The Tacoma Towing Bible

Id recommend a larger trans cooler

 

I was thinking that at first but I didn't get anywhere near the 250 degrees "oh shit" mark.

 

Nice, I'm more interested in the M3 and how it went on the track. I'd love to track my NTM E90 335i. I'm running a MHD tune and it's fast but I need to upgrade the coolers before tracking it.

 

Still waiting for track pictures to be available but this is my E46 M3. This car handles like it is on rails!!! It's absolutely amazing on fun, responsive and forgiving this car is. Besides upgraded tires and coilovers, there is no upgrades. Brakes work great for what they are, but I am a late braker and will be looking to upgrade to Stoptech rotors and pads before committing to BBK (most people that get BBK don't even use BBK like they are suppose to). The S54 engine just screams at 8k rpm. If you can keep your speed/rpm high when coming out of a corner, this car is very capable of keeping up with the big boys.

But to get back onto the thread topic. I use to track my bikes a lot but recently got into a really bad motorcycle accident and actually walked away very lucky. So I am taking a break from bikes and got back into a car. I plan on doing more track days so will be looking for a used aluminum car trailer. At first I was iffy about my truck hauling my car (supercharged Taco with 33" tires, not geared) but boy was I wrong. Of course with the help with a brake controller, I got up and down that mountain in LA with zero issues. I was thinking maybe selling the Taco and getting a full sized truck. Just wasn't all about that idea because driving a full sized truck as a DD sucks.

 

Awesome. On the N54 its the opposite, big torque starting as low as 2.5k and shift at 6k. But the Twin Turbo N54 (tuned) gets hot quick so for now its quick blasts for me. Anyway you got through the grapevine okay so your good. In the summer it may be different. The 4.0 Tacoma's pull very well for a midsize truck. You have the blower so even more so but the cooling could be the only thing if you have to push it say in the summer months? I've been contemplating a full size truck also, but I drive the beemer whenever I can so the truck is just for bigger work jobs and offroad / recreation.

 

Do you have any towing mods to your Taco or is it stock?

 

you may want to "Hey Jeremy .

You can download a user manual directly from

$160 ScanGauge - SG2 Ultra Compact 3-in-1 Automotive Computer with Customizable Real-Time Fuel Economy Digital Gauges for OBD2 Vehicles

scan guage . I am not sure what model you have so I am pointing to all the user guides here .
http://www.scangauge.com/support/user-manuals/

If you were in 4th gear , you were in the proper gear for towing . 4th gear is direct drive in the A750E transmission . 5th gear is overdrive .

How long have you owned the truck ?

Program your scan guage to read the trans temps . If it gets higher than 220 , pull over and let the truck idle in park until the temps drop back down to 170 where it should be
Lets have a peek at what transmission coolers do
TRANSMISSION COOLERS
If you do not have a transmission cooler on your truck and you plan to tow or haul heavy loads or you are in heavy stop and go traffic and use 4X4 low a lot , consider purchasing a cooler . The cooler thats built into your rad is designed to cool the transmission with the weight of just the truck by itself .When you are in 4x4 low , your torque converter is usually in the stall stage and creates a tonne of additional heat .You dont have much air flow going through your rad when you are in low range 4x4 .
160 - 200 are considered normal temps providing your engine radiator is functioning properly . If your engine overheats , your transmission will also overheat
Normal fluid temperature in transmission to be 175 deg. F.

Rate of oxidation to double for each temperature increase of 20 deg F above normal (175 deg F). As oxidation rate doubles, useful life of fluid is cut in half.

At 175 deg F life is 100,000 miles
At 195 deg F (20 deg above 175) life is 50k miles
At 215 life is 25k miles
At 235 life is 12k
At 255 life is 6,250
At 275 life is 3,000
At 295 life is 1500
At 315 life is 750

At temperatures much above 300 deg F the metals in the transmission will tend to warp, twist etc. high temperatures causes the formation of varnish deposits which impair or pre vent transmission operation.

At a fluid temperature of 415 deg F fluid life is 30 minutes!" great info at this thread and others https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/trans-overheated.428722/

 

The problem is that 2018 Toyota Tacoma AT has a thermostat that doesn't open until the trans is in the 190 deg to 195 deg range. The only thing you can do about that is to pin the thermo open.

 

Yeah, I've noticed my 2nd gen idles around 190 also.

I haven't tipped over 220 or 225 while towing on hot days, uphill, AC on, at about 1,000 ft elevation, with a 5,000 lb boat.

