First Towing Experience - Pretty Impressed!

My buddy bought a boat today and I helped him tow it about 50 miles back home. I have an 08 AC TRD OR 4x4 V6 6-Speed with Tow Package.

Mileage was pretty bad. We must have been getting like 10mpg towing. We used about a 1/4 tank to get there and 1/2 a tank to get back. Granted, I was being very conservative with which gear to use (6-Speed) so I was probably running a little higher RPM than I had to.

We were estimating the weight to be around 4500-5000. The manufacturer rates the boat around 3400 without motor, so adding in the motor, random stuff in the boat, fluids, and the galvanized steel trailer, I figured close to 5K.

All in all I think the truck towed it great. Much better than I expected. No sway to speak of and it had decent power. Acceleration wasn't fast but it was there. I easily held 55mph in 5th gear. I tried 6th for a little but it seemed happier in 5th. If I were to tow this more often I would definitely get the leaf spring TSB done but I'm happy without it, for now.

This is probably the most she'll ever tow. I plan on getting a Jet Ski but that won't weigh more than 1500lbs, if that.

It would be nice to have a 2-Lo on the transfer case for doing low speed maneuvers in the parking lot without slipping the hell out of my clutch (especially given the 6-speeds crazy reverse ratio) and a shorter first gear wouldn't have been so bad for starting on inclines (though the first gear ratio is just being nit picky).

Anyway, just thought I'd post my thoughts!

 

You were getting much worse mileage if you used a half tank to go 50 miles.

 

It ended up being 165 miles for 13.2 gallons for the whole trip.

 

10 mpg is reasonble considering the combined weight of the truck + trailer was likely over 9500 lb.

 

I agree! We also had 4 people in the truck combing over 700lbs so we were definitely pushing 10K altogether.