Should have bought a half ton

It does seem that the towing experience differs greatly.

I did my first towing a couple weeks after buying the truck and, though it was a short distance and in town tow, I had little trouble outside of the dipsticks at home depot loading 60% or more of the weight, concrete block, rebar, and lumber, in the tail of the trailer causing sway at speeds over 50.

I have since hauled multiple times on the highway with both empty and heavy trailers.
Empty trailers make for a really crappy ride. That is of course true with almost any truck trailer combo in our weight class.
A loaded trailer runs smooth and I have little trouble with gear hunting. With that said, I am in FL so most hills here are actually overpasses.
Empty or loaded there is a drop in MPG, but that is expected in any hauling situation.

 

lol. It was a long time ago. Picture a ~10 foot, double axle trailer with a full 500 gallon water tank on it, being backed along a muddy hill by a dumb 20-something driving someone elses 3/4 ton chevy with a 5 speed, after not daily driven a stick in years. The clutch wasn't bad, but I swear I couldn't not jackknife thats stupid little trailer.. The truck in 4x4 and the mud just complicated it.

Sorry, no pics.

 

In January I towed a 5,500 lb U-Haul trailer from central Texas to central Alabama. I knew my limitations going in, and kept it in S4 with ETC on, 60-65 MPH the whole drive, did not use cruise.

Not a single issue.

 

You grip the bottom so the trailer steers the way you're used to the wheel working. If you grab the top (which is what I do) you have to remember to reverse the inputs.

 

It's almost like the people who engineered, designed, and built the truck know more than an owner who can't be bothered to read the manual.
Weird.

 

I try to avoid these threads cause I'm one of the 7 people who likes his Tacoma and is satisfied with how it operates, partially because of realistic expectations.

OP's double cab long bed has a nearly identical wheelbase, +/- 3" of any standard wheelbase half ton out there and is only a couple hundred pounds less than a F150 with a 2.7L Ecoboost that is rated to tow 8,000 lbs. I'm somebody that works with data, I'm not one to believe the news I see on social media, I like my own research. Those of you on you're 4.0L second gen high horse can chill a little too, nobody got bottem end torque these days unless you have an Ecoboost, and that is still at 3500 rpm. Even Ford's new 7.3L big block gets max torque at 4000 rpm, only 400 lower than the 4.0L Tacos, and 600 lower than the 3.5L Tacos.



Actually the lowest torque you are gonna get out of a gas V8 is the ole trusty 5.7 in the Tundra, 3600rpm. I had one of those. I couldn't get 17mpg on the highway with a tonneau going downhill. I get better mpg in rush hour traffic in the Tacoma than I did highway driving my Tundra. My theory was towing less than 5,000lbs I would be fine with a Taco. I don't tow much, but I know I have had as much or more weight in the bed of my Taco as I had in the bed of the Tundra and neither truck complained about it.

This isn't a pitch to keep or sell the Taco. You do you. Everybody do everybody. The above chart got the torque specs of pretty much every gas truck engine you can buy in 2020, if they all make torque at too high of an rpm for you, I'm sure you'll find a 1990 GMC with a 454 that'll get you the torque you want, but you will sacrifice everything else in the process.

Don't be the guy at work, "mY cUmMiNs onLY gEtS 6mPG WhEN i tOw mY 16,000lb ToYhaULeR aT 85mPH dOWn ThRu wESt vIrgINiA tO gO RiDE mY SxS dOwN tHe hATfIelD & mCkOYs. i OnLy hAD tHe TrAIleR aNd 6 pEoPLe iN dA mEGaCaB, 37" tIRes, aRmOr AnD a 130 Qt yEtI LOadEd wIt bEErS. fUcKiN' trUCk oNLy gEtS 6 MpG, cAN yOu BelIEvE tHAt CrAp?" But, you did it with the AC on and everything? "dON't MaTta, SOuLDa GoT atLEAsT 14mPg!"

Get a tune if you don't like how the transmission shifts. Get a blower if you want more power. Add a couple leafs if you want stiffer suspension. The benefit of the Tacoma is aftermarket support. No truck is perfect. I don't think the Taco is perfect. But there are people that traded it in for a new one when Apple Car Play came out. I'm not that petty, but I also did a years worth of test drives, research, and talking to people with different midsize trucks before I bought mine. To each their own. To some a car or truck isn't any different than a cell phone. Use it, abuse it, upgrade in 20 months. Don't let the door hit y'all on the way out; the Ram forum is looking for new members.

