First Time Towing Ever: 4 cyl 5 Spd Experience

I thought I would share my first time ever towing experience so other folks like me who are a bit nervous or unsure can get an idea of what they can expect from a newbie beginner standpoint.

First off some notes:

My truck is 2010 Tacoma access cab 4wd with the 2.7L 4 banger, 170K miles on it, which had a trailer hitch on it when I bought it, max towing capacity rating of of 3500lb’s.

The trailer I rented was the U haul’s 12X6 enclosed, with a rough dry weight of around 2000lbs

Approximate total distance towed was around 200+ miles.

What was I hauling? A storage units worth of furniture and other random household furniture like items. The trailer was FULL. And I can only imagine it was at least close to if not over the max of 3500 total towing capacity.

Per my research I did attempt to load slightly more heavy on the front of the trailer. I have a few random items in the bed of the truck as well.

Some preparations I took before the trip, I checked all fluids and tire pressure, inspected the belt. I added pressure to the rear tires (45lbs), I brought along a few tools and various fluids in case I ran into any trouble.

The drive:

I picked up the trailer about 25 miles from where I would be loading it with stuff. So my first impressions were “hey, this isn’t so bad”. I could tell the extra weight was there but it wasn’t scary at all and the truck handled it really well. Braking was not as bad as I thought (based on what I had read here) I was expecting to get pushed all over the road but it was actually quite confident. But I was cautious regardless. Highway was no problem at 65-70 mph. I kept it in 4th most of the time. (Never in 5th). Maneuvering the trailer around town was not as nerve wracking as I would have expected. I didn’t have Tow mirrors but I pointed my stockers out further than normal and felt I had adequate view..

Once loaded:

As I mentioned this trailer was absolutely full top to bottom. I was a bit nervous about the weight limit as I was facing a 3 hr drive (without a trailer). Taking off was notably sluggish I had to be extra mindful from a stop (lucky I put a new clutch in only 7-8 K miles ago). Getting up to highway speed was a bear but I wasn’t shy with revving it up to get in the power band. Once up to speed however it rolled quite nicely.. Despite the weight I could still maintain 65-70 the entire ride back, It was a very windy day which I could feel at times pushing me around a little.. I won’t lie I could feel the trailer, but it wasn’t a white knuckle type experience that I expected.. I was just more alert of my surroundings and distances. There were many long grades on this trip several of which required me to be in 3rd gear to maintain any speed. I never had any trailer sway ect. It was very stable all things considered. I still made it back in about 3 hrs time. I was averaging about 13.5 MPG.


Conclusion: Maybe my expectations where so low that it seemed impressive but I am very impressed with how well this little 4 cyl, light truck handled max towing capacity. I wouldn’t hesitate to tow again. I admit if I was doing it daily id probably get a bigger more powerful truck. This truck really handled it with relative ease and made my long first time towing experience a good one..

 

Nice & helpful report!

 

Nice write up!

 

Its always good to check/prep things.

Ignore everyone who says not to use overdrive/5th. There is *nothing* wrong with using 5th gear while towing.
This recommendation comes from people blowing up transmissions while towing in overdrive, but there are two *extremely* important elements of these failures that you need to understand before assuming that they apply to you;
1) They are all *automatic* transmissions.
2) Its not actually due to use of overdrive, but rather it is due to jumping back and forth between two gears. This is called "hunting for gears".
So when towing with an *automatic*, you just monitor how it is handling gears, and if you find it hunting, THEN switch it to 4th, or 3rd as needed so that it holds that gear.

For you with a manual, drive in the HIGHEST gear for which it will maintain the target speed. So if you're on a flat and it will happily maintain 65 in 5th gear, you SHOULD keep it in 5th, that is unless you enjoy spending money on fuel.

It should be nerve wracking. Nerve wracking is when you are not well prepared, unsafe poorly balanced load, inclement weather (snowing, severe wind), driving beyond safe limits, etc.

The one big item that a lot of people have a hard time figuring out when they're learning about towing heavy with a manual transmission, is that you MUST NOT try to "give it everything" from a stop. Keep the throttle nice and low, engage the clutch nice and gently. Just let it roll nice and smoothly and slowly forward until the clutch is fully engaged, then give it more gas.

You see, a lot of people try to overcome the inertia quickly, which leads them to engaging the clutch harshly under high throttle and slipping/burning the crap out of it. Doing this is completely unnecessary, and will, of course, damage your clutch. Now it can be a bit of a challenge if you're forced to stop and start on a steep incline, but there is a solution for that situation for those (like you) who have 4WD -- 4-LOW. That will give you an extra 2.54x the torque, which basically means that you can add on a free 6600 pound trailer. You can shift through the gears in low just like you do in high, and I think its something like 50 mph tops you can do in low range before you redline it in 5th. Look around for the 2-LOW modification to make the low range "save your ass on a hill" process a lot more comfortable and reliable.

