Show us what you tow.

It towed great. Actually better than the Rockwood Roo 233S that has a 4300 dry weight. I think that has to do with the way the weight is distributed though. But yeah, my truck does great now that I have modified almost everything to do it. A tundra would have been cheaper, but I love my INACOMA. As for passes, no problem. I can run any pass I have come up on at about 65. Just have to be able to afford the fuel to do it. Got a whoopping 7mpg towing from Pocatello, ID to Missoula, MT and back. With both trailers in wind both ways. And get 13mpg not towing in any condition over 60mph. Under 60mph it goes up towing and not towing. But again, I have spent more money building this truck to do it, than a new tundra would have costed me, with trade in. LOL

 

With the towing package towing the trailer over a pass, it will be fine, but just expect to almost be able to watch your gas gauge go down as your scaling up passes; as well as being aware of near fill up areas for gas

 

And watch your trans temps skyrocket. Those long passes unlock the torque converter and build heat. I was running the factory trans cooler and an aux cooler in series and still had to let the transmission cool on a few of the passes. If your not monitoring the temps it would be very easy to do damage.

 

With the towing package comes an upgraded trans cooler. do you have that, or just standard? Also, watching RPM's this past weekend, it'll sit right around 4-4500 rpms on uphill but never seemed to break up past that.

 

All tacoma's with the tow package come with the same cooler. Without the tow package the trans cooler is in the radiator. I had the cooler in the rad plus the tow package Toyota cooler and another aftermarket cooler in series. When the outside temps were warm and on the steeper long grades the temps would start to climb as soon as the torque converter unlocked. I would have to pull over occasionally to allow the temps to fall before continuing.

I now in a 18 with the manual trans. No worrying if I'm damaging the trans.

 

No. Manual transmissions don't generate heat the way automatics do, because there's no active pumping of fluid for the purpose of carrying a load. The gears themselves carry all of the load from the engine, so the oil is only there for a lubricant. Most of the heat from an automatic comes from the torque converter, which a manual transmission lacks.

 

If you are running those RPM's yes the truck can do it but your torque convertor is not locked up and you are generating heat faster than you can cool it. I also have two external coolers and it won't keep up. That is why I put 4.88's in the truck. I no longer have the trans unlocking. But top speed is very low.

 

my tacoma doesn't have an automatic... why would it unlock if it wasn't about to shift, or its already in a gear too low to lock?
(my F250 4-speed slushbox will only lock in 3rd and 4th, but thats good for all speeds above about 40MPH even up the steepest grades).

 

If you have a manual nothing unlocks. It only applies to automatic transmissions that have a torque converter.

 

sorry, i worded that poorly. i was asking, when does the tacoma automatic unlock when you're towing over mountains and stuff ? I don't know because I've not driven an auto tacoma. i know when my ford locks and unlocks.

 

Anytime you get your foot into it. You can feel that its locked based on rpm and as soon as you step on it and it downshifts to 4th the torque converter stay unlocked if you have your foot into it. Easy up on the throttle and it will lock but its impossible on the long steep grades to keep it locked.

 

hmm, what if you manually downshift ahead of time at a point where you can coast on the throttle for a couple seconds? thats what I do with my ford .... I'll shift at the bottom of the hill before it starts to climb, let it engage the TC lock while basically coasting, THEN apply power up the grade...

If I do find myself in 3rd after an auto downshift under heavy throttle, I back off on the pedal for a couple seconds, and watch the RPM drop to the locked-in-3rd rate, then step on the power pedal again.

 

thats what I do with my stick shift tacoma, too. shift into 4th or even 3rd at the bottom of a steep grade, keep the rpms in the happy zone.

 

The problem is that on long steep grades it stays unlocked and starts building heat. On smaller steep grades I wasn't having a issue. As soon as the toque converter lock my trans temps fell like a stone.

 

Your best answer is to get it in the right gear for the speed before you can let heat build up from hunting. If you're going to be going 65-ish up a steep grade, 3rd (2nd gen 5-speed auto) is actually fine, and keeping it spinning at 4,500 rpm is a lot better on the engine than lugging it around in D while trying to avoid it from down shifting.

Towing is a lot like driving a performance car. Everything will work best when you keep the engine near its peak power. Engine braking, acceleration, transmission wear, everything. This is true for the auto and manual... If you were to try and lug up a hill in a high gear in the manual (lets say 6th or 5th) you're putting a ton of torque into the torque converter and it's just going to be abusive. In all cases it's just best to put your engine in its happy place between 3,500 and redline.

 

FTFY. Manual transmissions don't have torque converters.

 

Anyone here trailer a Polaris rzr 2 or 4 seater? How’s your Tacoma handle it?

 

If your running 4500 rpm on steep grade the torque converter will be unlocked. It doesn't matter how you drive it. On steep grades the torque converter will be unlocked and your generating lots of heat. If the grade is long enough heat will build past 220°. I believe the light comes on at 240 but at the point trans fluid is deteriorating quickly.

 

Agreed. The light denotes an emergency is about to occur. So if the light comes on, definitely pull over ASASP, make a sandwich, and let it cool off. And then have the transmission fluid changed at the earliest convenience, because it's pretty much shot once you cook it.

 

Huh, yeah, not sure why I typed torque converter... but yeah, a clutch is really just a 1:1 torque converter anyway. It converts torque to equal (or less when slipping) torque on the output side...

torque converters in automatics just happen to be nothing more than hydraulic turbines with a specialized purpose.

My point is still valid though. Hang out at your engine's happy place when it comes to power, and you'll cause less issues with all components, whether its an auto or manual. There's a reason why people driving manuals put them in a high gear while driving slow to check for slipping clutches. The torque required to move the truck at slower speeds with a high gear (numerically low ratio) is extremely high, and that's when you'll feel a slipping clutch if its going bad.

Higher RPM with proper gear selection is far better than trying to play games and let these lug along like they're a diesel in a high gear and maintain low RPM.

I'm not saying just floor it to hold it at a higher RPM either... But it is totally valid to maintain 35mph at 4,500 RPM up a steep grade in 2nd where you could have done it at 3,000 RPM in 3rd. It's going to be easier on the driveline than lugging it in a gear that might induce slipping on a clutch, or hunting on an automatic.