First time towing with my Taco!

Towing and hauling is way way down the list. The disappointing part is Toyota needs a new powerplant and is resistive to do so. The same displacement engine (3.5 liter) such as a EcoBoost produces 400 HP and 500 lbs torque at 3100 rpm's. As stated above great truck for off-road, commuting, appearance and resale value. Toyota has the same issue with the Tundra's out dated powerplant. Tacoma has a very loyal following but at some point they need to compete with Ford or Chevy in the engine and fuel economy.

 

Current market demand says they don't.

 

The loyal following is the problem. Good that Toyota has loyal customers....bad for those who enjoy/require performance.
Majority of Tacoma owners don't care...they own a Tacoma with wicked resale. The performance crowd in the grand scheme of things is a very tiny voice.

 

Lets see in a few years, the Ranger is new and is taking some of the market share and GM stepped up their game. If Tacoma does not evolve they will die a slow death.

 

You'll get the new competitive power plants in the Tacoma in a few short years, its probably going to be choice between a turbo 4 cylinder and a hybrid option. Its 50-50 whether they would also offer the new Tundra power plant (Turbo V6) in the Tacoma.

 

I think you are spot on, a turbo 4 cylinder like what is in the Ranger and a turbo V6 for the Tundra to reclaim some fuel economy.

 

What is everyone running for tire pressure PSI?

I need to tow a small trailer this weekend and just curious. Manual basically says use the door jam recommendation...

 

That’s pretty accurate though, haha.

 

I run my 285's at 40 when towing.

 

35 cold, 38 hot. I'm on E's though. On my SL's it was 32c and 36h. Trailer tires are 45 cold and 48 hot.

 

Yeah I was towing solely in S4 until I re-read the manual recently and saw the "5th or lower" verbiage, so run that on the interstate. It kind of doesn't seem to make a difference as the truck will shift out of 5th at the slightest hint of an incline so it doesn't really make much use of 5th gear. No idea if I get another 1 MPG out of it or what, but I figure for those flat straights it's fine.

Really the most engagement I get out of shifting the transmission while towing is dropping down to S3 so it's not bouncing between 3rd and 4th as 60 mph seems to fall right between those two gears' desired torque while towing my trailer uphill. It's annoyingly loud but doesn't concern me in regards to reliability or longevity. Sure wouldn't mind the extra towing/payload headroom of a full size truck, but it's hard to justify a larger truck just to tow a maximum of two weekends out of every month within a 150 mile radius. And for the other 99% of the time the truck is being used with no trailer, the smaller footprint of the Tacoma makes more sense.

 

I didn't buy my tacoma for any real heavy towing. What i pull, it does just fine. Other day i loaded my old new holland garden tractor on my utility trailer to do some work at my brothers place. Towing it back and forth was childs play. Pulling my boat felt more of a strain on the truck when going up hills.

 

I towed for the first time with my 21 DC OR last weekend. All loaded up around 2,500/3,000 lbs.

I am running KDmax and without the tune I think towing would have been brutal.

I was expecting the worst, but all in all it towed ok. Wind wasn’t an issue on the way up and I got 15 mph towing mostly in 5th with downshifts to 4th on inclines. The trip home was against a 30 mph wind and the truck for the most part would not accelerate in 5th gear, even on the flat runs. Fighting the wind and with allot of 4th gear I got 14 mph.

Next trip I am going to run KDmax with gear lock. This way I can hold 5th gear longer before manually dropping to 4th.

I highly recommend investing in KDmax, but also with the understanding these trucks have no torque. The tune can’t fix this. I really don’t understand what Toyota was thinking with this motor/trans/gear combo.

 

Just a quick update... We towed another pop-up from VT last weekend and things went much better. Got around 15.9MPG on the 150-175 mile trip.

 

Pulled my 5x10 utility trailer yesterday to the other side of the state to pickup a new like lawn tractor. Had no issues on the round trip of roughly 270 miles. Towing weight with some extra gear in the bed had to be at least 1200 lbs. Never used ECT, mostly S5, even up hills.

 

Just another quick update here. First I want to thank everyone for your input as it has helped quite a bit.
I've had several opportunities to do some towing with this and things seem to be better after I changed how I drive. One thing that I've noticed is that I have some wiggle on the trailer at 60MPH. Now the first thing I thought of and has been mentioned here is weight distribution. Yes the weight is forward of the axle. I don't believe that is the problem because it does it with both popup campers I tow. My next thought was that there was an issue with the alignment of the truck. A little back story, just before I took delivery of the truck someone backed it into a light pole at the dealership and did a fair amount of damage to the rear bumper. Yes the dealership fixed it with a new rear bumper. After the new bumper was installed I noticed about a 1/4" difference in the gap between the tail lights so I brought it back to the dealer and they put it on a frame machine to see if the frame was tweeked but it was fine. So at current, the frame is straight and the alignment is perfect.
My next thought here is aerodynamics and my service advisor agrees. I have a tonneau cover and my campers both sit a little higher than the bed. Has anyone else noticed any wiggle when towing? I did get a round bar Weight Distribution Hitch and that seems to have helped but I still feel it a little. I'm trying to get some kind of cap for my Taco weather be a true fiberglass cap or a soft topper in the hopes that the air / wind will be deflected over the camper a little better. Any thoughts?

 

Running E rated tires, you should have at least 45 psi. 50 psi if loaded or towing. E rated tires have very stiff side walls and don't like to flex (bulge).

 

Been running around 32 psi when towing anything. These are with goodyear adventure at tires. Haven't had any issues.

 

I'll double check the tire pressures. Might be worth adding that I used to be able o tow this camper with my Dodge Grand Caravan at 70 - 75 MPH all day long without any issues.

 

Imo, its more critical to watch the speed you tow a trailer....tires on my trailers aren't rated for more than 75 mph or so.