My experience of towing 4,700lb travel trailer, which now weighs closer to 5,000lbs… maybe.

Yes that’s right. You also need to purchase the ‘Toyota’ pack to get everything working as you’ll want.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/obd-fusion-dashboard-swappin-thread.683932/
Check out this thread for dashboards and info. FYI some dashboards may not play nicely with your device as the app is a bit finicky like that.

I would tow without OBD Fusion

Still here… had to move homes kinda last minute which seriously sucked. Almost ended up in the travel trailer unintentionally with the newborn and crippled old dog.
Thankfully found a place to rent and signed the new lease 2 days before we had to be out of the old place, incredibly stressful!!
No new truck, need to earn some money to do that. Ha!!
I am amazed at how poorly a rear facing car seat fits in the back of the truck… like barely fits.

@rybern hope you’ve been out in the TT?

 

Glad to hear from you Mark. That is a lot to deal with at once.... glad you found a place to move into.

Yes, we've continued to enjoy our camper at the leisurely rate of about 6 times per year. Still really enjoying the experience.

 

You would, or wouldn't? And thanks for the responses.

 

Wouldn’t

TBH the hottest temps I’ve ever had in my transmission was during a 3,000ft climb when I wasn’t towing and I wasn’t monitoring. I was following traffic driving in full A/T mode at a very normal speed and decided for giggles to connect my phone to the carista. I was totally shocked to see 235’ at the TC and 203’ in the pan. Temps spiked likely because I was not reving the engine enough and the TC was unlocked. I’ve had temps spike another time in a similar situation, cruising in 5th up a gradual climb.

With OBD fusion I have a coloured circle behind the gear of choice (top left) it is green when the TC is locked and red when it’s unlocked. This one feature is the most important thing I pay attention to.

 

I was obsessed with both temps for half of my recent 5000 mile tow. Saw the tc hit 230 once but you can basically ignore the tc transients. They don’t harm anything. The only real concern would a prolonged high pan temp.

 

True, but a consistently unlocked TC is going to spike pan temps quickly. Cruising in 5th at 63mph is a fine line of locked/unlocked.

It would be nice to know what Toyota class as a high pan temp and for how long of a period of time? Also be nice to know what temp the trans warning light comes on.
I personally keep the pan below 200' and don't like the TC going above 220'ish (these numbers are based on nothing, just a feeling . I forget, but I think the thermostat is set at around 178', considering they have since removed the dedicated trans cooler there is really very limited cooling available. The combined radiator with the engine coolant is more about warming the transmission oil IMO.

 

To my knowledge the transmission high temperature warning occurs when the pan temperature hits 240. I have a good friend who is a veteran mechanic and he told me that with new synthetic transmission fluid he has removed quite a few aftermarket coolers that people have installed. He has a lot of customers who tow daily and he said he hasn’t seen a high temperature related transmission failure in a very long time.

 

Wow, that is high compared to my not wanting to go over a high of 200', it would take a LOT to get up to that temp in the pan. About 40% of my trucks 37k miles has been towing a 5klb TT, there is hope it will still be as reliable as one that doesn't tow

Either way I'll try to keep within my limits as there's no point trying to push things too far...

 

Hey there, just found this thread as I recently got a 2021 Tacoma V6 automatic, 4x4 Off Road. My plan is to retire, live on the road and travel around the USA, Mexico and Canada full time with my dog and our motorcycle sidecar rig loaded into a 7x14 enclosed cargo trailer. I'm guessing the trailer about 2500 lbs, the sidecar rig about 1200 lbs and 1000 lbs of gear in the trailer will make it around 4700 - 5000lbs. The weight in the truck itself will probably be close to max capacity.

So mosccat, your original post is from a few years ago. How many miles have you done towing that 5000 lb trailer so far, and how is the truck holding up ? Have you had any mechanical issues from towing ?

I'm hoping my Tacoma will last years towing like this and I hope I didn't make a mistake by not getting a more powerful V8 F150 or something else.

 

Hi there,
40% of my trucks 37k miles have been towing that trailer and I’ve had zero issues. Replaced stock tires at around 30k and that’s it.
If I could do it again I would probably get a chip/tune-up up to have the ability to lock the torque converter up fully in 3rd gear.
I would definitely keep both the front chin spoiler I put on from the sport Tacoma and the roll up tonneau cover. Or possibly swap the tonneau cover for the best top canopy cover to help with aero.
You will fill that truck to max capacity pretty quickly once you add the weight distributing hitch, tongue weight from the trailer and any other stuff you put in it. Load the truck up with dog, tools, tow ball, wdh, full fuel tank, drinks food etc. and go run it over some scales. You will probably be surprised.
I removed the rear seats, brackets, belts etc to claw back >100lb.
Your trailer does have good brakes yeah?

