Towing with a 4 cylinder. What do you tow?

Thanks guys. When I load the car on. Should it sit further towards the back on the trailer/axels to help out with the weight transfer?
What's the stress on the motor gonna be. Is gonna be hamer to the floor the whole time in 4th gear ?

 

If you load the car too far back, it will be unstable and could sway and possibly kill you on the highway. I suggest keeping the tongue weight as high as you can, but measure it so you don't go too high. You can use a cheap bathroom scale, with a pipe and a 2x4 to alter the load on the scale to match up to its range. Check google for how to do that.

Stress on the engine will be increased during acceleration, but not significantly different once up to speed. Use 5th gear as normal for cruising on flat, downshift on slope as needed.

 

I brought home my new 16'6" smoker craft with a 40 hp mercury last night from Oregon to Olympia. I maintained 75 mph the whole way dropping to 4th on the grades. I have a 4x4 so I use 4L if I come to a redlight on a steep hill.

 

Okay, so this was a bit stupid. Picked up this boat in southeastern BC, towed it all the way across the province to Vancouver Island. And there are a LOT of mountains in BC. Spent lots of time in 1st gear but we made it. This was taken on top of Kootenay Pass

 

15ft skiff. Can't even tell it's back there

 

Actually would recommend to use 4th gear. Even on a 5-speed manual. Don’t know what trans he has, but on some older land cruiser models with 5MTs, trans will fail because towing in 5th puts too much load on 1st gear thrust washer causing it to grenade and punch a hole through housing, draining all the oil and the heat destroys trans.

 

GOOD NEWS !!!!
What Are The CAMPERS You All Pull With Your 4 Cylinder Tacos???
I Was Hoping To Get A "Mini" Camper But Wasn't Sure It Would Tow...

 

My name is Chad!

Just bought a 16ft scamp, fiberglass trailer, dry 1400 lbs, wet upwards of 2000.

Want opinions on towing with my 2.7.
Its a 4x4, 5 speed man. 97.
We are shipping up to WA from CO.

Would love to hear from yall. My first posting

 

Well within your towing range. Drive at 55-60 mph in 4th gear or direct drive .

 

Do not use 5th on the freeway. Stay in 4th gear and reduce your speed if you don’t want your RPMs too high. Your engine will cool more and produce power more efficiently. Your trans will also be healthier, less shifting and less load if you keep in 4th gear.

 

Add fresh goop to that gear box. Change fluid service internal and send it.

 

Add- a- leaf mabye. If you don’t want to do all that then a over the leaf helper is simple. Mabye look into sumo spring progressive bumps or timken bumps( better tow reviews on here)5100’s out back never hurt.

 

Another fiberglass egg here (16 foot Casita). The 2.7 averages about 19 mpg at 60mph in S5 on the interstate.

 

I found this thread using Google searching 2wd 4cyl Tacoma towing.
I know it says 3500, but what does that feel like on the highway or going up and down hills. I live in the Portland Oregon area and we have a lot of inclined highways.

 

I just finished a two week trip from central Virginia to Nova Scotia Canada. We covered a bit over 2600 miles towing. I have a 5 speed standard. On flat stretches of Interstate I did use 5th gear at times and ran at about 2500 rpm in that gear. I averaged right around 17mpg.
At no time in the trip did I feel the truck wasn’t up to the job. The tab weighs around 2900 fully loaded.

 

Yeah, reading this thread, it seems like everyone is doing fine with their 4cyl. I mean, it's not a daily thing, but a few trips to the mountains to go camping it can handle.
Thanks.
Here's what I'll be towing maybe 8 times a year - but probably no more than a 3 hour drive. 1967 StarCraft Aluminum - with a 75hp Suzuki.

 

Towed this Kendon single trailer with a CB500X to the mountains yesterday, handles great:

 

Towed my 17ft skiff to Florida from north of Atlanta. I regularly tow it to Lake Lanier.