Gen 3 Towing Thread

I figured a designated towing thread might be a useful thing. For those who are shopping and those who are thinking of using their existing gen 3's to tow for the first time.
If you have towed with your gen 3 please post up some pics, specs (mpg, elevation, distance, RPM's, weight etc.), testimonials and impressions!
Yes, we all know towing isn't what the Toyota Tacoma specializes in but a tow package is offered and some people are going to tow. Please don't make this thread a shouting match. Looking forward to reading what people post.

-TacoJonn

 

Adding some more content. Yes, I know this video has been shared all over Tacoma World but here it is in case someone has not seen it. Hopefully others can share their towing experiences too!

 

I've pulled two sleds (700cc Yamaha mtn viper and a 550cc polaris trail sled) on a 10 foot aluminum trailer. I'd guess total weight is 2000-2500 lbs. Plus two adults and two kids in the truck. Truck pulled fine. About what I would expect for a midsized truck. Felt moderate torquey. Did it pull as good as my Duramax? Of course not, why should it? Could maintain speed up decent grades around 2700 rpms. Needed to get into the 3500 rpms range to increase speed on grades. I'll pull with it again.

 

I meant to post in this thread awhile back. This is what I tow on a regular basis. The blue atv up front is lighter than my brother in law's that I had on there last time. Total weight is approximately 2180 with this setup. We took the atvs to my sisters to ride this past weekend. 77 miles one way and I used ECT the whole trip. I didn't pay attention to the average on the way there, but the trip summary showed 15.8mpg on the way home, which is exactly what I got last time I towed the atvs. I tried to stay between 55-60 on the way home since it was dark and deer were all over the place. The truck does great towing this and it's primarily what I'll be towing, so I have no complaints.

 

We just got back from a camping trip towing a rented 2011 Bullet 246RBS (http://www.keystonerv.com/previous-years?brand=Bullet&year=2011 ). According to the web site, the dry weight should have been 4,817 and a tongue weight of 415. I didn't have the trailer weighed but it was heavier than this in both respects. The holding tanks were empty but the fresh water tank was full when we picked it up (adding another 340 pounds) and both propane tanks were full. The hitch draw bar itself weighed about 100 pounds. After loading things up I figure the weight was about 5,500 pounds and the tongue was about 600. The objective of this trip was to determine how well my Taco would haul a 5,000 lb trailer through the Texas Hill Country before we purchase something of this size. The rental company provided a WD hitch with no sway control - just a low-end trunnion style hitch. The rental place "adjusted" the hitch to the truck but it wasn't anything special. I could have done better with some time and effort. My Taco is a 4x4 Limited with the tow package with a Tekonsha P3 brake controller and stock suspension (no airbags or something similar).

The day we left a cold front had blown through and the winds were sustained out of the NW at 25-30 with gusts over 40. Unfortunately, we were heading WNW to the camp ground. I kept ECT on the entire trip and used S mode in 4th gear (no overdrive). At 60 MPH in forth the engine was taching around 2,600 RPM. I tried driving up to 65 against the wind but the trailer started to weave - not a good thing. When going up most grades and trying to maintain speed the tranny would downshift almost immediately to 3rd and would stay there until cresting (around 3,600 RPM) then upshifting back to 4th. Gas mileage was what you would expect in these conditions - around 10 MPG (calculated with fill-up after arrival). On the way back we did not have to fight the wind and got about 13 MPG. In spite of the stock suspension I did not encounter any bottoming out during the trip.

I know this truck isn't the best tow vehicle available but overall it did OK with a trailer that weighed more that I would buy. I plan to find something that when loaded up it about 5,000 pounds and would have a much better (and lighter) hitch.

 

damn thats a big ass trailer! nice write up

 

@3600 were you able to maintain speed on the passes?

 

Yes, and it was accelerating while going uphill against the wind. I just wouldn't like to drive for miles in 3rd gear at that RPM. One thing I left out of the original post - on the way back with no headwind I tried shifting to 5th on a level surface at 60 MPH. I was unable to maintain that speed in 5th. Both 5th and 6th are overdrive gears and the engine doesn't have the torque to keep up in those gears with this load.

 

Great write up. How much sag in the back did you have once the wd hitch was set up? The image taken on the street looks like quite a bit of sag. Also, can you comment on the performance of your trailer brake? Sufficient?

 

The back end was down about 2" from the unloaded height. Like I mentioned, I could have done a better job of the wd setup but it was their trailer and hitch so I didn't want to screw with it. The brake controller worked great. Easy to install (I put it in the cubbyhole left of the steering wheel) and easy to adjust to any trailer. It's not the brake controller that is sufficient or not but the brakes on the trailer itself.

 

Good write up OP. Was waiting ever since I saw that pic and post in Capt's thread. Looks like it performed better than expected.

 

Awesome, thank you. So do you think with more tuning of the wd hitch you could have eliminated more of the sag?

 

Well, I'm not the OP ( @TacoJonn is ) but thanks anyway.

 

Unless the tongue weight was much more than I estimated (which is possible) then I could have done a better job with a better hitch.

 

Got it! Thank you again.

 

Nice, CAI and an Exhaust upgrade as well as not towing with a full tank of water and that Taco would've rolled down the road.I mean if you're going somewhere with full hook ups why tow water. We just drove from New Braunfels to Angel Fire NM, we were running 85mph and 4 people with a full bed of clothes Ski Gear and coolers and we got 15-16 MPG. Thanks for the info.

 

Did you not read what aggie77 wrote? It was a test trailer that he was using to test how the tacoma would handle it, as it had already came with a full tank of fresh water. Also 85 mph sounds pretty fast...let alone with 4 people and full bed of gear.

Great write up aggie77, hopefully we see more like yours. Seems like the tacoma handled the weight pretty well.

 

Oops, sorry OP (Taco)!! My bad.

 

Yea that's what I was getting at when he buys one he wont be hauling water. As far as the NM trip, 750 miles, its hard not to make up time when you can, she seemed to do fine at 85 but its not something I would suggest to anyone.

 

What were you towing at 85 MPH? BTW, my Dad used to have a cabin up in Angel Fire. Nice area up there.