Do I NEED more power? Does my family need to go on a diet?

For what you’re doing, keep the RPMs near the torque peak.

 

If you want a better response and less gear shifting then regear with 4.88’s. These trucks are geared super high with double overdrive to meet fuel standards. You’ll see minimal fuel efficiency hit but your trans will stop wondering as much and it will have more getup. The engine can make good power, but you’ll never feel it with ratios that come with it at the factory. It needs to see RPM to move.

 

Set cruise, turn music up and enjoy the trip.

Take a look at shift sense pro. It holds gears longer and keeps you in the power bad for about $150.

 

Ok that was a good read until it gave me VANOS flashbacks and I wanted to throw up and burn my wallet lol.

Maybe if I lift the truck I'll consider a regear.

No easy suggestions for more power then, huh?

 

Take a hard look at shift sense pro. Doesnt add power but really improves driving experience.

 

65 slow lane 2000 rpms or under all most of the time. taco life. you learn to love the feel of the road at slow speeds.

 

I’m guessing her civic will take you off the line....

Just about everything gets me

Suggestion for more power: Get a new F150

 

With a completely empty truck (except me), mine will hunt between 3rd and 6th while maintaining 85 with cruise control. It seems to hunt less with cruise control off. Mine is a 2018 TRD OR 2wd with ShiftSense Pro. The drivetrain just sucks for high speed driving. Anything below 70 and it is a LOT better. Learn the behavior of the S modes. There are 6, and the one that you choose is the upper limit. So if you are in S5, the truck will shift normally between 1-5th but will not go to 6th. S4 will limit the truck to 1-4th but will not shift to 5th or 6th. S6 is basically the same as D.

In my opinion the ShiftSense Pro is not really worth it. While not quite as much as stock, mine still gear hunts and pisses me off daily during my commute (25 miles each way @85mph). All the SSP does is read the truck's speed and throttle input from the OBD port and automatically shift between S2-S6. If SSP has you in S5, you are still at truck's mercy when it decides it needs to be in 3rd gear to go from 83mph to 85mph. Yeah, I really needed redline for that, Taco . Around town, SSP does make it a lot better but it still doesn't do what I want it to do. Recently I've been just putting it in S5 manually when I get on the freeway and dropping to S4 before the bigger hills. This keeps me out of 3rd at least.

I have not driven an OVTuned truck, but I hear good things. I also heard good things about SSP though, so...

 

Ect might keep it out of 6th but if you put it in S5 it will definitely keep it out of 6th. As someone said earlier, 5th and 6th are both overdrives in this truck.

 

Buy it ...then try it?

 

Anything else to add?

You realize that once something like OVtune is on your truck... it doesn't "expire". LOL, gimme a "trial" version for free. I'll take it off if I decide not to purchase.. HONEST.

Maybe Mat should organize a travelling road show for you.

 

Intersting... When we go camping it's a family of 4 in the truck about two hundred pounds of stuff in the bed (which includes two coolers full of ice a tent and a canopy) plus all the other camping gear. I also have a four bike rack with four bikes on the back. Doing 75 it's usually at around 2500 rpms and if I have to go up a hill, incline or something it jumps to 3000 for a bit and then back down to 2500 again.

 

That same drive back in January from Big Bend State Park to Houston is why I got the OVTune and love it! My friends convoying were yiping the whole time asking why I couldn't cruise at 75-80 mph. Unfortunately there was 6-8 mph head winds and it just jumped from 4th-5th every 10 secs for 11 hours. Installed the OVTune and it will hold 5th longer and actually drive in 6th. To do 80+ mph its in 5th no matter what but I have a few mods (3" lift, 33" tires, 400 lbs of armor, 400 lbs of gear). I run the 91 octane with 93 now and I hardly ever hit 4th unless I'm accelerating or there is more than 4-5 mph winds which is quite a bit on the coast when I drive from Lake Charles to Houston every week.

 

Yes.

Or overgeared.

Depending on who you ask.

Changing 2 sets of final drive gears is not a cheap solution. Compare that cost to MPG lost by running in 5th on loaded hwy cruises, and I'll bet you find the ROI will be about 4 years after you've sold the truck.

 

I'm well aware that you can't test drive everything you buy in life but something as expensive as a new truck shouldn't be one of those things. I also know that you're not going to be able to test drive in every situation you'll likely encounter later on . There's just too much information on Tacoma World to not know that others are complaining about their Tacomas not pulling like a DuraMax or at least test driving more than just around the block ,Oh and I don't test drive my underwear before I buy it either, and then again I don't get on some forum and complain about them not fitting right. If you keep reading on this forum you'll see a lot of buy before you try.

 

Did you note what kind of MPG you were getting before and after the OVTune and going 80+?

 

Nope, no easy performance upgrades. But you really don’t need more power. I just went camping last weekend with the in-laws. Towed their tent trailer loaded with their camping gear at 1500lb, all of them, my wife, my dog, myself for about 750lb. My truck had a soft topper, RTT, fridge, cooler, all of my other camping gear for another 300-400 lb. I had 0 problems pulling 6% I-5 grades for a couple thousand feet worth of elevation in NorCal and Oregon and keeping with traffic up at 70mph. But I have a 6 speed with lower OD’s in 5th and 6th and a final of 4.30 and can keep the RPM where the engine likes to live life. If you have an auto 4.88’s are really the only thing this truck needs to feel more preppy, and even then with them you’re still geared slightly higher than an MT.

 

Max Payload is only about 1000-1150 lbs on these trucks. My door Jamb says max is 1000 lbs and that has to include any passengers and cargo. As others pointed out the issue is gearing and the fact that 80 mph is pretty quick for something that looks like a brick. Your fuel econ will drop dramatically as well going from 60 to 70 and even more so when you go from 70 - 80 mph

 

So we are complaining about 85 mph + with cruise now ?

 

Guess that would help! lol

Before OVTune (Trip): 14 mpg @ 75 mph
Before OVTune (Normal): 16-17mpg @ 75 mph
After OVTune 87 tune : 18 mpg @ 75 mph
After OVTune 91 tune: 19 mpg @ 75 mph