I talked to a guy with a 2017 sr5 dc auto about towing his 3000lb boat

Had mentioned this once before but I just talked to the guy again a couple of minutes ago. I thought he had an 2017 OR but its an sr5 and I thought he had a 2000lb boat, he said no its actually 3000lbs.

So I say to the guy " do you notice any problems with the transmission ?" and he looks at me like "what transmission problems ?". Says he just got back from a few hundred mile fishing trip and it tows great. Never had any issues. He said he drives 75. He's a lucky guy because I guess he's never been on here to read just how wrong he is. A picture of the guy's truck just because.

 

Who is to say they have transmission problems? Have there been bunches of transmission failures? Just because the shift pattern is different than what most are used to doesn't make it a problem.

 

I tow 3400lbs all the time. No problems at all. 500 miles around trip to cabin twice a month.

 

Mostly flat? Thinking about picking up a TT that's about 2900 lbs but I'll have some hills.

 

I tow a 5000lb boat with no issues, and I monitor trans temps the entire time. I get up some hills but stay away from the crazy grades.
The question is, does OP's friend have the V6 or not and did it come with the tow package

 

It's a mixture of flat and rolling hills. MPH is 60 to 65 with slow downs in small towns.

 

V6 but I don't know about a tow package. But he was truly flabergasted to hear about "transmission issues".

 

Yeah, the transmission problems do not extend to towing, the truck is probably going to stay in 4th the whole time. The issue people have is NOT with the transmission, but with lack of torque at 1,500 RPM. With basically two overdrives (auto) this thing is trying to run at 1,500 RPM at 70 MPH. With the less-than-aerodynamic shape the truck is on the verge of downshifting out of 6th just because of wind resistance - toss in a little hill and you are going to 5th gear and maybe even 4th with zero load. Toss in taller and maybe heavier tires and the problem is exacerbated. The MT guys are happy because their ratios probably work better. I did not look in the manual to confirm this, but typically manuals get better MPG, but in the case of the Tacoma they get worse.

So in conclusion the transmission is working well, just trying to find torque that isn't there.

 

I tow with mine. No problems. Must be the MGM.

 

If by transmission problems you mean the constant shifting our AT trucks have at highway speeds, @SCQTT nailed it. It does not extend to towing as you will be in S4 and ECT will be on. Shoot, I'm sometimes in S4 with just the bigger tires.
OVTune (~$700) helped this a bunch and eventually a gearing update to 4.88 or 5.29 (~$3000) will help as well.

 

The torque is there, you are just looking for it at the wrong place.

 

He also said he was getting 17-19mpg on the highway towing.

 

My SR5 can tow 6,400 lbs. with its tow package. Toyota says so. I’m not surprised that guy can tow 3,000lbs.

 

I barely get those numbers not towing on the highway

 

some people might be surprised to hear that.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/towing-6400-with-tacoma.635534/

 

Not worth reading, completely devolved into chaos on the first page. Lol

 

The Uncle Pulltabs of the forum would have you believe towing anything over 3,000 rpm is a surefire way to an early engine death.

 

There’s no tranny problems with these trucks, they just drive differently than what most people are used to. If these had problems you’d hear about a lot more people replacing their transmissions or repairing them. This truck just shifts more because of the “two” overdrives. Mine drives great and it tows just fine too. Just drives at a higher rpm when towing. Not a big deal, just worse MPG’s.

 

2019 A5 TRD offroad NO worries pulling twin axle 3000 lb boat , flat 70mph , no wind. about 10-11 mpg , same mpg as 2017 F150 6cyl twin turbo

 

No issue with the transmission. Works great on my 2017 OR 4x4 double cab.