Dissecting the Million-Mile Tundra
Toyota engineers couldn’t wait to take apart Victor Sheppard’s million-mile Tundra — what they found was remarkable

When it comes to Victor Sheppard’s million-mile Tundra, Toyota engineers can’t help but repeat the same phrase over and over.

A truck that was driven the equivalent of 24 trips around the planet is still running?

“You just don’t get a million-mile truck every day,” says Tundra Executive Program Manager Kevin Gilleo. “This is incredible.”


The rare opportunity to tear down and examine Sheppard's 2007 Tundra was too good to pass up for the engineers at the Toyota Motor North American Research & Development (TMNA R&D) center, formerly TTC, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where it was designed. After getting the truck in Louisiana, where it was sold, in October — and giving Sheppard a brand new Tundra — engineers took it on a victory lap to Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas, in San Antonio, where it was built.

Then it went to Ann Arbor to find the answer to the question: What happens to a truck that’s been driven 1 million miles? And, moreover, what can we learn that will benefit our customers?

Months later, Toyota’s technical brain-trust is still amazed at one thing: Sheppard’s Tundra does not look like it went a million miles.

“This is how I’d expect a Tundra with 100,000 miles on it to look,” says Frank DiMaggio, analyst at the Toyota Collaborative Benchmarking Center. “But this one has a million.”

What They Found

Sheppard’s Tundra has now been dissected, with Toyota and suppliers analyzing different parts. The engine is being examined at Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Alabama, plant where it was built. But the bulk of the body sits in Ann Arbor.



In all, more than 100 people are studying the truck, using the normal, detailed teardown process. Gilleo says the Design and Evaluation teams should complete a parts check on the engine, bed, transmission and seats this year.

The key to getting to a million miles — especially in the shockingly brief eight-year time frame it took Sheppard — was regular maintenance. Once his truck started hitting high mileage, Sheppard was visiting Greg LeBlanc Toyota in Houma, Louisiana, about once a month for oil changes and other small tune-ups.

But that was it. The truck that came to TMNA R&D in October was the exact same one that left the Greg LeBlanc Toyota lot in 2007. With the exact same components, including the engine and transmission. Yes, they were used hard, but over the course of a million miles, they never needed to be replaced.

“The interesting thing, as we start our design for the next Tundra, is what we can learn from this truck,” says Tundra Chief Engineer Mike Sweers. “My biggest interests are the spring seats, the bed and the front seat. Even things like the door trim that he’s grabbing every day and closing.”

Turns out all those things held up remarkably well. The driver’s seat, which Sheppard regularly slept in as a hotshot driver, had a small tear in the back. Everything else looked good.

A Better Tundra

So how will Sheppard’s Tundra ultimately help customers? It’s simple, really: If something holds up for a million miles, keep doing it. If something can’t last a million miles, rethink it and make it better.

“We’re going to take what we learned from this truck, what we’ve done right, and keep doing that right,” Sweers says. “But we can see areas on the body where we can improve. Maybe we had some weld breakage, so how can we strengthen those areas? Can we add a couple more spot welds? Can we move some spots welds? Can we change the shape of a bracket? We can use this to make the next Tundra better from the information we’ve learned from this truck.”

And, let’s be honest here: This truck is a source of pride for everyone involved.

“This really falls back to what we want to do from a quality standpoint,” Gilleo says. “There’s a North American customer expectation on our trucks. People buy Tundras based on that expectation, so we need to meet that. This vehicle was designed and built in North America for the North American market, and it lasted a million miles. That’s pretty special.”

I'm thinking real hard about buying a tundra soon.

They all run purtinear forever if you take care of them and keep putting new parts on them.

If they expect me to believe it went 1,000,000 miles without needing any parts replaced... well I ain't that gullible.

If they want to give me a new truck so as to study my 2006 Tundra with 210,000 miles on it.........I'll take it.

BTW, has NEVER been in the shop for anything but scheduled maintenance. On it's 3rd battery and 4th set of tires.....just stuff that wears out over time. But otherwise......it just runs now like it always did.

[quote=Kart29]They all run purtinear forever if you take care of them and keep putting new parts on them.



Im not sure if I buy this statement . ..i switched to Toyota because even with regular maintenence I couldnt get gm products much past 200k miles without constant nickle/dime repairs that really started to add up to a lot of $$. Took me a long time to get the gumption to switch to a 'foreign' vehicle, but now I wished I had done it much earlier in life. Im sure there is one out there, but Ive never met anyone that switched to a toyota and later said it was a bad decision. If american manufacturers made a quality product, I would have stuck with them.....hence, I drive toyota with no regrets.

Wheres the guy going that he's traveling 125,000 miles a year ?

OK, so that's one out of how many?

15 years of driving, that averages out to 182 miles a day 365 days a year, EVERY day 182 miles a day. When did he get time to service it?? The only way I can see this is if he had multiple drivers.

I have been a Chevy man most of my life. Owned Ford's and still have a Ram with a Cummins. I also have a first gen Tacoma and have a 3rd gen Tacoma. I hate to say it but I will probably never go back to Chevy, Ford, or Ram. The reliability is like none other and they just keep running. The only reason I still have my Cummins is because I have a fith wheel. 2nd biggest reason is resale. 2 if not 3 fold what I would get for the American made trucks. My money doesn't feel as wasted when it's time for a new one.

I still drive an 07 Tundra. It has the 5.7 Liter and it is a beast.

Still drive my old 2002 Tundra SR5. It’s just getting broke in good at 275,000 miles and will probably outlast me. Drove it to Montana last year, taking it to Michigan this fall for a bow hunt. Great trucks.

They should study my buddy's 2007. Most recently he ran into a timing problem. Parts and labor came to $5500.

Truth be told, my buddy really uses a truck like a truck. Not just trips to the grocery store and light towing.

But, he's had several expensive repairs. It chews up water pumps.

If Toyota made an 8ft bed truck, id be interested.

Ive had good luck with GM motors .. its just the everything else around it falls apart. Ive owned a couple GMs that went over 250k. At work he had a couple over 400k.

Wonder if Ford would give me a new truck for 1 million miles? Only got 550,000 more to go, lol!!

I have a 2008 Tundra Double Cab with an eight-foot bed. Do they no longer make them?

I've owned lots of trucks and only one of them (a little Ram 50) was not an eight-foot bed.

My '99 Tacoma has 400K on it and I regularly change the oil every 20,000 miles or so; not joking.

A few months ago I woke up in the middle of the night and realized I had never checked the other slippery fluids.
I spent the next day checking the rear and front diff's, transmission and transfer case. All were full and the color of dark honey. I drained and replaced the fluids; probably should have just left it alone.

I have seen quite a few Tundras with 8' beds. They make them, just not many of them.

My 2010 has a 8' bed

a couple of things to point out.

I'd rather buy a newer vehicle with high mileage over a older vehicle with low mileage.
Odds are to get to the higher mileage it has been maintained.
A vehicle that sits, especially outside ages from rust and corrosion more than one thats moving.

I'll bet that if a GM vehicle ever hit a million miles GM would do one of two things, either ignore it or get it back to find out what they did wrong so that it never happens again.

Remember reading about a guy with a Chevy pu that drove 800 miles a day. Ga to SC to TN to GA, every day, hauling newspapers.
He got oil changed every 4 days.

Racked up a million pretty quick.
GM ignored him.
But Pennzoil didn't.