Towing a 4,500lb boat?

Lo Range is your friend at the boat landings. I use it constantly to save on the clutch. Once it is broken in, the transfer case works like a charm in and out of Lo Range.

 

My boat is 3200 fully loaded. I tow it with my v6 6MT all over the place. Even at 3k I still use low range on the ramps. Don't be scared to turn some RPMS when towing.

 

Nice boat! Where did you get the rock deflector attached to the hitch from?

 

It is an older "Rock Solid" deflector. I have had this one for nearly 15 years and it has served me well. I eventually wore out the flaps, and replaced them about 5 years ago. It is a very worthwhile investment to protect your boat/trailer. There are lots of options out there that you can research and they all work pretty well.
http://www.smartsolrv.com/rock-solid.html

 

Perfect that’s exactly what I’d be looking for. Thanks.

 

You can tow it but it won’t be very fun. The Max is 6400 lbs. we just bought an R-pod 190 which is about 2800lbs. Drove it home yesterday (300miles) over mountain passes and it towed fine. The biggest suffering was MPGs. Normally I’ll get 20-22 in the highway, I got about 11.5 towing the trailer. But I felt it had enough power in S4/5 with ECT on where I could pass semis going uphill at 60mph. The MPG really suffered up hill though. Also engine braking works amazing in this. Put it into S4 and we were on a 5% grade downhill and I didn’t even touch the trailer brakes. Stayed right about 55mph downhill and didn’t go above 3500rpms. I’m actually really surprised how will the Tacoma towed. I personally wouldn’t tow more than I didn’t yesterday though. I got sway bars and WD hitch.

 

How much backing up will you have to do? You'll be fine going forward, but rev in the 6MT is very high. If location/obstacles dictate that you can't toss it in 4lo and back up in a straight line you'll be slipping the clutch in order to maintain a safe speed.

 

I have about 97,000 miles on my Tacoma and back up quite a few job trailers and other boat trailers. So far that hasn’t been an issue. I have a pretty good feel for the reverse gear. Like you said it is quite tall!

 

I’ve towed a 5,500lb boat all the way up to Big Bear. And a 6,000lb+ boat around the city.

You’ll be fine, id just use 4lo when launching just in case.

 

Towed a 21 foot wake boarding boat with our family tacoma, probably weighed a little more than your boat. It was 2wd and we also towed up the steepest boat ramp I have ever seen. The engine does fine, brakes are where you need to be careful and keep some car lengths in front of you.

We towed 400 miles to the lake up grades, take your time and its fine. If you're towing short distances you probably won't have much trouble. In the end we upgraded to a half ton because we were towing pretty far and yeah it towed leaps and bounds better. But 4500 pounds is fine for your truck.

Also boats of that size have surge brakes, no need for a brake controller.

 

Surf the threads here. I believe there’s a 2Lo mod in the works. That would help reverse a lot.