Gen 3 Towing Thread

Towed my boat (approx 4,000lbs) today for the first time with the new Tacoma (S4 / ECT). Went much better than I had expected. I only tow 4 - 5 times a year for a max of 200 miles. If I was towing daily, I would have bought something bigger.

 

FDE FTW

 

Towed this up to Mogollon rim (7500ft elev) this weekend from Phoenix (~1200 ft elevation) about 160 miles for a 3 day Turkey hunting trip (heard them but didn't see any this time). Used ECT and 4S mode. Could tell it was back there but felt pretty comfortable. Trailer weight was about 2500lbs. Had about 800lbs of gear in truck and trailer also. Wouldn't want to tow much more than this. Truck screamed at 4500 to 5000rpms to keep speed up inclines at 55 to 60mph. 14mpg average. Did not have brake controller. Don't feel like it was necessary either. No sway issues. Low profile of trailer helped IMO. Weather was nasty rain, sleet and hail off and on all weekend... and even some wet snow on Sat night.

Edit: this trailer is pretty awesome. Loved the furnace and AC.... It's either too cold or too hot in AZ. Just had to bring generator and propane. (Used a Yamaha 3000ise but probably could have got away with smaller). Generator burned about 2 gallons of 87 octane per night. Went through about 4 gallons of propane heating to ~65 for 3 nights in low 30s. Trailer did excellent on roughly maintained and some unmaintained forest roads too...plenty of clearance. Had to use 4x4 to drag it out of the mud and slush Sunday morning.

 

Thanks for the writeup. 14 mpg sounds pretty decent at those rpms... I actually just looked at the owners manual, and it looks like you can tow in 5th gear - S5, just keep it out of drive.

I thought 5th and 6th were both overdrive gears...that's why i figured 4th would be better. I guess that's not neccessary. Page 180.

I guess best way to do it would be while driving through town, s4 would be good and on the highway s5 would be the way to go.

 

Ah did not know that. I tried to read through the manual but fell asleep on page 1 of towing.

 

5 and 6 gear are both overdrive because they are past 1/1 in and out of the transmission

 

Hmm..makes me wonder if it would be ok to tow in 5th then...says it's ok in owners manual.

But on towing thread it says to not to in overdrive due to overheating issues constantly switching gears. Then again only the 1st and 2nd gen trucks are on there...so it could be different with the 3rd gen.

 

I'm going to drive in 6th gear while towing if it's not hunting gears.

 

Not sure that is recommended. See @gearcruncher's sig block

 

If you have a scan guage , pay close attention to the temps . You want to keep the fluid temp under 200 .Any hotter and you are prematurely cooking your fluid and you wont know it . The transmission temp light illuminates at 305 degrees . By then you are too late
You might be ok depending on the weight you are towing , but direct drive or 4th gear is preferred

 

The only problem stated in this thread in regard to towing in overdrive to the transmission is hunting for gears too often. If you are driving in sixth gear while towing a trailer and its not hunting, then there is no problem in regards to the transmission. logic

The manual only states that towing in overdrive is not advised due to charging system requirements. It says nothing about the transmission

 

That doesn't mean the only problem with your proposed scenario is the one stated in the thread. But go ahead and do as you please...it's your bank's truck anyway.

 

What do you mean by direct drive? Is that supposed to be 5th?

 

4th gear is direct drive or a 1:1 ratio

 

Is there a reason toyota went with 2 overdrive gears? You would think it would have been better if it was just 6th that was overdrive...so you could use 5th primarily to be able to tow and your rpms would be lower than having to use 4th.

I'm guessing it is to be able to get better mpg...just kinda stinks seeing how 6th has been pretty much useless.

 

Start towing in 4th gear and watching your transmission temp .
You can upshift to 5th on the flats but keep in mind that your torque converter is going to shift in and out of lock up like crazy depending on the weight of your tow . This creates all kinds of additional heat .
You may not feel the weight of the tow in 5th but watch your temps with a scan guage .
I wouldn't even consider 6th gear . The truck has a hard time maintaining 6th with no towing .

 

This is the info that I have not seen discussed in this thread. Locking and Unlocking of the torque converter's rear clutch would cause excess heat. This makes sense to me.

I am looking for this information to be posted in the thread. That's why I'm asking. My bank hates my truck. They still don't have the title because the dealership put the wrong address on the title paperwork and some other bank has it.

 

Pulled this back from NY to VA averaged around 10mpg load was prob around 5500-6000

 

is it me, or are most of the trucks white? Great choice.

 

Interesting

I need to move my cutlass to my shop (about 6 miles) I have to use my tacoma due to my diesel being down. I'm assuming I'll be about the same weight