Should have bought a half ton

Is it me?
Why all of a sudden these towing threads?
It's not a half ton pick up, it makes shitty torque down low on the rev range, it's not supposed to tow a lot.

 

No idea but mine tows my RT188 bass boat through the mountains of WV no problem. Must be the MT.

 

Some people aren’t cut out to drive a Tacoma

 

I’m sober and thought the same thing!

 

Exactly! I specifically bought this truck to tow with a M/T. I’ve towed my boat, I’ve towed my tractor which totally capped it at 5640 lbs, and many other things. The only thing I wanted was better gearing, which I fixed for $150 by doing the 2wd low modification.

my suburban had the same issue of gear hunting on the freeway. My 5.9L dodge had to stay I. 3rd gear screaming to go up an incline, and just to cruise it was usuAlly 3 rd gear You just need to tow a lot with a lot of different vehicles and see that even with a half ton, trailers slow you the hell down and suck out your gas mileage. I went across the country twice in the last month. Went up to the pacific, was in the high desert, and didn’t blink an eye.

 

While its not my old v8 tundra, my 2020 v6 taco doesn't do a 1/2 bad job pulling my 2k lb boat on the highway. In fact leaving late this morning to pull it out of the lake where its moored, and tow it back to my home where it'll be put in storage for the winter. I've also have a 5x10 aluminum utility trailer thats around 800 lbs. i use for many jobs....truck pulls them just fine getting around 18-19 mpg towing either.

 

Had the same triton snowmobile trailer when i owned my tundra. I use to tow to quebec an average of 500 miles just one way 4 times a season getting 14.5 mpg. I would guess this wide load would be pretty bad towing with the taco on the same highways.

 

There’s a guy in my area who pulls a zero-turn mower on a slightly smaller but similar trailer with his 2nd Gen RC 5-lug and he doesn’t seem to have a problem; My uncle also pulled a jet ski with his 1991 Toyota 5-lug pickup...

 

That gate is a giant parachute.
My old utility trailer has one, I sold it to my buddy that uses it for his small trailer behind his 1 ton..... With the gate up, it's still noticeable behind the much larger much more powerful 1 ton.
Those gates are to load lawnmowers from house to house in town, not highway cruisers.

 

I get 15 mpg highway. The truck does just fine with small trailers. Just dont expect it to zoom around with the same dynamics as an unloaded truck, because that would be a silly and completely unreasonable expectation.

 

I tow my 12ft pop up(~1500lbs)full bed of bikes/supplies, and family of 4. Ect and s4 and averaged 16 mpg for about 200 miles. Think I got closer to 17 on the return trip. Cruise set at 65.

 

The boat and trailer is 3000lbs. I did a short haul to storage last weekend and it felt better than my 2010 Nissan Pathfinder. The Tacoma was better dampening the push/pull feel of the trailer behind. But this a a lot more aerodynamic than what others are towing..

 

My 4Runner with 4.0l and E load TKOIIs would get about 7mpg towing my 3500 lb pop-up and about 12mpg around town. I sold the pop-up and haven't towed much but my flat bed trailer with the taco. Seems fine to me for what it is. The way the engine makes power at higher rpms I'd expect to be revving and using some fuel when towing heavier loads. It will do it, but its not a diesel and I knew that going in...

 

My oldest has a pair of these monsters! '17 RC with his welding bed, '08 DC, both tuned w/6spds. Tows a 30' camper behind his loaded welding rig to jobs. Just came back from Tenn. These things eat up the mountains...

I have a 6X10 enclosed, have yet to hook onto it with the Taco. I don't expect much, but it'll get it where it needs to go.

 

I towed a ~6000lb 6x12 uhaul trailer from Washington state to Wisconsin through one of the most mountainous highways in the US. It towed it well, granted I mostly drove around 60mph on flat ground and 55mph on mountain passes. I got around 13mpg on average. IMO the issue with most “it can’t tow” threads is people expect the truck to do 70-80 mph while towing.

 

Never use cruise while towing . Rookie mistake

 

Correct, they also don't seem to read the owner's manual, that recommends towing in S, which locks out the two overdrive gears. (Maybe not OP, but many on TW complain about constant shifting, cause they're not locking out OD gears).

 

Funny, I towed my 6x10 with my SxS on it that had a power auger and 2 chainsaws in it's bed on Friday and had 0 issues at about 3000#. This includes the 660# of quikrete I had in the bed of the truck, the rebar, and other associated crap (my kid and I) with it. I averaged about 12.5 MPG While doing 60-65 MPH or so in S5 on the flat stuff and S4 in the foothills. No cruise obviously, but sorry your truck sucks ass and you didn't RTFM.

These threads would be non-existent if people understood drag and the fact that even with a light weight trailer the truck is going to drive differently than when not trailered.

 

Many times the trailer will have a BIG impact on towing. Not the weight, the form of the trailer.

The 5x10 with the expanded metal ramp will tow like an aerodynamic brick. The ramp is a major source of drag. Each MPH will require about 2x the force to pull (rule of thumb).

In contrast, the pop-up camper has almost zero frontal area tucked in the slipstream of the truck.

I would suggest the next time you pull that 5x10 to remove the ramp and lay it flat in the trailer.

 

If I was still towing anything I would have stuck with my Tundra. My needs changed. I needed a smaller, more nimble truck, which would be better off road. The Taco delivered that in spades.