Is my Tacoma Experiment Over?

We’ll have support soon! Just not able to offer it yet.

 

My wife wanted some big heavy paving stones so I rented an HD Silverado from enterprise. I put down some two by fours to not scratch the bed and then I didn’t worry at all that my bike and yard tool hauling Tacoma wasn’t being used for big manly truck things. Then I returned the truck. I can’t live with a huge truck.

 

Many people have a fun car as primary and rent HD trucks for the few times a year they need it. Even "fun cars" can be a smaller payment than a Tacoma, definitely smaller payment than an HD.

 

As someone who has owned almost every Toyota truck including a 4cylinder 2nd gen Tacoma and a v8 tundra, none of them can do “real truck” things. A v8 tundra will have less factory payload than your current 4cylinder Tacoma!
If you need a truck to do actual truck things your only option is a domestic. Toyota trucks are obviously for reliability and light duty applications such as weekend Home Depot home project runs or helping your buddy move his couch or very light towing

know your limits and and most importantly figure out your needs, a Toyota might not fit the bill even if it’s a v6 or v8

 

@JustDSM Do you have an ETA on the 3rd Gen 2.7L Manual tune?

 

Update on my Tacoma situation... I'm keeping the truck.

I installed the air bags and towed my loaded trailer about 1200 miles over a few days. The combined weight of truck and trailer was about 7,200lbs. The trailer itself was about 2,500lbs. The air bags made a big difference in handling the weight. With about 30psi in the bags I was able to have the truck sitting level, and even rough roads weren't much of an issue for the truck's suspension. Unlike others who have installed air bags, I don't suffer from any problems when the truck is empty. I'm able to run it with as much as 20psi unloaded with very little decrease in ride quality. If I run it at 10psi or less, I can't even tell they are there. That might be due to the added weight of the contractor cap, tools, and other items I'm hauling, but I know I'm still lighter than most Tacomas that are set up for camping and overlanding.

The lack of power is now my main problem. I installed a set of NGK Iridium plugs a little before the trip. My mileage went from 21mpg with new plugs to an average of about 13mpg when towing through hills and at interstate speeds. On a flat road with little to no headwind, the truck would not maintain 70mph in 5th. I had to run in 4th gear nearly all of the trip just to keep big trucks from blowing me off the road. Braking was also an issue, though not as severe as I feared. I tried to be very conscious of that and give myself plenty of room. Fortunately I wasn't ever pressed to test them fully.

I will likely need to do at least one more long tow with a trailer, but probably with no more than 2,000lbs total weight. After that I shouldn't have much heavy towing, and could rent a bigger truck if needed.

So I am planning to keep the Tacoma. I will keep the air bags on as I plan to eventually install a lightweight camper of some kind that will give me more headroom than my contractor shell. I'm looking at the wedge types, like those made by @Ripcord on his excellent TW thread - https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/how-to-diy-wedge-camper.604686/. I would also consider a pop-up if I could find or make one light enough.

I really think this truck will make a great long-term camping rig that should be capable of towing a small boat when needed. I am hoping OTT gets a tune done for my setup soon, and I'm giving serious thought to the re-gearing option. Both of those upgrades would probably make a real difference in the overall utility of the truck.

Thanks to all for their input and support on my situation.

 

It was released Nov 18th!


Should also note, we just released support for the 16-17 2.7 Auto with the 04A23 Cal ID

 

That's great news! Can't wait to get this done.

 

I feel for you I used my 21 this past year for construction and had the OTT tune etc and it was just a fight. Much better with the tune but the bad mpg combined with not enough room for everything organized etc. I went to an F250 crew cab.

 

I'm not sure how air-bags are going to improve the towing performance and capability with the exception of leveling the truck to get rid of any rear sag. They will reduce the load on the hitch ball, but they aren't going to improve the overall performance issues you are experiencing with the 4-cyl. engine. 4.11 gears might help along with a V6. You are carrying a lot of extra weight that has a considerable impact as well.

 

They did level the truck and kept the springs from bottoming out.

 

How will air-bags "reduce the load on the hitch ball"?

 

If you are still not happy with the ride or handling, you could also consider a weight-distributing hitch set-up. I once had auto-leveling air-shocks for a while on a truck I towed a small house trailer with and they worked great. You could also over-ride the auto setting with a manual dial if you desired.

 

My '15 is a 4 banger/automatic, it struggles to pull my 5x10 utility trailer with a load of firewood ( 1/2 cord by volume). My '99 T4R does a better job of towing. I didn't think that my Taco would be a suitable tow rig, but I was really disappointed even after not having high expectations. Braking was horrible with the trailer, as expected. The Taco is great for hauling a bicycle or a few little pieces of lumber but it will never be able to do the work of a full size truck.
My solution was to get an old K2500 to use as a firewood truck/ "real" truck stuff. ( if that makes sense).

 

A senior K2500 for firewood makes perfect sense (to me) for firewood hauling. You can load up the bed within reason and tow some behind as well. Firewood sure is deceptively heavy even when split, especially when green or semi-seasoned. Always surprises me some. My truck starts to load the bottom leaf (#4) a bit at around 350-375 lbs. and still a fair amount of space showing between the top spring and the bump-stops

It's really amazing what a difference a year drying out makes when splitting the wood either by hand which I enjoy or with a splitter. More strain when green for both!

 

I had a 1/2 cord in the trailer and the other 1/2 in the bed of the GMC, it didn't even flinch at the load. The back of the truck only squatted 2" at the most, it wasn't anywhere near the bump stops. It's just a different beast, it doesn't need any "band aids" to try to act like a hard working truck, it just gets the job done. Over the summer I had a (10) 60# bags of sacrete in the bed of the taco, it was doing the carolina squat and touching on the bumps. It was embarrassing.