Debating trading my baby cause towing mileage makes me :mad:

First off, I have done everything to make my Tacoma tow better. I have airbags, a weight distributing hitch, and a supercharger. I only tow a 5000 lbs travel trailer (4200 lbs dry weight, roughly 800 lbs loaded extra weight) and at first I was extremely happy with my Tacoma. Honestly I have tons of power and the truck never feels like it's being pushed around. However, lately I've been getting 6-8 mpg when towing my trailer. As far as I can tell the truck stays in boost when towing at 60-70 mph, which is the speed of traffic where I am, and it's really starting to irritate me. It's definitely killing my mileage and probably hurting the engine to run that hard all the time. I even try not to travel more than a 100 km's (60 miles) with the trailer so that I don't have to fill up with gas twice at 90 bucks a tank just to get to my campsite and back.

If you were me, would you just bite the bullet and kiss the Tacoma goodbye for a full size? I love taking my tacoma on offroad trails and literally everything else about my truck rocks except for the towing mileage. I can trade up to a Dodge Ram 1500 diesel or an Ecoboost F150 (GM has no power so not going there) and keep my payments about the same. With those two trucks I can tow this load and get 10-15 mpg (I have friends with these setups) and run regular instead of premium to get that same type of power. I'm really starting to debate giving up on my dream truck for something bigger that will just plain old do a better job at everything but trail driving.

 

I'd go for a diesel. I tow with my taco and get 10 mpg, I tow with my EB and still get 10 mpg.

 

I wouldn't mind the 10 mpg on the Ford since the Ford will likely last close to as long as my Tacoma. The dodge is new and untested.

 

Remove the supercharger....and probably the CAI also.

I had a Dodge Ram that I towed a Jeep with for 3 years (6500lbs). Great truck for towing.
I thought I'd be smart and install a CAI on it.... bad idea. Towing / torque went to shit. I ended up removing it.

 

I'm not removing the S/C. It's not worth it in anyway I can conceive to do that. After the new ECU I'd need to downgrade (you can't reflash after TRD reflash), labor I'd put in taking it out, labor I'd put in reinstalling the stock system, and the loss of power from cutting out 60-80 rwhp I've added with my setup... I just may of well traded in my truck for something with good performance rather than neutering my Taco for 2-3 mpg.

Also, IMHO, a CAI on S/C is not easily directly correlated to a CAI on a N/A. I agree on the setup you mentioned you can easily lose power with a CAI, but once you go forced induction on a formally naturally aspirated engine anything you can do to get less restricted air flow safely to the S/C is, in general, a good plan.

Thanks for your input though. I'm looking to see if anyone else has towed with the new dodge diesel or ford ecoboost vs a TRD S/C tacoma and can give me an idea of the worthyness of trading in my truck.

 

Doge truck...
Much gas, very Diesel!
Wow!
So many RPM!

 

Your post...
Much knowledge, very helpful!
Wow!
Many thanks!

I have a 2500 Ram (which will always be dodge to me) for a work truck right now. There is nothing in common between Doge and Dodge unless you like taking that extra d in the butt maybe, thanks for playing. Find another thread to Troll.

 

The new diesel 1500 does sound interesting, I'm with you though... Wouldn't buy one for a few years. Personally, I don't like dodge trucks aside from their engines. I had an f150 and it was awesome till 100k and then it literally fell apart.

What's the tundra get for tow mpg? That 5.7iForce is a beast

 

This sounds silly but if I buy a Tundra I'll wait for the Diesel. I'm not sure how good mileage the Tundra gets, but in general I think it's crappy compared to the other trucks in the class with similar power ratings. The current Tundra is basically the old Tundra powertrain rammed in a new dress. I think the plan from day one for Toyota was to have a Cummins in this new truck right from release, but for multiple reasons it didn't happen so they had to use the old engines and tranny. I'll wait for the 'real' new Tundra with a Cummins if I go that direction.

I'd try a new Dodge if the dealer will cut me a huge break on a 7 year/160 K warranty. That way if it spends time in the shop I'm not paying for it. I'm waiting to hear back from them on numbers and when they can have a truck in the trim I want in stock.

 

Do the math and see how it works out.

What's the cost of 6-8mpg vs 10-15mpg annually? How much will it cost you to sell the Taco and buy a new truck?

How long until you break-even?

 

Bingo.

Can't have loads of horsepower (supercharger) and not suffer in other areas ( towng /gas mileage).

Buy a new & bigger truck, slap on some horsepower upgrades, and once again....suffer in gas mileage. You're better off keeping what you've got.

 

My Taco gets lousy gas mileage when towing also, but it has the power to tow a decent sized trailer, compared to the Dodge Ram 1500 I had previously with the 3.7 V6. Luckily, I don't tow a lot. And you do trade power for efficiency. My 5.2 liter 318 dodge shortbed get 15 mpg around town with holley, headers and glasspacks. However, it is narrow tube headers, 350 cfm carb and 3.90 rear end. And it is also my conclusion that the taco really aren't designed for good gas mileage at high rpm/load conditions.

I am thinking about a Dodge gas Ram 3500 long bed, single cab with the hemi, but the truck is 35k stripped, dually rear wheels are only available with a diesel and those start at 7k or so as an option.

I knew a guy, a retired mechanic, who towed a 24' travel trailer behind a chevy C10 with the straight six, and a three speed manual. He struck to back roads and ran this rig for 20 years. If he could do that with about 120 horsepower and a single barrel carb, we can easily do it behind our taco with the V6 and the six speed. He was quite happy towing at 45-50 mph on two lane highways.

 

Ur telling me ur cruising down the highway in boost most the time?
What do u mean as far as u can tell?


Is this based off a gauge or pure speculation?

The bypass may be faulty and not opening maybe?

 

Uh........ Probably 330 HP to the wheels and I get great gas mileage..... Its all in how u drive..... Towing and ur Sol anyhow..... This is not the blowers fault.

The bypass valve allows the blower to cost less than 1half of a hp

 

love my new f150 with ecoboost. you will gain a few mpg, but not worth it if you dont tow alot.

 

Good towers?

Just curious cuz they can't pass from what I've seen...... Is there a lot of lag?

 

I have the TRD S/C too, and engine oil temp gauge in the cab. The truck comes with the supplemental engine oil cooler. Normal engine oil temps are around 210-220`F. When I towed a 5x8' utility trailer and two motorcycles at 75mph+ on the highway the temps would start creeping past 250'F. I'd have to cut speeds to about 60 until the oil cooled down.

Mileage was around 10mpg, burning premium all the way from VA to FL. I can verify that the S/C is boosting much of the time; slight inclines and whenever the truck slows down and the cruise applies throttle.

I couldn't have been towing more than 2500lbs at the time. The two motos were 600lbs each, plus the trailer weight.

Towing sucked phallus prior to the S/C and I'd happily pay the additional fuel expenses.

 

Without a gauge?

I can do 75 up a huge long grade and pull vacuum but still hear the blower.

 

power is unbeleivable, no lag to even notice. as far as not being able to pass must be the way the persons driving. the motor pulls hard right of the bottom and keeps on pulling. if your buying a full size for pulling a travel trailer its the way to go power wise, but gas mileage will be about the same as the other trucks. not pulling I average 21.5 mpg at 65 mph.

 

Nice mileage...... I got about that headed to Fresno in a headwind, up grades, shutting down a 370z, passing rigs, with a lift.....

Pretty cool u can do that and have a full size.