The "power band" (or rather, and more importantly, the TORQUE band) on that engine is pretty much shaped like a stack of pancakes. Flat all the way from 2000 rpm to 5500. You don't actually have to wind it out all the way to get it going on the highway, as long as you account for the fact that yeah, it will take longer to get it up to speed. A lot of people freak out when it doesn't accelerate as fast as a race car, but that has no bearing on getting the hard work done.

Believe it or not, but they'll actually handle a lot MORE than the so-called "max" load (which frankly, I think you were well over -- you only had 1500 pounds available after the 2000 pound trailer, and a full load of furniture will be *very* heavy -- my guess is that you were up probably into the 4500-5500 range). Well at least the 4-cyl will, the 6-cyl limit is a lot closer to the "chassis" limit, but with the 4-cyl, the only thing you're lacking is a little bit of horsepower. So as long as you are prepared for it to twice as long to accelerate, it will do the work. Just look around carefully at all the towing posts. You're going to have 2 very divergent sets of claims -- the "no you can't" set, which consists of people who own 6-cyl and people who have never towed a thing in their life, and possibly a few who didn't put the care into their set up as you did, and you will also have the "you wouldn't believe what this can do" set, who own 4-cyl trucks, and work them hard, and really know first hand what they really are capable of doing.

 

Thanks for the feedback 96Cardboard

I think I could have used 5th at times but it would have been rare, my truck cant hold speed in 5th on grades even without a trailer. but I see your point to that it more applies to automatics. I wouldn't want to "lug" the engine either. My truck was resting nicely around 3k in 4th most of the trip, but a fair amount of my drive was at some level of grade which would have been undesirable in 5th.. But I will keep this in mind for next time.

I agree that preparation and doing a fair amount of research helped me make this a successful trip one in peace of mind but also just being prepared as opposed to just slapping a trailer on completely blind.. Especially things like the load balance where I was pushing the limits on weight, the fact that I knew I should load more on the front probably helped a lot..

Starting off with the trailer loaded from a stop was a learning experience. Thankfully I have driven manuals all my life so I'm pretty seasoned when it comes to how to work a clutch properly and not burn it up. It is good advice though, to kind of start slow let it get rolling then start increasing speed and not ride the clutch and burn it up. Lucky I didn't have to start from a stop to many times as it was pretty much straight shot to the highway. but good advice.

Lastly yes I agree that after actually towing with this truck my perceptions are different than they were prior.. I was nervous about the weight but as you mentioned technically the chassis/ suspension ect is the same as on the 6 cyl rated for 6500, its really limited by the motor. Which I suppose was why I wasn't overly concerned about the weight ( but not ignoring it either) I just knew that it could potentially be a very slow drive home.. Its not an F 350 but with proper care and preparation it can handle towing decent for what it is..

 

Nice write up, thanks for taking the time.
I have an 2nd gen access cab 6 cyl and have contemplated going to a reg cab for the extra garage space but can only get the reg cab in a 4 cyl so
I've wondered how the towing was.

 

Keep in mind that towing stability is greatly improved with a longer wheelbase, and conversely, a shorter wheelbase (as in a regular cab) will yield lower stability.

 

Well not a Taco but I have a 13 ft boler loaded around 1300 lbs and pulled it everywhere with a 98 Mazda 2500 5 speed. Yes it takes a bit of practice especially starting and on a hill but practice makes perfect and remember its not a race to get to your destination. Well I just upgraded to a 09 access cab with 2.7 and 5 speed trans. Looking forward to hooking up and hitting the road
Jan

 

3000rpms is too much even for a 4cyl towing on flat ground IMO. I think you realistically keep your RPMs between 2400-2600rpm and driving 55-60mph which is safer and less stress on the engine and improves fuel economy. 4th gear is a good towing gear. The owners manual recommends no higher than 4th gear on an auto V6 and a 5MT 2.7. And 5th gear for an 6MT v6.

 

Yes good imfo. Thanks for sharing. I got.my.hitch today but not sure which trailer wiring kit I.need. I will hopefully crawl underneath tomorrow to see what I can discover
Jan

 

You might want to look into a local hitch place to do the wiring for you if you don't think you can do it. They should be able to give you both the 4 and 7 pin connector and the brake controller if needed. They should also have the 4/7pin adapter that goes on the bumper next to the license plate, which will make look like the OEM. Just something to think about.

EDIT: Disregard this @scouterjan just realized you have a 2nd gen and not a 3rd gen or at least that's what you avatar says

 

The factory wiring plugs should be there probably taped into the wiring loom and most kits just plug into there. I have a factory trans cooler so I assume it's just a matter of locating them