How is midweight towing with a Manual vs. Auto?

Presently driving a Tundra, but getting a little sick of the enormity of it and thinking about downsizing a little to a Tacoma next year.

I routinely tow a 2,500 pound (loaded) trailer. It is my understanding from reading forums, that the automatic with 3.5 combo struggles with towing a bit and hunts for gears. I think also, there is no transmission cooler on the Tacoma?

If I got a manual transmission Taco, would I be happier with the towing and day to day driving. Drove manuals all my life until a few years ago.

 

I’ve towed extensively with both and the manual tows significantly better than the automatic. If i was towing with the auto, it would need 4.88 gears.

I also average about 2-4 MPG more with my MT than that AT. With the MT I can get in 5th gear and stay there.

There is a trans cooler on the auto.

 

I've only towed once with my MT, and it was a 5k sailboat trailer, but I woould imagine with all the complaints people have about the auto that being able to stay in the gear and RPM you want would be a benefit. And 2500 lbs is roughly 1/3 of it's towing rating so it won't hurt it. Backing up a trailer with this reverse ratio sucks though.

 

Now would be the time to jump in on @lapoltba 's 2LM harness groupbuy.

 

I regularly tow my boat (around 3000lbs) with my AT. I’ve got no complaints. It does search for gears some but not nearly as much as some say. For my part I typically tow to local lakes with distances ranging from 10-40 miles (one way) a few times per month. If I were towing frequently to the coast, say 200 miles one way twice a month I would move up to a 1/2 ton for that.

 

Heard the newest 2020s no longer come with the transmission cooler, even on the auto. I think it was discovered any manufactured after Feb 2020 or thereabouts?

 

I would think (but can't confirm) that even if the new autos came without a cooler that an aftermarket one could be installed. It's what we used to do in the old days before factory tow packages where a common thing.

 

I tow a 2700# pop up camper with my 3.5 auto and it tows great. Have a trans cooler on mine and use the ect button and S mode for long hills. The wife and I took it from Missouri to Washington state through the mountains 6000 miles round trip. Averaged 13mpg.

 

I towed a 6x12 cargo trailer around with my 2017 OR DCSB MT and it handled great. No mods other than sumo springs, which were probably unnecessary. Only thing I didn't like was trying to reverse slowly, especially uphill. I'd eventually have done the 2 lo mod if I had kept it.

 

Last time i owned a manual toyota compact pickup the clutch needed replacement around 50k miles. I blamed it on towing...it was nearly the same for my 1979 toyota 4 speed manual also. If you tow with a manual clutches don't last. I've had all auto's after 1993 that tow, and none have had an issue as long as you change the atf on schedule. My latest 3.5 taco i have towed my 2k lb boat and utility trailer with using the s and ect modes. Truck hasn't had any issues with gear hunting.

 

Here's a related question on this topic, for those of you who tow regularly, what gear do you use on the highway? Next week I need to flat-tow my 3K LBS VW about 100 miles mostly on the highway, no real hills (OC to San Diego). On my A/T's I generally lock-out of O/D but since on the M/T 5th and 6th are overdrive gears I'm not sure if I should stay in 4th the whole way or ??

Back on-topic, to the OP, reverse gear does suck on the M/T; it seems way too high. I smoked my clutch the first time I tried to back my 2,000 Travel Trailer up a small gravel driveway into my backyard (it's maybe 3' above grade). I'm looking into doing the 2L mod but I also added a receiver under my front bumper as for me it seems this truck can 'push' up hill in first better than it can in Reverse.

 

The manual says not to tow over 5th gear.

There is a 4Lo Bypass switch that is just now doing a group order, https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-2wd-low-range-for-the-3rd-gen-tacoma.614743/

It basically allows you to put the truck into 4lo, but leave the front diff unlocked - 2lo - for better reverse. I too have back up a slight incline occasionally.

 

Cool, thanks for the link! However it looks like I missed-out on the current group buy, I put in a pre-order for the next round. I'm hoping that helps!

 

Just send a PM to @lapoltba and maybe he'll have someone drop out and have an opening to get you in to the current 2LO group buy. Or at least he'll see there's already interest to start collecting names for the next one.

As for what gear to tow in with a 6MT, I generally tow my camper in fourth and keep it around 60mph or lower. If there is a long, flat stretch I might go up to fifth, but drop back pretty quickly if I run into anything. That is a 4000# brick wall though, you might have more flexibility with what you are towing. 4th @ 60mph is a good baseline though I think and then you can increase as you feel comfortable.

 

You’ll miss the v8 power.

 

Pretty sure you can still get in on it. He's still taking payments on this one.

 

You can play manual with the auto too. My advice is to test drive a lot of stuff before making your pick.

 

Just go to the GB thread in my signature and place an order using the link. We're still short ~20 people despite having enough people that were interested.

 

I tow this with my 6MT just fine.
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I think I would commit harakiri if I had to tow with the automated tranny.

 

2wd low mod is amazing, highly recommend. Install was not hard. It should come like that from the factory.