Gen 3 Towing Thread

That's pretty stellar mpg while towing. Nice.

 

Earlier this year when I was heading to my Mini show in the mountains of NC.

 

I know I've been very critical of the 2GR vs. the 1GR, but the 3rd gen did a better job towing than I expected.

Instead of driving like I would with my 2nd Gen or our Ram2500 I drove it like I would with a 4cyc and it really helped, it also helped having the truck shifted into S4 with ECT engaged. Installed a Tekonsha P3 the night before, set to 9 with the truck loaded and set to 5 with the empty trailer. Trailer loaded was around 5,500lbs

This is a new trailer for us and I was surprised at how much lighter it was than our old 16ft utility trailer. Truck will be a little heavier when I go to pick it up.


20180817_124320 by taylor82_2001, on Flickr

 

We have been thinking about buying a TT. I have been told that renting a TT to see if you like the lifestyle and are comfortable towing can be a good idea. I can rent a new 18 ft 3,050 dry trailer from an RV dealer here for $99/day. I can rent a WDH from Uhaul or the RV rental place. Is a trailer brake controller a necessity to pull it a couple hundred miles to get a feel for towing and RVing?

 

I think you should absolutely install a brake controller, reason being safety but also it could just take one sketchy stop to turn you off of ever owning or renting a camper again. It's a great time and I think you owe it to yourself to have your truck set up travel trailer ready to get the right experience safely. You'll love it man. That camper sounds like the perfect trial set up.

 

have you tried the boost settings on the P3? I keep mine in B1 most of the time unless I don't want it to hit the trailer brakes much. B1 is a bit too much around town but helps on the freeway when it feels like they don't come on during light braking

 

Unless this is a new thing, I dont think you can rent a WDH from U-Haul

 

After looking again, I think you are correct. Looks like they only sell them. Looks like I'll have to get it from the RV dealer.

 

I would agree with reloader that you'll have a much better (and more accurate) experience with a brake controller.

Also, I would guess that the trailer rental place would require one, since it's likely that a trailer of that weight is required by law to have a braking system. (A rental could have surge brakes, which wouldn't need a controller, but that's pretty unlikley in a camper)

 

Thanks. I didn't realize that electric trailer brakes will not work at all without the controller or I would not have even asked the question

 

I should be towing about 100 miles late tomorrow night. I have kept the transmission thermostat pinned open since our last trip so I'm interested to see what the max temps are when we tow up the un-godly hills on highway 62 here in socal. Usually I hit 238F max with just the oversized cooler.

I'll post updates. Does anyone else run the thermostat pinned open when towing? It doesn't open until 195F on these third gens. Starting a long hill at 195-200F really doesn't help keep the temps low when the converter unlocks

 

So I towed for the first time with my Tacoma, about 2200lbs total. A 6x12 steel utility trailer with a Polaris sportsman & some misc gear. About 150 miles total with about 2000 feet in elevation gain total. Used S4 mostly, average 15MPG, didn’t pull as well as the 2014 Sierra 1500 I traded for it (shocking I know) but got better MPG and pulled it just fine. Could I run 80 on the interstate, no, should I, no. Could I do 70, and did it just fine. It pulled the hills at 55, the posted speed limit easy, stopped just as I expected. Overall very pleased.

 

Just had the recent TSB done that fixed the shifting issues and it also boosted gas mileage while towing.
I mainly pull a ~3,000 lb pop up camper. I was getting about 15.5 mpg, but just hit 17.0 mpg on a 250 mile pull this weekend. This was running from Memphis to a campground on the other side of Little Rock at about 72 mph.
Tailing 18 wheelers helps considerably also!

 

I love this truck except for the gearing, the road in the background of the first pic is a six mile descent from 5000 ft to about 1800 ft , even in first gear 2wd ,the truck continuously runs away with itself building up speed, this was my first Tacoma and I was bummed out with the compression factor and gearing on downhill descents even without the trailer on. The last few switchbacks I have to put it in 4 low so I can stay off the brake. I thought I would be tricky and added trailer brakes to the trailer, it didn't really help at all and I could of used that 400 dollars towards the new gears, so plan B, regearing to 4;88's next week.

 

Acquired a 3200lb camper this year. She handles it like an absolute champ! Using a p3 brake controller as well. The sway bar also helps a great deal.

 

How intensive would it be to re gear a MT? I'm really only concerned with reverse being too fast. Sucks for trailer maneuvers.

 

Major surgery. Probably involves making parts from scratch. And I agree, reverse is way, way too tall especially when backing a trailer up hill.

 

238 engine oil temps are handled well by synthetic oils. If you are interested you could get Redline or Amsoil with higher ZDDP for better lubricity and protection in high load situations. You could even purchase a TRD radiator cap that will hold higher pressures and increase the temp needed to boil the coolant. Last if you are really conscerned about temps, you can shutoff the AC and run the blower at max speed on the hottest setting. This will help cool the heater core which is like a mini-radiator.

 

Most of us are talking about transmission fluid temperature in this thread