Shifting

Is there anybody that shifts from drive in the neutral while going down big hills on long trips? I tend to do it just to try to save some gas mileage I was just wondering if there’s any possible damage that I might be doing by shifting into neutral and back into drive at 55+ miles an hour

 

I don’t, I shift to 4th if towing. But 75% of time I’m in 4th while towing anyways.
As for hurting anything? I don’t know, I figure the less shifting the better. Like anything else in life.
The more you use it, the faster it “wears out”?

Maybe @gearcruncher can give us his opinion?

 

Toyota likes to turn the fuel injectors off when your foot is off the gas pedal . Its a computer controlled truck and chances are the computer Toyota has designed works better than throwing the truck in Neutral .
With this said , let the computer decide how the truck downshifts .
Does throwing the transmission into "N " while coasting down hills hurt the transmnission ?
I doubt it , but your going to wear out your brakes a lot faster as you free coast . Eventually you have to slow down or stop .Why not let the transmission and engine help you slow down with engine breaking as well as the injectors turned off . As long as the transmission pump is lubricating properly , you are not going to wear out internal transmission components .
If you are coasting in " N " with a camper hooked to the back end , let the computer decide when to drop a gear and use engine breaking to assist .
I beleive there are some proven issues with simply allowing the truck to do what it does .
I highly suggest using a scan guage or ultra guage to watch your transmission temps .
Are you watching your transmission temps ? have you considered an aftermarket transmission cooler
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...l-toyotas-write-up-with-many-pictures.526283/
Check out the towing bible . All kinds of great info in that thread
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-tacoma-towing-bible.4031/

 

Thanks for this info I’m not towing when I do it I just do it whenever I’m on long trips going up and down big hills I was just mainly worried about switching it back in the drive from neutral at 65 miles an hour-ish

 

Look up hyper-miling
Lots of people do it and have done it.