.

Then there's the tires, a lot of people forget that tires give your vehicle a dual rate setup. Whether you spend all your time on the track or hauling bricks, there is an "ideal" tire pressure for your vehicle, use, and tires...it combines contact patch with sidewall flex and the rate of the air spring--because your tire is a big air spring, just like an air bag setup, but you need CTIS to play with it from inside the cab . You really notice this offroad with a large tire and a small rim.

The last one, unfortunately the one you guys are dealing with, is the frame and everything attached to it. For you guys, remembering this from another thread, the natural frequency of your frame is around 7.7Hz...don't quote me on that, look at the Sulastic threads, I think they're the ones that pinpointed it and I could be remembering wrong.

The last one is also the only one that shouldn't be moving around, but because the springs ("both" of them...tires and the vehicle suspension) are too stiff for most people's use, all that impulse goes straight to the frame.

It just so happens the shocks are not positioned in such a way as to negate the frame bouncing around...all they can handle, in their mounting position, is the suspension and tires. Also I bet the natural frequency of your rear suspension is higher than the frame...add 20" rims to 31" tires with the increasingly CYOA tire pressures these days (remember Ford? Lower tire pressure is never the answer! but neither is running them too high) and it only gets worse. It would help if it were the other way 'round, or at least if that rear suspension frequency were lower...which is why replacement spring packs, rubber shackles, increased vertical movement of the aft leaf spring eye, lower tire pressure, and more weight in the bed will all improve the ride--each of those things decreases the frequency of the rear suspension. Just don't be lowering your tire pressure too far...look up the heat test and chalk test if you haven't already...please be safe out there. For all I know 25psi might be perfectly safe, but verify on your own, and be aware that vehicle loading does affect whether that is a safe pressure or not.

I hope that all makes sense. It makes even more sense if you have the opportunity to really play around with tire pressure and loads over the axle.

If any of you are in Denver, you're welcome to drop in this weekend, my 1st-gen is currently stripped to the frame in the rear and a couple skid plates are off...it mimics your trucks' behavior to a T at the moment. If anybody wants to come over I can show you what I mean about loading and tire pressure, it's easy to mess around with pressure on a 35R16 tire.

I can totally screw up the ride in my truck just by increasing the tire pressure 5psi over where it normally sits, or greatly decreasing the axle loads...the valving remains the same, but the truck is a handful.

My point is, get the spring rate correct for your use and then worry about shock tuning. For most of you, that spring rate is way too high. Also frankly I don't know that it's possible to increase the natural frequency of the frame without getting invasive, so again, look to the springs...then look at the shocks. If you try to tune the suspension just with the shocks, you'll never get it quite right...for example, you do want compression damping some of the time. Maybe not all the time, but some of the time...so if you pull the compression damping completely, you'll find eventually (just like the undamped chassis) that there is a road input that will cause the truck to handle poorly. There are few situations where you'd want to blow past the compression damping, particularly on a vehicle that sees 99% road use (dirt or pavement). You shouldn't need a bypass shock to fix this problem. Fix the leaf springs first, then get some shocks...or just use the stock ones. There's no reason, particularly with fuel this expensive, why you should be hauling around several hundred pounds of dead weight just to drop the rear suspension frequency.

-Sean

[callawaysmasher]

I've had my Tundra for a whopping 2 weeks now. I absolutely love the truck except for this issue. It's a 4x4 CM and I'll have pics soon when I'm finished building it up. Anyways, the bed bounce is absolutely horrible. I've owned two Fords and my last truck was a Tacoma (which was Awesome!). My Father has owned 4 F150s. I invited him out for a trip to the Mojave Desert last weekend to test out the truck. The truck handled great, my Dad drove it on the highway (back from the desert) and off-road while there. His comments after the trip were, "Its a great looking truck and I love the engine. You may want to have your dealer look at the rear end because we may have damaged it on one of the trails". I was so embarrassed to tell him that's the way the truck is, it bounces the holy crap out of you. No exaggeration that on some portions of the highway it literally makes your head hurt. I'm not going to say that others are not experiencing this but it is NOT Normal. It is 90% a Toyota issue. In 20yrs I have NEVER experienced such an awful feeling while driving a truck. Yes, I test drove it on the highway especially after reading all the threads. It displayed minimal or normal shake on the section of road we drove. So I thought the problem was overly exaggerated (sorry guys). Unfortunately that's clearly not representative of most of the highways I have to travel.

