3.5 vs 4.0 Engines MPG.

Not a chance this story is true OR you are an idiot.

8500 lbs with a 4cyl plus the weight of a trailer. You are WAY over the weight rating and over the tow rating of the 4cyl by 5000 lbs plus. This exceeds the higher rating on the 6cyl by 2-4000 lbs

Let’s ignore the fact that with that much weight the truck would be riding on the bump stops - 1500 lbs plus 6-7000 lb trailer plus 2000 lbs trailer.

Also there’s only a 4 pin hookup on the 4cyl for trailers, but I’m sure you’ll just say the brakes are excellent and had no issue stopping.

The 4cyl is fine for some people but come on dude let’s be realistic, this isn’t nothing as you claim. Not even close. It’s also very much not safe for yourself or anyone else on the road.

 

Here's my fuel log since I purchased the truck with 23,000mi on it. I think over the life of the truck I've only missed like 3 fuel logs. On long trips over 1hr, I'll drive the speed limit and try and squeeze as much as I can out of the truck. Other than that, I drive how I'm feeling. So if I wanna go fast I do. If I wanna put it in 4x4 and beat the camaro off the line when it's slick, I do, so my fuel logs are all over the place.

I'm pretty much stock but with 265/75/16 Wrangler Duratrac C Load. Next set of tires I'll likely go Michellin LTX A/T 2 and that should help me regain some lost efficiency. I also have a soft topper and 10gal of fuel in the bed so there's some additional weight above the tires. I also don't regularly check my tire PSI.

Also, I have not been calculating the difference in MPG for the larger diameter tires. It's like a 1.04% difference in mileage, but usually when I run the calculations it gives me a slight bump up in mpg, but the screenshot below does not reflect that. As much as I trash talk the 3rd gen, there's no doubt it's more efficient.

 

not to knock you, but my 2016 v6 has both the round pin, and flat 4 connectors..

 

Correct - on the v6. The 4cyl only has the 4 pin

 

Go ahead and knock him, he's a troll.

 

You're a troll.

 

I second this. My FJ could easily get 20-22 on the interstate at 70-75 MPH, but my city average was closer to 17.5-18. My 2017 Tacoma gets 19 in the city, 20.5 mixed driving (city roads/state highways < 60 MPH), and 18-18.5 on the interstate at 70 MPH. If I go faster than 70, I'm in the 17s at best. God help me if I'm driving into a head wind... That being said, after tweeking with my throttle control and input, the 3.5 is way more powerful than the 4.0.

 

Yup. And my average has about 5,000 miles of towing at 12-15 mpg bringing down the average quite a bit

 

He was saying the 4 doesn’t have the round? Which it doesn’t. I should know, I have one...

 

in total agreement otherwise.. overloading is an accident waiting to happen...

when i worked for home depot I had a guy show up, wanted me to load a shed kit that weighed close to 1100lbs in the bed of his truck...

I got the forklift, thinking he's got a 1/2ton or a 3/4ton truck.... not a chance.... he had a chevy s-10 with some home-made wooden bed... not a flatbed.. but wooden bed. with standard load springs in a 2wd truck.. I attenpted to load the kit via the customers request.. but as soon as I saw the suspension compress I knew it wouldnt move anywhere.. I left the forks holding most of the weight and checked the load. thing was bottoming the body onto the tires.. it wouldnt have gone anywhere anyways...

 

I really didn't want to address this, because the point was brought up by a troll, but he's claiming "can't be done" because of what kind of plug it is equipped with from the factory?

Two points to make regarding this;
1) Wiring is easy and cheap.
2) Not all trailer brakes even require additional wiring. Hydraulic brakes use the trailer's inertia to compress the master cylinder in the coupler.

My trailer has ventilated hydraulic disk brakes.

 

He’s not saying it can’t be done. He’s saying it shouldn’t be done because it’s way over the rated tow for a 4 cylinder. Just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should. Those ratings are made to keep everyone safe, not just some silly recommendation that means nothing.

There’s a reason the 4s don’t have the plug for the bigger trailers, and that’s because then people would be pulling way more then they should because most people don’t pay attention to weight and ratings.

 

No actually, the tow limit on the 4 cyl (note that the 6-cyl without tow package, and the 5 lug also share that same limit) is there to upsell the 6-cyl with towing package and nothing more. The fact of the matter is that there is no difference between the 4 and 6 chassis, suspension, steering, etc., that would have any impact on safety -- except in the case of 5-lug, which doesn't apply to this discussion for a number of reasons, including the fact that they don't make them any more. So under that understanding, as long as the vehicle is equipped with a properly strong receiver and (AT only) transmission cooler, then there is no actual safety problem in pulling to the maximum safe capability of the 6 cyl.

So now we are looking at 6500-7000 pounds.

Further, EVERY limit has a huge built in margin for eyeballing things, so add another 25% to that.

They also assume that you're going to have a lot of amateurs who don't know what they're doing at all pulling badly loaded (unbalanced) rental uhauls, so a margin for that.

And of course, the fact that they realize that all the redneck bro's will run them at 20 over the limit in a blizzard, so they add a margin for that as well.

In other words, if you're smart about it -- keep the speed sensible, load correctly balanced, and so forth, then they can safely handle a lot more weight than the sticker says.



But fact is this; ALL that discussion is triggered by a troll who's objective is to create chaos by arguing about things that are *entirely* irrelevant to the discussion, which has NOTHING AT ALL to do with what it takes to safely move a huge load. The troll completely ignored the POINT, which is that the 4-cyl engine is STRONG ENOUGH to move all that.

 

How?!?!

 

See my signature. You can also click on the link to see tank by tank.

 

lol good luck with that argument when the trooper stops you and takes you to a weigh station. Let me know how that works out for you.

 

How am I over 20? Lots of highway driving. 3rd gen with manual transmission. Under 70 mph usually. SL tires.

 

That’s completely disregarding the whole stopping the load issue. And that it’s a ticket-able offense to go over manufactured ratings. And your assuming everyone on TW knows what they’re doing?

 

The stopping issue is solved by having trailer brakes that have sufficient capacity to stop the load. And you want to know something about how *my* trailer stops? Even with the previously described load of pavers, it stops much more easily than just stopping my boat, which weighs in at a whopping 2000 pounds wet.

And of COURSE I don't think that everyone on TW knows what they're doing. Most people don't know what they're doing, which is why they SHOULD observe the printed limits, and exceed them ONLY if they REALLY and TRULY understand the physics of what they're trying to do. I would never go and recommend to people that they go ahead and move enormous loads. The only point here that I am trying to make is that the ENGINE IS STRONG ENOUGH to do the job.

 

Sure on flat ground.

Also still not legal but you very obviously don’t care about that.