How is midweight towing with a Manual vs. Auto?

That’s great! I’ll put my order in tonight!

You are inspiration! I’ve never done much towing with an M/T so I’m thinking this might be a good time to give it a shot. Plus I’ve been racking the miles up lately on my tow rig and would rather use my Taco for local stuff like I have to do next week.

 

I’m going to place my order for a kit tonight, I really hope it helps as one of the reasons why I bought my Taco was to move two of my trailers in and out of my yard, a task it’s not been great at thus far. Sounds like this should make the difference!

 

Man, it makes all the difference. Your clutch will thank you. If you used reverse in 4lo, thats exactly how it will be but without binding your front axles, life saver.

 

I am going to have a similar setup. Is the trailer steel? How much is the total loaded weight of trailer?

I am trying to see if it's worth buying an aluminum trailer vs steel due to weight. I will be towing and think saving 600-800 lbs in trailer weight will be worth it.

Do you use a weight distribution hitch, and if so which one?

 

Trailer is steel. Not sure of weight but its too heavy but in my budget. Regular hitch. The car weighs about 2,700 lbs after some weight redux.

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

2014 4 liter 6 speed manual 24” trailer. Pulls like a champ lots of power and the trailer brakes really make everything so smooth and safe.

 

Back in the day when 4X4's had manually locking hubs and 3 sticks in the floor it was quite easy to shift into lo range without shifting into 4X4 or locking the hubs. They also had big warning stickers in the trucks and in the owners manuals advising drivers NOT do so. I've seen guys snap U-joints and twist drive shafts when they ignored those warnings.

They no longer warn against doing so because from the factory it is impossible to do so. For a reason.

Not too many years ago trucks developed most of their torque at around 2000 rpm. This is the achilles heel of manual transmissions in newer trucks, not just Tacoma's. A 3rd gen Tacoma needs 4600 rpm to develop torque. This is a huge disadvantage when trying to maneuver a trailer in a tight spot. Especially backing a trailer. Pretty much all gas engines used in all trucks today is designed to work best with an automatic. They don't even offer manuals in any full size truck intended for towing anymore.

For those who just enjoy stirring the stick when driving Toyota and Jeep still offer a manual. You buy a manual for fun, you buy the automatic for work.

 

I think its more because very few want to row their own in NA. Why would they make vehicles that nobody would buy? Go to europe or other countries and most of the vehicles are still manuals, including heavy duty trucks.
Mind you, a lot of those vehicles are diesels. I would still prefer MT for towing any time of the day.

 

Duly noted and maybe I should make the warning/disclaimer in my thread a bit more prominent. 2Lo is really not intended for off-roading or dicking around doing doughnuts. I agree with your point on AT vs. MT. That being said, I have MT because I definitely do enjoy rowing my own. It still boggles my mind that the reverse gear is so tall though. I don't remember what it is in the AT, but it is mitigated by the presence of the torque converter to some extent.

 

I think you made it pretty clear in your thread. Also, its common sense since all the power is going to rear wheels. Its for those times at the boat ramp or backing up a trailer a short distance. I would never press gas more than a quarter when 2lo engaged.

 

I haven't towed a lot with my 2020 6MT, but I did tow a 2300lb boat with my 2016 AT several times on 3+ hour trips and it worked just fine IMHO. If you consider downshifting to climb hills and pass cars "hunting for gears" then YMMV. I did find that it did a lot better if I kept my speed at 70 mph or lower and put the top on the boat. Above that or without the top it seemed to struggle noticeably more, but still not super terrible.

 

Just towed my boat with a 3/4 filled gas tank 50 miles to have some maintenance and winterization done. GW with trailer was around 4000lbs. Had some trouble in reverse going up a grade on our driveway when repostioning but other than that, it towed like a champ.

 

I've got about 25k miles of towing on my truck now and never really have any concerns with the AT. S5 and ETC, or S4 in the hills and it does fine at the weight you are concerned with.

Only time my truck ever really had an issue was in WV and going up a 10% grade my truck would bounce between gears trying to maintain highway speeds. I would of liked an MT there, but really when towing up hill at 65 MPH on a 10% grade, what can you expect? An MT certainly would have needed a lower gear at that point too. It just would have stayed in that gear.

Slowing down wasn't an option.

 

For the most part ETC fixed that for me, but you can use s-mode as well.

 

Hmm, well that's one take on it...I think for my purpose this 2LM will be just what I'm looking for. In my case I'm driving up a slight slope on loose gravel (or on the other side of my yard, clay mixed with broken concrete in key, low-traction areas). At least for now neither surface is paved or a hard surface. The last time I tried to move my travel trailer into it's spot I at one point had my truck in 4L which did seem to help, however having the front end engaged made it really difficult to maneuver the trailer into it's spot. FWIW This is a task my previous 4x4 (an Isuzu Amigo 4x4) handled easily, however it was geared lower and it's short wheelbase allowed me to really tuck it into some tight spots.

As far as manual's being for play or whatever your theory is, yeah. At work all of our heavy-duty trucks are Manuals. They just work better and more reliably for our purposes than automatics do. One of our Crane's is built on a five-year old Peterbuilt Chassis and I think on that truck the transmission is just about the only thing on that truck which hasn't broken LOL!

I placed my order for a harness this morning, can't wait to install it and try it out!

 

Isn’t ETC our version of “tow/haul mode”?

 

You tow that any distances where i live, especially if you want to get there the same day, it won't be long before needing a clutch.

 

Tow/haul/fun mode? I used it whenever I felt driving more aggressively.