I'm going to spend the next 2 weeks shooting video of this phenomenon that does exist without any doubt. I'm going to be on a personal mission with my buddies (they're all engineers) to get this fixed for a minimal expense. It's sad that I can't even drink an open beverage without spilling.

But I still love the truck!!!

[redneck_la]

Sorry about your problems guys, I thought we had the worst roads on earth here in Louisiana. I havent experienced nothing to the extent that you have but I havent been on those roads. I have a 07 DC TRD 4x4 completly stock. I do notice the bed bounce when I have something small in the back jumping around. I drove my friends 08 F150 Crew cab 4X4 the other day and saw the same amount of bed bounce, watching through the mirrors as my tundra. I didnt drive on any really bad road to see how it acted but on the same roads they appeared the same. I traded in a 06 Z71 on my tundra because of the steering sector problems that chevy has had for 8 years and can only seem to shoot grease in them and your good for a few thousand miles. Also the chevy made terrible amounts of noise in 4x4 and they said it was just normal for that truck and not to worry about it. That was why I made a change to the tundra. Seems no one wants to admit they have any problems with a design.
On another note last week while pulling my bass boat, which weighs about 2800lbs and little tongue weight, I hit a bump in truck and when my boathit the same small bump it broke a spring. I had been noticing my boat bouncing more and more violently kind of in tune with the bed bounce. So now I dont know if it was coincidence or caused by my tundra. I still love my truck and hope over time it will break in well and settle down.

[daguer]

i have 3300 miles on mine and never had a problem with it, much less bouncing problems, it actually feels like riding luxury car.

now if you're offroading of course it will obviously bounce and sometimes jump and you expelled from vehicle (happened to me riding with buddy and his 1975 CJ5 , lol

[dragaeran]

resonance frequecies....didn't someoen go into this in detail a while back. I think they could have filled the frame with faom and deadened most of the oscilations before they ever got to the cab.....am I wrong? Heck, I do it for my audio system, why not the frame? It seems they just have good old fashioned frequecy issues!

[johndvm]

This is a great issue to discuss on this forum. I have an f250 and the crewmax. The toyota rides like a cadillac by comparison. But no way it rides as well as my friend's chevy. I think toyota should offer softer spring rates for those who want it, I love the way it is. I will say though that off road my f250 feels more solid. This makes sense when you conisder that it weighs 1500 pounds more but was a disappointment to me. There is some dash shake.

[Tundrav8yamaha]

Originally Posted by dragaeran

resonance frequecies....didn't someoen go into this in detail a while back. I think they could have filled the frame with faom and deadened most of the oscilations before they ever got to the cab.....am I wrong? Heck, I do it for my audio system, why not the frame? It seems they just have good old fashioned frequecy issues!

I think people blow this topic out of order or blame this on California road's like it's some exclusive place to live (been there done that )

Anyway's with this in mind I've ridden in a few friends Tundra Limited crewmax and never once had any complaint's about the ride quality on the Truck. Folk's these are truck's Not your top of the line Lexus Ls460 with a luxury ride and air ride, etc ,etc. Tundra's are build on truck frame thus expect it and enjoy your truck.Yes there will be a few given flaw's and you should have knowen this when you purchased your Tundra . I am very aware about first Gen problems ( pro's and con's) . If people want to complain to Toyota yea it might take a few year's to get this resolved and good luck to you dont see this helping you now. The way I see these complaint's are many people either are not used to driving a Large truck or need to take some madders in your own hand's and revise shock's ,sway bar's ,etc ,etc.There is soo much you can do about the situtation hell if you spend 30 or 40k on the Tundra might as well afford some mod's to go beyond what the factory has massed producted.We all know Toyota has done some serious cost cut cutting just add your own judgement and go from there.

Erik

[daguer]

yeah man this is not a frikin luxury car, you bought a TRUCK omfg

[FDLFDTUNDRAS]

If you think So-Cal is bad, try driving down State Line Rd on the border of TX & NM. In a Tundra, that stretch of road is pretty rough on the passengers.