Manual or Auto for Towing/ Long Bed or Short for Towing

Ours is a 19ft Hideout, 3800lbs on the sticker, around 4500lbs headed to the campsite with full water. If we are traveling far (last summer ~1000km 600+miles round trip) I keep the tanks empty and it tows much nicer.

I've got brake controller, equalizer hitch, friction sway, scanguage. It towed nicer when I had E loads on the 2nd gen so that is next. I've planned to put in airbags since forever but just haven't pulled the trigger yet. Soon I think.

It tows along all day at 95km/hr in 4th. Mileage is around 10mpg, uphills are slow, but it's worth it when you get to your site and crack a pop.

 

Nice! Know they're rated for 6k but no way I'd pull that much unless absolutely necessary. Upper 3k dry weight is where I'd cut off. Sway bar keeps the tail from wagging the dog well enough? Obviously not looking to go hauling the mail down the highway but that seems like a lot of sidewall in the win .

Hear you about cracking a pop shortly after rolling into the campsite. I love tent camping but getting to a point that I want a bed over a thermarest.

 

Drive slower and get a cushioned trailer hitch. Slower means less RPMs and wind resistance, less load is better MPGs and heat soaking. Cushioned ball mounts like Gen-y hitch means less fatigue and wear from shock loads of bumps and vibrations.

 

Having towed extensively with both, the MT toes much better and gets better fuel economy while doing so (10 vs 12-14)

2 lo mod helps a lot when backing up as reverse is pretty tall

if you are towing with the auto, I’d plan on regearing to 4.88 or 5.29. Otherwise you’ll always be in 3rd or 4th gear.

 

If you see towing with these trucks, it’s ideal if you are around 2500 rpm. You’ll see the best fuel economy and driving experience. That’s my experience over 10k+ miles towing with my 17

 

I was going to ask what the difference would be in running 3rd/4th gear stock vs 5th/6th with 4.88 or 5.29. Then I played with a gear calculator... I can see the merit now! Wtf was Toyota thinking? The gap between 3rd and 4th is almost as egregious as the absurd overdrives.

Say you're cruising at 60 mph in 4th. A relatively comfortable 2500 rpm, if it needs to kick down to third it spins up the engine an additional 1200 rpm. I can see that getting old in a hurry.

I always thought the automatic just had a gearing problem in the diff. Looks to me like the transmission gearing is out of whack too, but a 4.88 or 5.29 would help mask it.

 

Yep. When towing a 7x14 with my auto it struggled to stay in 4th most of the time, especially if you wanted to go over 60 mph or had a headwind.

With my MT, i can get into 5th and pretty much drive all day without having to shift. Towing across northern New Mexico i sped up a little bit to get farther into the power band and it was great. If you tried to keep the RPMs low, it would bog, slow down and you’d have to shift and drop a bunch of speed while trying to climb the hills / mountains.

I think my towing average with the MT is around 14 mpg over 10k miles. In my auto i was doing good to see 10. I had a couple tanks in single digits trying to fight wind and maintain speed and it just screamed in 3rd gear.

 

Can't drive slower. 2 lane interstate speed here is 75. I used to tow at 60-65 in my 2nd gen because doing 70 made it scream. Mileage was terrific but have you ever had a cattle truck barrel up behind you doing 80? Terrifying! 70 is about as slow as you can safely travel. Even at 70 in 5th I'm still doing 2750rpm and getting 13-15mpg.

 

I've noticed this as well. Above 2500 the truck acts like the more you give it, the more it wants!

 

I'd prefer a Full size if I had to tow over 3000 pounds. Don't want to end up like Bruce Jenner. Then again he had an Escalade and still killed someone.

 

Soooooo you don't want to cut your dick off? Have no idea what that has to do with towing but okay!