Kevin McNulty
Former Editor, Mud Life
When The Datsun Pickup landed in the States, it quickly became one of the most popular economy trucks of the day. In the early '80s Nissan rebranded its line of vehicles and dropped the Datsun name, but it wasn't until the company released the fullsize Titan in 2004 that it gave American truck manufacturers a run for their money.
We contacted Trail Master, which has been in business for more than 30 years now. To help us with our Titan vs. Tundra testing, Trail Master supplied us with a couple of Titans, a suspension or two, and a good look at its manufacturing facilities.
We then traveled to Lamb Nissan in Scottsdale, Arizona, where we installed a Trail Master 6-inch suspension system on an '07 Titan. It's a relatively easy bolt-on installation, but takes the better part of a day. After the install we hit the highway for a road test and found the suspension to be responsive, comfortable, and highway friendly. The next day we headed down to the Crown King Trail to put Trail Master's feature truck with the same suspension and a 3-inch body lift through its paces in a head-to-head trail run with the Tundra. The suspension and body lift allowed the fitment of 37-inch tires, which gave it enough ground clearance to make it through some difficult obstacles. The tires were one size too big and rubbed a little, but overall we like the way the suspension handled and performed on the trail and highway. Most of all we liked that the suspension held up to some tough wheeling and didn't fail. If it doesn't break, it's certainly a product we approve of!