I just flat out don't see the need for a trans cooler in my situation. Maybe it'll be different next summer when I take the same boat, and 2 more passengers, luggage and coolers (probably overweight) through the hills in Kentucky... but even then I'm not too concerned.

Trans coolers really don't seem necessary in the midwest unless you're dangerously overloaded in weight. The stock one might not be very good, but it's just about all we need for the weights this truck is capable of pulling.

 

I have the tow package so there is the OEM trans cooler, but it's awfully small. I also have added the scan gauge but have not towed the TT yet so I can't give you any temps yet. I'm going to ask the dealer if I can add another trans cooler inline with the OEM one without affecting the warranty. It's a closed system so I'll maybe preload the new cooler with AT fluid and check the level as shown on another thread on TCW.

 

I just towed the boat home last night, and I was surprised at how well the truck towed it. It wasn't good, but it wasn't the white knuckled ride I was expecting. I locked it into 4th gear, and kept the speed in the low 60's. Anything more and the truck felt loose and floaty.

Would those Sumo spings help with that feel?

 

Did you happen to notice how close you were to the bump stops?

 

I'll report back on Monday when I splash the boat, but the tongue weight didn't seem too bad.

 

Cool. I tow a 4500# boat with a dual axle trailer also. I added an AAL recently and my boats in storage so I haven’t had a chance to see what it looks likes hooked up to the boat. My truck is leveled, so my plan is to step up to a HD Dakar pack if the truck sags too much...I’m usually towing in the dark going to/from fishing spots, so I’m worried I’ll be blinding oncoming traffic if my rear end drops too much.

Nice boat btw.

 

I just got back from the dealer and they told me that The OEM cooler is all I need. He said that is sufficient to cool the trans during towing. I will let you know how that works out. I have a scan gauge and will be monitoring the temps.

 

Hi folks.


I’ve been doing a lot of reading in these forums and following up on the recommended links related to towing with the Tacoma. I couldn’t list every contributor that brought me from total noob to somewhat informed about towing, but I am incredibly appreciative of your help.


I’m finalizing my numbers to make sure I’m within all of the towing related capacities and there are a few things that I can’t seem to find solid guidance on. The goal here is to make sure I don’t inadvertently purchase a camper that pushes me past any of the capacities.


If anyone here has thoughts on these, I’d appreciate your perspective.


Questions:


Looking at a couple of WD hitches, most in this range around 100lbs. As this hitch is attached to the truck I’m assuming that it is added to the payload capacity, but as it is also attached to the camper frame and redistributes weight I’m actually not sure where to add it into the math for capacity checking. Does anyone know where I can find guidance on which capacities this weight is counted in?


Considering tongue weight, the camper I’m looking at has a hitch weight stated on the sticker. Once I add a load to the camper, balance the weight in the camper and set the WD hitch correctly, is the goal for that tongue weight to stay the same or should I count on that going up (and hitting the payload capacity at a higher weight)?


As I can’t actually weigh the truck and the camper together to get axel weights before purchasing it, is there a straightforward way to estimate loaded tongue weight and the axel weights for both the camper and the truck axels with a properly adjusted WD hitch in place. My assumption is that the WD hitch keeps the front truck axel the same, loads the rear truck axel at the tongue weight (more or less), and pushes the rest of the weight onto the trailer axel, but I’d love to get confirmation or contradiction on that.


Lastly, related to transmission temps, I’ve installed a ScanGauge II and am monitoring transmission temps during regular driving. I’m pretty surprised to see temps regularly in the 190s just commuting to work in normal traffic on a cold day. I’ve seen just over 200 headed up a mountain road unloaded. Does this seem crazy to anyone else or are my expectations just not set correctly?



Thanks again for your help everyone. Happy to provide details if that helps.

 

If the thermostat doesn't open until 190-195, that would explain why I'm not seeing higher temps. Seeing 190 on an easy, unloaded, 25min commute just seems high to me.

If this is normal and the numbers on lifespan of trans fluid are true

something isn't adding up for me.

 

Don't overthink it... 190 is what they designed it to run at, which is probably why they recommend inspecting, but not changing at 30k miles. People use their trucks differently and an operating temp of 190 - 220 on the transmission is just fine. If you use it a lot at high duty cycle then you'll want to make your intervals lower.

 

I appreciate your reaffirming that 190 isn't out of the ordinary. I'll check back in once I get 4,000 lbs. behind it and see what the transmission is up to then.

about overthinking it... let's just say I'll do my best on that front snowmanwithahat...

 

Really glad I stumbled upon this thread! I've towed more things I can imagine over the years with my 4 Tacos, but turns out there was still a lot I didn't know. Great info!