Gen 3 Towing Thread

my first experience towing with my truck over the weekend left me unimpressed. I was hauling a sxs on my 16' trailer. Just guessing but I would say I was towing around 4000 lbs with another 300-400 lbs of gear in the truck bed. my truck really liked the higher rpm's so I started out at 70 with the tranny down shifting from 4th to 3rd frequently. So I kicked it up to 75-80 to get the rpm's up so that it might stay in 4th gear. It did seem to help some but not much. With that said we were driving into storms and had some 25-30mph cross winds from time to time. I averaged about 8 mpg on that trip. I had just bought the truck the day before so they may have something to do with it. I have read the tranny works better after it has 1200 miles on it so I'm hoping that improves. On the way home we took the scenic route home. With some slower speeds and twisty steep mountain roads it did ok. Still liked to shift into 3rd but I figured that with the steep grades. I personally think this truck would be a lot better with4:56 or even 4:88 gears if I plan to go with bigger tires.

 

Yea I probably had about 3k lbs back there and felt comfortable with it but that engine was screaming to keep up on mountain inclines. I wouldn't want another half ton on top of that for this truck. I think it's ideal for towing less than 3500lbs.

 

dude, 70-80 mph while towing is unrealistic if you want a mid sized truck to perform well and get good gas mileage

 

You said you bought the truck the day before...I'm pretty sure in the owners manual it says to wait 500 miles before towing. That may have something to do with it. You try using ECT? I know people on here have towed bigger loads and havn't had issues.

 

You also have to consider the size of the gears. The overdrive gears are smaller than the direct drive gears that means you have less material dealing with the amount of stress. That leads to quicker failures.

 

If you only tow 2 or 3 times a month , why risk it ? Tow in 4th (auto) and pay a few more dollars on gas for the trip. You will never have to worry if you did any damage next week , or 10 years from now . My 2 cents on it .

 

NIiiiiiiiiiiiiiccceeeee set up. I've been eye ballin that trailer. Kudos to you sir.

 

Didn't feel it ? REALLY...I feel a 2700lb trailer behind the Tacoma and the Tundra....Doubt it

 

Compliments to the Luke AFB Outdoor Rec. They have 6 of these units. Only a year old and maintained pristinely

 

Gotta love that! Here at Hill they just recently sent out an email of all the trailers they are selling. Nothing sparks my interest but I'm just waiting for them to unload all the Honda and Yamaha generators they have..

 

Here's my little Jumping Jack. Owned for three years and I still love how simple it is. I was previously pulling it with my 2000 4Runner. It did fine but with my atv on the trailer combined with hills the 4Runner wasn't happy. Fully loaded with atv and all my shit I'm maybe a little over 3000 lbs.

 

Well how does it do with the 2016 Tacoma pulling it?

 

Oh sorry guess I left that part out. I forgot it was back there a few times. I can see how people are having issues with the trans wanting to shift like crazy. Just need to learn how to work the S shifting or just use ECT then problem solved. I can see how a heavier trailer can be difficult but I shouldn't have to worry about that.

 

S is essentially a shift limiter. Keeps trans from shifting into higher gear. I kept it in 4.

 

Good to know Smitty! I'll try that next time.

 

First time towing today. There's about 550 pounds of 223 brass in each of those barrels. Total weight, around 1100 pounds, plus the 1000 pound trailer. It towed just fine at 70-75 mph, using S mode. I was going from San Antonio to Kyle, Texas so mostly gradual uphill. Got about 13mpg. On the way back I got about 15mpg with the empty trailer. For the most part, I could hardly tell the trailer was back there.
First time towing today.

 

That's almost the identical weight I tow with my 2nd gen. Two Honda Fourtax Ranchers (575 each) and a 1000 pound trailer. You can tell it's back there on braking and acceleration but 2200 pounds isn't bad at all.

 

Have a pic fully loaded?

 

Fully loaded? With my atv on the trailer?

 

Yea, I was curious what that little trailer looks like with an ATV on top. Not your typical utility trailer for an ATV. What size is it? If you have a link to the maker I can go look at it there.