Can my Taco tow it???

Can someone explain why towing in 5th/6th is “not recommended”? It seems fishy to me. As long as the truck isn’t lugging, detonating, shifting gears every couple seconds, or otherwise showing obvious signs of being over taxed, I see no reason to avoid those gears. I tow with ECT and 5th gear s-mode only because I find it a bit more responsive and thus annoying to me. I’ve never considered it to be a truck reliability issue. I’m skeptical that Toyota would design an electronically controlled automatic transmission for a truck with a towing package that would destroy itself or the truck while towing because the user failed to select some special mode. Why do people think they know better than the engineers at Toyota?

 

generally the engine is working harder to make power at the lower RPMs in 5th and 6th., you water pump will be spinning slower and engine could overheat if tries to hold too high a gear too long (lugging). In an automatic the trans may not hold the proper gear and constantly shift causing increase heat and more wear and tear. In a manual, if the trans are not designed to handle the higher load of towing in OD, you could have a failure such as in some Australian Land cruiser 5spds. Towing too heavy in 5th gear puts too much load on 1st gear thrust washer and can catastrophically fail.

 

I’m skeptical that any of this is true of modern trucks. Many things have changed over the years. Do you have any references to recent evidence of this?

 

Toyota implies that S5 and 5th are ok for towing even though they only mention battery charging and engine braking in the manual. The 6MT is geared to be spinning close to 3000rpms cruising at 75mph. I have an 05 Tundra with the 4.0 and 6MT miles that is a former work truck. That truck geared stock spins at 3000rpms at 75mph for 330k miles. Redline on the 3.5 is 6200rpms and pulling a hill for 5 mins at 4000rpms is nothing, you are not even making peak torque yet which is at 4600rpms and peak horsepower is at redline. Gas engine naturally rev high. Think of all the old Toyota Tercel’s doing 4000rpms on the freeway before OD for thousands of miles.

http://www.trucktrend.com/how-to/towing/1308-common-towing-mistakes/

https://youtu.be/M4Vpr7JMf_w

 

That is not enough difference, my trailer dry is 3700 you said yours is 3k, so 265 75s are that much of a difference to 285 75s? No way man I had 285s before and 35s.

 

like to see that on more level ground because it really looks like that truck is dragging ass pretty bad.

 

My wife got a Hemi yesterday because I can’t do this any faster than 55 and no AC without getting hot. Only two quads in the trailer

 

Really. Something seriously wrong with that truck if you can't go over 55 or run the a/c towing that. What's it weigh with the quads in it. A tacoma is far from an ideal tow vehicle but should tow that easily. Unless that trailer is heavier then it looks.

 

About 3600 lbs with the quads in it. I have a winch bumper and I think/hope it might be blocking too much air.

 

This is my usual tow.... it’s about 3200 when fully loaded (fuel, ice, gear, etc.). My Tacoma has zero problems pulling it and I do use ECT. My only concern is braking since I don’t have trailer brakes but it’s not too bad.

 

Here is what i tow to the lake

 

You were right.
I re-washed the mud off of my radiator and had it flushed.

 

Bigger tires are lowering his engine speed and the lift and accessories are increasing drag and adding weight. Not sure if the OP mentioned, but if towing in 5th gear and AC on is extra load and gearing disadvantage.

 

Here’s the new rig and boat! Definitely a night and day difference in stability and gets about 5-6mpg more than the Taco did. While I do miss my Tacoma this truck was well worth it and probably the nicest vehicle I’ve ever owned. Now the question is how long can I wait till I either slap an Icon stage 3 or dirt king set up on it haha. Told my wife I wasn’t doing anything to it for at least a year and it’s Already going in next week for undercoating