So we went to the desert this weekend and the kids wanted to bring the golf cart. It is a small thing so I got out the ramps and drove it into the back of my Crewmax. Tied it down and all was good. My 17 year ol daughter followed the motorhome in the Tundra.

We had a great time and my daughter had to be at work sunday so we loaded the cart back in the Tundra and she left early sunday morning. When I got home sunday night I noticed the Tail gate was bent. It seems the rear tires of the golf cart on the gate had bent the tail gate.

I have done this same thing with my chevy and never a problem. I can lift the rear of the cart easily by myself so less than 200lbs is a close guess on the weight.

She says she did not hit anything and I can't see any evidence of it so I believe that the cart just bent the gate.

Am I expecting too much fromn a tail gate on this tundra?

pics to follow.

wayne

ps same cart that was in this thread http://www.toyotatundraforum.com/gen...holy-crap.html

First off, sorry to hear about the damage to your truck. That said, was the golf cart long enough that one set of wheels was riding on the tailgate, or do you think the damage came while loading/unloading the cart? If one set of tires were riding on the gate and that end of the cart was not securely strapped down, at 200+/- lbs, anything (a pothole or bumps in highway) that would cause the cart to bounce might have caused the damage. Regardless, since this golf cart "monster" has damaged your truck twice now, if I were in your shoes, I think I would swap that darned thing off!

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2007 Tundra Limited Double Cab 4x4 Super White
KeyFOB Tailgate Lock (courtesy of Toxarch)
OEM back-up camera
20" OEM alloy wheels
Line-X Bed liner
UWS Black Powdercoat Low Profile Toolbox
JC Whitney Black Nerf Bars
Lund Interceptor Bug Shield
Tekonsha Voyager Brake Controller

Here is the damage.







It was tied in well, plenty of bumps on the road could have caused it. It was not caused loading. The rear 2 tires were just in front of the cable attatch point.

I am just a bit disapointed that it bent the gate. My chevys have been way further overloaded in the same way on the same road and dont show any problems. One of the uses of my truck is to have a very heavy pump on the gate while the bed is loaded with material. I hope this is not a sign of things to come again.

Wayne

PS. I told my family I was gonna burn one of the offending vehicles and it was not gonna be the tundra. I have some kids who won't talk to dad for a few days.

Man, that's a lot of damage. I am puzzled as to how the damage occurred where it did if the golf cart wheels were in front of the cable attach point. I could understand if you said the rear wheels were behind the cable attach point since the damage I see on both sides appears to be a couple of inches behind the cable attach point and not in front of it. Maybe I am simply misunderstanding where the wheels really were.

If you look closley at the pic of the gate down you can still see the indention of the cart wheels in the bed inner, just in front of the cable attach point. (closer to the cab or front of the truck) the damage is a bit deciving in that it looks like compresion from the back of the gate, but if you look at the pic of the gate closed you can see a bow in the gate and the damage on the sides is just wrinkling due to the new shape of the gate. Similar to a unibody car wrinkling the roof when they are hit in the front.

Oh well at least I still have a really cool truck that can be fixed. Golf cart maybe not... It hates the tundra I think.

wayne

Yeah, Wayne, looking at the pic with the tailgate closed, I see what you're talking about. What a bummer. I guess this is a lesson for all of us to be careful how much weight we leave on the tailgate while traveling. I think if I was going to keep the golf cart, I'd get a small trailer to transport it. That's what I do with my Polaris Ranger.

Yeah I have trailers, too many. The problem was I had my Suzuki Samruai, Comp Jeep and a couple bikes on my 30 footer behind the motorhome and since my daughter was driving the Tundra home by her self I did not want her towing. I have a nice single axle 6x10 flat bed I usually use for the cart an such. I have hauled my Yamaha Rino in My chevy with no problems and it is way longer and heavier. I know now not to try it in the Tundra.

wayne

Totally looks likes she backed into something with the tailgate down, or something hit the tailgate in the down position. The forces required to bend the tailgate like this would seem to high for it to be caused by your golfcart.. even if it was bouncing around like a monkey. I'm 260lbs.. i regularly jump on the tailgate with no problem, and i don't see a huge difference in construction methods from other trucks.

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CrewMAX 5.7 4x4 SR5
Surrey, BC Canada

LINE-X Bed Liner
Tekonsha Prodigy Brake Controller
ScanGauge II

I've had three guys and a couch entirely supported by the tailgate (~ 700lbs) and mine's still in one piece...

With how the tailgate is folded, it makes sense that it was pushed into something and bent under the load.

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2007 Toyota Tundra 4x4 DC SR5 5.7

That was actually one of my first thoughts too, but he did state that "She says she did not hit anything and I can't see any evidence of it." If she's being truthful, then maybe someone ran into/backed into the tailgate when she was out of the truck?