Gen 3 Towing Thread

Pulled my 5x8 cargo trailer from the St Louis area to North little rock and back. 13.9mpg empty using cc and maintaining 65-70mph ect on, s4. 16mpg returning not using cc and staying 60-65mph ect on and s5, little downshifting with about 2400lbs total behind me. Can't complain about that.

 

This is my project car.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...of-idiocy-journal.527020/page-6#post-17893122





I've had this Reese 10000 Straightline hitch set up since my 2000 Tundra. Has not failed yet...

 

It is less than 10 miles from our house to the lake where we launch the boat. Boat plus trailer are about 6000 lbs. Yes it towed easier with our 2011 f150 Ecoboost, but I prefer the taco for Everything else. The truck was working hard, but it was only 10 miles, Andersen WDH, trailer brakes. The best part of a sailboat on a trailer that draws 5 feet is no towing mirrors required.

 

Do you not have to use a crane to launch that? Also if it’s surge brakes you shouldn’t use an WDH

 

Yes local boat club has 2 ton hoist. 4 wheel electric brakes. I don't think that float launching an Olson 30 is going to work veey well at any ramps on Lake Champlain.

 

I literally just float launched my parents 27 foot sailboat about 15 minutes ago. Winged keel FTW

 

Does it draw 63"? I would need 7ish ft of water to float launch and the hoist is free, just don't monopolize it on race night.

 

I might as well contribute since I upgraded from my old 4 cylinder 2nd gen to the third gen so I had something that towed the race car more comfortably. I'm typically hauling around 3,300lbs gross trailer weight with the camping gear (not that heavy), tools (heavy), and wife (heavier than a few years ago) about a dozen times a year. Hauling this load (and occasionally a motorcycle in the bed too) around New England I average between 14-16mpg depending how hilly things get. The truck handles it great with no issues, even when having to brake suddenly or traveling down steep hills. I also have plenty of power with the 3.5/6-speed manual combo. I have also pulled much heavier cars with the truck lightly loaded and it has still performed excellent.

Here it is with the race car:

And here it is one of those "followed me home" buys:

 

What kind of trailer is your car hauler?

 

It's an Aluma 7816, really high quality and very light. Only 1150lbs empty.

 

Question for you guys towing

Based on my reading is ect on and tow in S-4

But do you tow in 4hi or 4lo?

 

2 hi
4 hi on dry pavement is not good.

 

Do the trd cai and exhaust have an effect on towing?

 

I always use 2wd unless I am pulling a trailer into a muddy field. I go to 4wd just before I go in so I dont get stuck with 5k load.
Ect and S4.

 

No. The TRD CAI has no effect on performance without a tune. And I doubt that would even cause a noticible power boost. I call all cold air intakes placebo air intakes. I install them because they sound cool. I’m well aware they have zero (and sometimes negative) effect on HP despite the manufacturer claims.

The TRD exhaust may have a minimal hp gain above 5000rpm, but you wouldn’t notice it and it won’t help towing. Sounds good though!

 

I haven't posted in this thread in a long time, but I haven't done much towing. A few weeks ago, we took our atvs up to the Hatfield-McCoy Trails in West Virginia. Something I've wanted to do for a long time! Google maps says it's 425 miles one way, so 850 round trip. The vast majority of the trip was interstate with 60-70mph speed limits, depending on location. The trailer weight was somewhere between 2400-2500lbs and we had a couple hundred lbs of stuff in the bed of the truck. The truck did great and we didn't have any problems during the trip. I used ECT and S4, and S5 in the flat areas of GA, SC, and NC. In many places it would cruise just fine in S5 if it was flat, but any kind of hill required S4. Going around and over some of the mountains, I would have to keep it in S3 to maintain speed or accelerate on those long grades. Coming down the mountains, I could put it in S4 and the engine breaking would basically maintain speed without needing too much input from the breaks.

Gas mileage varied throughout the trip, as part of the trip had long uphill grades and some areas were flat and the speed limit was only 60mph. Our first stop for gas, I was averaging about 12mpg. The second stop I averaged an even 15mpg. That was mostly due to the speed limit dropping down to 60mph. Coming back home, I averaged just over 14mpg and 13mpg on our two stops. All in all, I didn't think those numbers were terrible. My parents went with us and took their SxS and my dad's 2018 SR5 averaged a little over 15mpg for the entire trip. Though, their trailer weight was only about 1700lbs.

This is by far the longest trip I've taken towing anything and I was surprised at how easy the whole trip was. The truck handled the extra weight just fine. It did have to shift down to keep rpms up on some of those long grades, but it always felt composed. The engine breaking was great coming down the mountains. I thought the gas mileage was reasonable and I think I could have done better in that regard if I kept my speed around 60mph the entire trip. This setup is what I tow the most, so the Taco is perfect for my needs. It could definitely handle more weight just fine, but we won't be towing anything much larger than this.

 

Nice to see some other Mastercrafts on here. We keep ours on a lift at the lake the majority of the time. Like you mentioned when we do take it out it’s pretty much just around town. I’m sure we’re maxing out the tow capacity, especially with fuel, coolers, equipment, and friends. It revs a good bit on any kind of incline but stops surprising well with the surge/ disc trailer brakes. I’m not in a hurry to get a new truck but when I do I will definitely be going bigger.

 

Nice boat.
I might be getting an XT. If so, I will definitely be trading for a full size. Most likely, a F150 3.5 ecoboost w/ HD Payload pkg.

 

I've now towed my Ranger RT188 a few times since last Friday when I picked up my Tacoma. While being an aluminum boat and substantially lighter than other's tow weight on here, I'd have to say that the towing experience had it's negatives and positives compared to my 4runner V8.

Negatives:
Gear selection seems to hunt quite a bit when cruising
Lower end torque didn't seem to match that of the 4runner

Positives:
At highway cruising speeds, there's much more power to pass up traffic or speed up
Braking power is much better than my 4runner which is super important in stop and go traffic as well as decelerating down hill.

Overall, other than the gear hunting and hearing the truck downshift every now and then, I'm very happy. Just don't add a muffler or you'll get annoyed of the tone changes every time there's a gear change. LOL!