Good luck with it, life on the road can be fun…

 

Thanks for your input mosccat.

I ended up selling the Tacoma and getting a 2020 F150 which has 2000 lbs more towing capacity and twice the cargo capacity of the Tacoma.
After thinking a lot about this, I came to the conclusion that living on the road with the Tacoma and having it close to maximum tow and cargo capacity would not be good for the truck long term. Plus the F150 crew cab with 6.5' bed has a lot more room.
Being a Tacoma owner was short lived, only had it a few months.

I just about got what I paid for the Tacoma on trade-in, so it all worked out.

 

If you’re not hitting off-road trails you have probably made a good decision.

The weight and power of the truck will make for a much more enjoyable journey and the extra payload will be appreciated!

Good luck with your journeys.

One area that was a highlight of our trip was the Gooseneck's state park with Valley of the Gods just across the road. A very unspoilt area…

 

I'll do some off-road, but not gnarly stuff. I have motorcycles for that.
I've been all over Utah....yeah where you mentioned is awesome. Thanks.

 

Man, enjoyed the read! Nice setup. Safe journeys to u guys!

 

I did as well so I figured you might like this one. I went on a similar adventure with a Tt through co, nm, southern ca, az; a bit of a work-cation.. but I spent the time stuck in sites without a vehicle. The Tt was only 2,600lbs, a full 900lbs under the vehicles tow rating, a 2011 promaster pickup. I replaced the vehicle after 3 engines were replaced under warranty. The stock engine blew up in pa on my first trip and I barely made it out of NY where I’m from. The warrantied engine blew up in ca after I made it cross country, so I at least got to go.. but the travel sites ate the time to see anything with the truck in the dealership. The motor died again just after it was replaced but I have luckily made the executive decision in Death Valley that the truck were to be evaded immediately and melted down. I had an argument in NY with an overprivledged valet and that was the final resting place where I had the truck melted down under warranty by a recycling company in bay shore NY. I had the opportunity to write more than I did see, so I hope you enjoy this data driven article as well.. love Chloe

The "F-447 Circumference Craptor" By: a globally irrelevant freight liner.


The F-22 Raptor is a twin engine American, all-weather, stealth fighter aircraft; developed and produced for the United States Air Force (USAF). The F-22's top speed is contingent upon altitude, and can reach Mach 1.21 (921 mph) at sea level or Mach 2.25 (1,500 mph) at 20,000 feet. Though the fighter has a maximum range of 1700 miles, with full afterburners engaged at low altitudes, the F-22 can burn in excess of 64,000 pounds an hour.


Contextual for scale: The earth is 24,901 mi in circumference and rotates at approximately 1,037 Mph. At 20,000 feet with afterburners disengaged, the f22 raptor can travel at a speed of 1,220 Mph while consuming only 26,000 lbs of fuel per hour. Just a small sacrifice when set adjacent to 35,000 lbs of wet thrust.


With 18,000 lbs of internal fuel capacity and an additional 8,000 lbs in two 600-gallon external tanks, the jet has a ferry range of over 1,600 nautical miles, which equates to roughly 1,840 mi or 2,960 kilometers.


In order to circle the earth without refueling, faster than the speed of time, the raptor would need to carry 624,000 lbs of fuel. The math doesn't end there though, because as the mass of the aircraft increases the rate of burn does adversely.


The easiest way to scale the raptor for this task, is a percent of scale. In order to travel at a speed of 1,220mph consistently, for a distance of 24,901 mi, the f-22 raptor has to be 20.411x larger than it is now.


With an original wingspan of 44', the "Circumference Craptor" would boast engines scaled from 220 inches to 374 feet, with a wingspan of 894 feet. That's exactly 4x the size of a 747 carrying nothing but jp-4 kerosene. At $6.73/gallon and 6 pounds per gallon, the circumference craptor would depart loaded with cargo: 530,686 lbs of jp-4 kerosene, for a cost of $3,571,516.78 USD.


It costs approximately 350 million USD to build the standard f-22 raptor, as opposed to the 24 million USD that it cost to build a 747. A lot of time get's spent on Research and Development, and it is difficult to find information that covers the cost of material. To spite missing information, many plans are available for aircraft of similar stature. The F-447 Circumference Craptor is not just possible, it has an estimated ticket price of $249,333,333.14 and a carrying capacity of four. The 747-8 sells for 250m, but that price includes r+d. Boeing has plenty of space to build the craptor. 98.3 acres in Everette WA.


-Cassandra chloe

P.s.

There isn't a shallow well on Long Island that hasn't been overpopulated by a colony of globally irrelevant calculus.

 

Question, would the obd fusion enhanced diag pack for the 2021 work with a 2022??

 

I'm pretty sure that's what I'm using on my '23.

 

Great thanks