Another million mile Toyota Tundra! Sheppard closes in again

Remember that guy who had a million mile Toyota Tundra? Well, he’s really close to doing it again. Yeah, again.

Victor Sheppard gave me a call this morning to wish me Happy Holidays. He also wanted to let me know he crossed the 900,000 mile mark at 2:10 a.m. near Corpus Christi, Texas, in another Toyota Tundra. Say, what?

A million mile Toyota Tundra redo

If you recall from the original million mile Toyota Tundra story I wrote in July 2016 for MotorTrend, Sheppard passed the million mile mark in a 2007 Tundra SR5 Double Cab with a 4.7-liter V-8. This time, he did it in a 2014 Toyota Tundra SR5 Double Cab with the 5.7-liter V-8.

If you followed the original story, you may know that Sheppard bought the 2014 model to replace the 2007 model just before it hit the million mile mark. Then Toyota, impressed with the million mile odo reading, offered him a trade — the 2007 model for a 2016 Limited Crew Cab. So, he used the 2014 model as his work truck and kept the 2016 model as a personal truck. Which is why it’s the 2014 model that has accumulated so much mileage.

Toyota tore apart that 2007 to see what lessons could be learned — especially since Sheppard did nothing to that truck except routine engine maintenance and a transmission repair.

Talking with Sheppard via phone, he said in addition to the routine engine maintenance on the 2014 truck, he replaced the alternator and the transmission. He took the transmission in to get repaired at 780,000 miles, but got tired of waiting for them to fix it, so he took it back and put 80,000 miles on it before having a new one installed. The issue was it would just spin, meaning climbing a hill doing 70 MPH would result in a speed of 35 MPH by the time he got to the top.

On the exterior, there is some more body damage than the first Tundra thanks to Hurricane Ida in 2021. He said that storm hit so hard it was like somebody took a 2×4 to his truck.

Inside, he said everything works perfectly, and the only thing to go out was the front seat recline motor at 800,000 miles. Considering Sheppard is well above 6 feet tall and has a defensive lineman frame, I’d say that’s pretty good. I’d also add he often reclines the seat and sleeps in his truck to save money while working his hotshot driver job, which has him driving thousands of miles delivering supplies as fast as possible.

What’s special about a million mile Toyota Tundra?

Many brands tout million mile trucks, however, this truck achievement is different.

First, “the beast,” as Sheppard named the original million mile Toyota Tundra, didn’t have a new engine — only a repaired transmission. Most other trucks that have a million miles have had the entire powertrain swapped at least once. One Dodge owner I interviewed with a million mile truck even had 12 transmission and three engines.

Sure, Sheppard’s 2014 truck had a new transmission, but it’s still impressive the engine hasn’t been replaced. And the original engine and transmission made it to 860,000 miles.
Second, all the maintenance on the Tundra was done at a dealership. Sheppard has a literal paper trail showing all the work done on the truck. That’s typically unheard of from my research.

Third, Sheppard did all the driving himself. Other million mile trucks often have either a husband and wife team working at a transportation company or the truck was bought used with hundreds of thousands of miles on it already. Not in this case.

Finally, this will be the third million mile Toyota Tundra I’ve documented that’s crossed that mark. I’ve seen a video with rumors of a fourth, but I haven’t been able to reach that owner.

When will he hit the million mile mark?

Currently, things are really slow as the year wraps up. Sheppard said if things pick up, he should be able to hit the mark in October 2024.

You better believe I’ll be there and have video and photos when he does it.

The bottom line

It is one thing to hit a million miles in a semi truck or a diesel-powered heavy-duty truck. Those are built for long-term durability standards above and beyond what a consumer truck is rated for. The fact he is going to be the only person I’ve ever heard of doing a million miles twice in his life with the same brand of truck is just amazing. Just simply amazing.

Million Mile Toyota Tundra, Take 2 Photo Gallery

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