 

I drag my 4 seat rzr around quite a bit on an aluminum single axle trailer, it's about 2500lbs total. It does ok. If I keep it under 70, I can usually get around 15-18mpg, if I go the speed limit of 80, it drops a lot, down to 9-11mpg. Even at 80 it still handles it fine, I never feel out of control and have had to make emergency stops at that speed before and it does fine, but under 70 just feels way better. With that said, I have been really thinking about getting a larger truck for towing, I want to see with the next Tundra is going to be since nothing currently on the market appeals to me. I had an '18 Raptor prior to this truck and the Tacoma tows every bit as well as the Raptor did.

 

One of the requirements when I was choosing a pick up truck was it must squeeze through this :

 

Sounds like u should get a 07 ranger if u don’t like the new taco.

in all seriousness, the cruise control on these trucks suck period. My 19 will drop down to 4th if it hits a wind gust head on if it’s on cruise. I really don’t think the trans is the issue but it’s the cruise control. Take it out of cruise (pain I know) and it’ll do better. Your truck will tow 6k pounds, if it weren’t so Toyota wouldn’t of advertised it, no matter what everyone else says. The 03 silverado V8 I had would gear hunt with a simple 2k trailer as well. It is what it is.

 

My truck tows this just fine. And the tranny DOES NOT magically shift by itself.

 

I think this is the main thing that anyone towing needs to understand. You’re no longer a truck you’re a truck and trailer. Going over 65 just eats up MPG. Our trucks aren’t the most aerodynamic in the first place, and when you’re towing a brick wall it doesn’t help.

Aerodynamic force increases exponentially so the difference between 60 and 70 is huge. I’ve had towing runs where I kept in the slow lane at 60 the whole trip and got 16mpg. When I’m impatient I drop down to 11 or 12.

 

I think it sounds about right.

 

Damn bro. You're still sporting the chin strap AND can't get over 11 mpg with that small stick/glue/stapled trailer? Ooof.

Those big sails on top aren't helping either. At least you have a catamaran if you flip her.

 

Okay.

 

So how many here have done a go fast camper (pop up tent) instead of a trailer ? I'm leaning that way. I want to keep my taco in great shape and dont want to tax the trans

 

Bingo.... well said!

 

We had a Tab Teardrop trailer, and it was miserable to tow. If the wind was blowing, you were lucky to manage 45mph. And if you had to cross any mountain pass - be prepared to go even slower.



So we picked up an A-Liner. The nice thing about the A-liner is that it is still hard-sided, so you can go into Yellowstone/British Columbia (read: bear country), where tents are not otherwise allowed. And let me tell you, by the thing folding flat, it tows a dream. It only weighs 1500 lbs or so, sets up or goes down in less than five minutes, and is plenty roomy for two aldults and 1.5 dogs.

 

Camped in a tent in BC more times then I can count.

 

We pulled a Coleman Santa Fe 10' box (pop-up). Smallest tow vehicle was a GMC Sonoma with the V6.

The camper pulled very easy. Typically, it only impact fuel mileage by 1-3 mpg. But then again, I was just running at the speed limit +/- 5 mph.

We had many long distance round trip pulls.
Madison, WI to San Antonio, TX.
Madison, WI to Orlando, FL (Disney World)
Madison, WI to Anderson, SC.
Jackson, TN to Gulf Shores, MS

Just to name a few.........

Then it was stolen.

Really miss that camper.

 

I have towed campers ranging from 2000 lbs to 10,000 lbs with everything from a jeep wrangler to a ford f350.

Our current setup is a trailmanor 2619 we tow with our 2017 OR DCSB. Trailer weighs about 2700 lbs and the truck pulls it great. Just took a 6000 mile trip earlier this year from Missouri to Washington state and back. Averaged 13 mpg, which isn't bad considering that's what I got unloaded in my f350.

I haven't pulled with a diesel, but all the gas ford trucks I towed with had to be revved really high pedal to the floor to get through the mountain passes. And the jeep wrangler just overheated. The tacoma has been the most stress free towing out of everything. Probably a combination of its low gearing and the lack of wind resistance since the camper folds down.