Show us what you tow.

Ok. So the other guys got you all set up for your brake controller. Now you can post up pictures of that Little Guy. Us teardrop peeps live to see other set ups!

 

Very soon! I pick him up first week of October!

 

I'm sure your like a kid waiting for Christmas right now.

 

Oh yes! I have to take a trip next week that I cannot cancel. But I did cancel my vacay trip to Denver the following week just to make this trip!

 

Is the trip to pick up the trailer going to be the first camping trip with the new teardrop?

 

I'll be in not a hurry, but need to get home promptly, but I'll be using it as my hotel on the way home!

 

I know it's a couple weeks away but have a safe trip and enjoy the teardrop!

 

Hi everyone I'm a newbie here. My wife and I got a 20" camper this summer. We've taken it out a few times each getting further on the road. I'm getting between 9 and 12 mpg and other than slow acceleration I can two between 60 and 65mph with little issue.
On our last trip however I had a terrible sway. I'm having a weight distribution/sway control hitch installed. the trailer weighs only 3,800lbs on the top end but it is like a parachute when hit by wind. the weight distribution will help. I'm also adding an AFE Cold Air Intake and Throttle Body Spacer as well as a stainless steel Gibson Performance Exhaust. Those should improve the performance. I'm not as concerned about mpg as I am about being a road hazard.

 

Nice looking TT. I've been towing a similar sized TT with my 16. I was worried about buying a mid size truck at first but now I'm certain I made the right decision. The WDH and sway controll help out allot. Airbags are also a nice improvement. Im curious to see if you're performance upgrades make a difference.

 

indeed, thats a big sail.

the WDH is mostly about up/down, it transfers some of the tongue weight to the front axle of the truck, and also reduces the tendancy to 'porpoise' after going over a bump or dip. an antisway bar will arrest side to side swaying.

supposedly Andersen WDH's do both, and do them very well. Rather than the conventional spring bar and chain style WDH, they use cables and cams.

my 3500 lb (max) 16' Casita gets around 15 mpg average (12-13 if I'm pushing it), and I've not felt hardly any wind sway, but its more streamlined and has a smaller profile. Its also very cozy for 2, and not suitable for kids.

my (non-tacoma) experience is that intake snorkle ('cold air intakes') and exhaust upgrades only affect the noise the engine makes, not any actual performance. if a bigger air snorkle would give more performance for free, don't you think Toyota would have put it on there? and the cone filters on many of those cold air intakes are LESS effective at filtering dust than the factory air filters. For towing, you need more low end torque rather than redline horsepower, getting that would require major engine re-work, or a supercharger/turbocharger (plus additional fuel injection capacity and mapping), or something.

 

My exhaust will he shipped on Monday. I will post after everything is installed and let yall know what improvements are made.

 

Nice set-up!. Are you towing in 4th or 5th? Also, if you don't want to go with air bags, you can go with Timbren rear bump stops. They have worked well with all my vehicles and you don't get the harsh ride while empty/no trailer.

 

Thanks. My wife loves it. Room for the 2 of us and 2 small dogs. After 21 years in the Army my camping now required AC and my own bathroom...lol

Help me out. What do you mean by towing in 4th or 5th? I keep it in "drive". Forgive my ignorance. This is all new to me

 

every vehicle I've ever owned with an automatic transmission, the owners manual says never use "D" (or OD or whatever) top gear when towing, downshift. most of my cars have 4-speed automatics, so you put them in '3' instead of 'D', and '2' if you need more power up a hill. what you really want to avoid is situations where your transmission is shifting back and forth between two gears

my tow vehicle now has a 6 speed manual, and the owners manual says not to use 6 at all when towing, so I use 5 on the level freeway, and 4 or even 3 going up long grades when towing.

 

This is good to know. Now I have to go read the owners manual on my husband T4R for next months trailering

 

Thanks I appreciate the input. I will re-read the owners manual

 

I keep it "sport mode". I usually leave it 4th and as I approach steeper grade hills I'll shift down right after the truck shifts down. This prevents the auto trans from trying to jump between 3rd and 4th. As we level back out I'll up shift and allow the truck to shift back up to 4th. On slight down grades and flat highway with no head wind the truck will pull comfortably in 5th gear about 60-65mph at little over 2k rpm. I've hit 6th only on downhills and that was me screwing around to see if it would. We visited Tonto natural Bridge last week and it was 2 miles of 14% grade. It was between 1st and 2nd gear to pull at about 20 mph lol. I've been monitoring trans temps and have seen very small fluctuations even towing in the AZ 110+ temps.

 

I appreciate all the input. My 12 prerunner has a 4 speed. The owners manual does say to keep it out now "drive". The instructions are burried...not an excuse in should have done my homework

Too late to read more today but I will study the owners manual tomorrow

 

Well I need to admit that I'm a dumb*** in read the entire owners manual this morning. I've been towing in overdrive. I won't make that mistake again

I appreciate everyone's input

 

Bullsh!t . My TT was 3700# dry. I towed in 4th, 60-63 mph, approx. 10mpg. It's flat in Fla. so I never needed to downshift. Happy camping.