My SR 2.7/5 spd long haul towing experience.

So I know it has been discussed at length about the capabilities of towing with the 4 cylinder but wanted to share my experiences.

I opted for the bullet proof combo in august, for me the reliability was a key factor combined with not needed to tow often I went for it.

Now here came the fun pet, moving from Chicago Arizona while fully loaded with a motorcycle trailer.

I have a kendon dual trailer weighing in at 460lbs, the motorcycle is roughly the same and then have a couple hundred pounds of boxes next to it. The bed is fully loaded and every interior inch as well with approximately another 1000lbs of weight.

The trip was broken up in three sections. Chicago to Nebraska to visit family. Then Nebraska you Albuquerque, then Albuquerque to Phoenix.

I had thought about taking. Slower route and going mainly highways, but then I remembered that I am not a Soy boy beta cuck and decided to take interstates.

The Chicago to Omaha section is decently hilly and takes roughly 7 hours. My first impression was that I was surprised how easily it pulled everything. Learning quick that 5th gear with any minute upgrade is virtually worth it.I ended up maintaining 70-75mph the entire way albeit with way more downshifting than anticipated. The biggest hit was fuel economy that went from 22-24mpg all the way down to 15.6mpg.

MPG achieved on this trip ends up being a very odd issue that I can not make sense of.

Overall I am pleased.

Two days ago I went from Lincoln to Albuquerque. Taking interstate down to highway 56. If you’re familiar with Kansas, it’s flat. The pulling was easy and was able to cruise at 75 in 5th most of the way. I filled up in some shit town in Kansas that only offered two choices of fuel… 87 with ethanol and 87 without ethanol. Now here’s the odd part. Highway 56 is flat as fuck and speeds are reduced to 65 most of the way. I ended up averaging a low of 14.2 mpg. At this point I just assume it is what it is. It’s worth giving kudos to Kansas and New Mexico for their superb upkeep of highway 56. Let me send a HUGE fuck you to Oklahoma for literally paving their section by hand. I have never been on a shittier stretch of road ever. You just bounce around non-stop, literally smashing your sack like you’re riding a horse. I even stopped a few times to make sure my trailer was okay. I only maintained maybe 50mph on this section.

I fill up again and head towards Albuquerque. This section ended up being a bit more daunting with the decent upgrades along the way. Realizing quickly when 5th and 4th hear were absolutely worthless I ended up using third at 4-4500 rpm to try an maintain 60mph on the steeper sections. It felt a bit extreme at first but given the stretches were only a minute or so at a time it trucked right along. I assumed the heavy revving and climbing would decimate that mpg but somehow it went up to a trip-best 16mpg. I started to question my math but sure enough that’s what it was.

Today I left Albuquerque and skipped the quicker flagstaff route since I’ve done it before and they were expecting snow. I ended up going down I25 south and up through Tucson. This was a lovely section of the country and the climbs were much more subtle. But the thing that blows my mind is each time I filled up the MPG went up and up. My first fill up and I was at 17.5 all the way to my last fill up which was right at 19mpg.. which isn’t far off my normal mixed driving average. This was all while maintaining 75 most of the way in a mix of 4th and 5th gear.

All in all I am pleasantly surprised the truck did so well. It certainly makes me want to modify intake/exhaust as I feel those few extra horsepower would be really nice. If I were doing this regularly the v6 would certainly be worth it.

the biggest takeaway is that if you fall below 3k rpm and there’s an incline… forget about it, truck can’t even begin to eat it’s own ass at that point.

 

I was so focused on the long trip that I didn’t take any pictures. So there’s a terrible one from when I arrived.

 

Exactly why I did 5.29's even with only 265/75's. Yeah its a lil buzzy on the highway but it pulls decently in 5th gear. Oh well hah, ps, LOVE those wheels.

 

thanks! Was really happy to find them local-second hand in Chicago before I left. Was never the biggest blacked-out fan bit it all really has grown on me.