Flat or Dinghy Tow a Tacoma - why not?

Yup.

 

Been searching on this for few weeks since I picked up a new to me class A. Just stumbled across this thread just now. Thanks for the insight.

Planning to set up both trucks up for flat towing. My Tacoma has auto so was planning on pulling rear drive shaft for sure. Little bit of a pain but it's 4 bolts, pretty quick. Hopefully the V10 can get out of it's own way towing

 

If i were going to have to pull a driveshaft every stop, I think I'd find a disconnect.
Someone you meet in the road or on forums is bound to have a second hand one and driveshaft work is not THAT expensive.

 

For someone on the road for months or weeks at a time I would 100% agree.

For myself more of a weekend warrior would just be going from home to camp (open desert) disconnect truck,install DS.. Do my best to keep all the wheels on the truck for the weekend, so I can tow it home without calling AAA. Sunday hook up truck to Motorhome uninstall DS. Drag truck back home.

 

Yea, that gets tricky. Going all out 4 wheeling is going to make a quickconnect the weak point.[

 

No doubt. Plan on taking it easy when flat towing. For longer trips at least for the pickup, I will probably just rent a Uhaul flat bed.

Picking up tow bar tmw. Falcon All Terrain 2

 

You could start the truck (4 cyl man trans) put it in neutral and let it idle while you tow it, that engine burns about 0.3 gallon per hour, on a 2000 mile trip at 65 mph that would cost about $30. I would check with Toyota to make sure the trans would get proper lubrication. This would be a much cheaper option, especially in an emergency.

 

Update.

Towed the truck for about 1,000 miles now over 3 separate back and forth to camp grounds. No issues so far.

Keeping an eye on the brakes and steering. Those two have separate pumps and could have issues. So far all is good.

I can feel the extra 1200 lbs on the RV over the Honda CRV. Knocked off 1/2 mile per gallon.

All and all vary satisfied with towing the truck. I do like driving it much better than the CRV.

 

@Stonerok - Do you still have the equipment or did you return it?

I'm looking to flat tow an '07 2.7l 4x2 AT...

 

@dwphoto Any luck on the flat tow set-up?

We're looking to flat tow our '07 2.7l 4x2 AT behind an RV we are about to purchase...

 

Seems like it’d be a lot easier just to buy a car hauler type trailer.

 

There is a reason why you see a lot of Jeep Wranglers being flat towed behind motor homes. There is a way to shift the transfer case to neutral. They are the smallest, easiest to tow vehicle with this feature. I CAN also shift the transfer case to neutral on my F150. I haven't tried it because it requires a pretty elaborate dance of switching stuff on the dash to disengage and reengage the transfer case. I doubt i'll ever need to flat tow it.

To the best of my knowledge there is no easy way to do this on a Toyota.

 

I just put mine in drive and leave it running, pretty easy

 

If you see my Tacoma (or my 4runner) behind my motohome I have a manual transfer case in neutral. I did a prerunner to 4x4 conversion. The 4runner has a drive line disconnect.

 

Older thread, but I can think of no issues with flat towing a manual Tacoma.

There were various potential issues brought up in this thread, all of which are either misguided or incorrect about the way the drivetrain in a Tacoma 4.0L is setup. Essentially it’s the same as coasting with the truck in neutral with the clutch out.

1. In 2-HI the front diff doesn’t matter. ADD disconnects the RH axle from the differential, however both CV shafts spin like they always do and the differential spider gears spin from the LH wheel turning. It is the exact same situation as when driving the truck normally in 2-HI. No additional wear will occur and it is operating as designed.

2. The RA60(F) manual transmission uses a tail-set design where the reduction gear is positioned at the output. What this means is that when in neutral being towed, the output shaft and countershaft will both be spinning, lubricating things and moving oil around. In fact, when the engine is running and the vehicle is stopping in neutral the input shaft (and all the gears) is spinning without the countershaft spinning. You get more lubrication towing the truck in neutral with the engine off than you do in neutral with the engine running and the truck stopped.

3. The transfer case is pretty purely a mechanical gearbox with a chain, spinning it via the input shaft vs. the output shaft has no functional difference.

Jeff

 

Thought I'd put my final thoughts into this thread.

Just finished 6 weeks down south pulling the Tacoma for 3,600 miles. Besides it dragging behind the RV - and yes the V10 does feel it - I had no issues.

Going to pick up a 2017 Lincoln MKX tomorrow to flat tow instead of the Tacoma. The Tacoma is manual and my wife doesn't drive one. I get tired of doing all the driving so this works best. The MKX (automatic) has a flat tow mode in the owners manual. Plus it is nice and cushy...

 

Hello Rv'rs did you guys use a brake actuater for the Tacoma when towed? or just flat towed with the RV brakes doing all the work

 

I use the ready brute:

https://www.readybrake.com/store/p4/ReadyBrute™_Elite_RV_Tow_Bar.html

 

I use a brake buddy. My gas rv doesn’t have the braking power.

 

Not a tacoma but stoked to be dragging this old girl behind motorhome

2wd manual just in neutral. 500 miles or so no issues thus far