New Toyota tow and rust thoughts

Yeah kept doing add ons here and there over 3 yrs I've had it

 

I am not going to do a manual transmission, no freaking way. I have a manual in my Rubicon and I will get manaul when I pick up a GR86 but for towing and pulling boats in and out of steep ramps, lol, no thanks on that.

I just want to understand, you folks are saying the GII and 4.0 is a better tow vehicle than the GIII? I do not tow in OD/4th except on flat ground and I do not tow over 60 MPH. Gas mileage is not great but not horrid either. A few summers ago but nothing has changed other than new shoes:



Pretty typical, kayaks or bicycles, camping gear and the Whaler. So, the GIII with auto needs to be regeared? I run 265X70X17 tires, have no need for larger. Places that need larger I have TJ Rubicon for that duty:

 

As far as towing, i haven't any issues towing my 19' boston whaler montauk with my gen3 v6 auto tacoma. Granted its more noticeable than my older 4.7 gen1 tundra.

 

I have towed a similar size boat to yours with both a gen 2 and a gen 3. I preferred the 4.0, the revs stay lower. You're gonna be running 3-4k + rpms for long periods towing that kind of weight on a stock third gen.

 

You'd be doing yourself a favor if you could get the kayaks stowed in the whaler.

Anything on top is an aerodynamic barn door.

 

Unless my tach is way off i barely see 3k at times with my tacoma, and thats for short periods. It tows fine in ECT S5. I've done 150 mile round trips, and 60 mile shorter trips. With my tundra 4.7 it'd tow that boat at 2200 rpm most of the time in 4th gear.

 

Your situation is not that complicated if we do the math. Let’s take it one step at a time.

#1- figure the sales tax on the new ride. In this sample, I’ll say is $4k. That money is just pissed away, never to be seen again or > it can be used on the old truck

#2- The new truck is going to need at the very least rear suspension prep. I’d go with sumo springs, so add another $6-800 dollars. > If your current truck is already set, it’s a win to keep it and just add it to the saved tax pile = $4800

#3-Rust > that one is everyone's nemesis. We can’t hide from it in the TOYOTA world. Maybe an F-150 can do better with the aluminum body, but all the undercarriage is still going to rust, lots of complaints on the 2021 already.

Verdict?

Keep your old one, spend the free tax money on any needed repairs and call it a day for the next 5 yrs and save yourself a lot of $$ time, worries and new headaches.

 

Question 1: Yes, rust will always be an issue for us salt state folks. The rust recall was expanded to 2017 models. However, I can't say I've seen an "excessive amount" of rust on my frame compared to what I'd likely normally see. To my knowledge, my frame was never treated prior to this year and still only has some surface rust. Certainly nowhere near needing replacing. I'll be getting my frame inspection from Toyota soon, though since winter is coming to an end.

Question 2: the 3rd gen is rated to tow 6500 (6700 according to some) lbs. Just keep in mind that these trucks make their power around 3500 RPM so don't be shocked that it likes to spend time there. You get used to it after a bit. You could always regear if it is an issue to you. Regearing is also recommended if you put larger tires on. In order to maintain the stance of these trucks, Toyota chose to make up the MPG through gearing. That's also why this engine is described as "feeling gutless." It has 42 more HP than the 4.0L did.

All that being said, outside the engine and body panels, the 3rd gens and 2nd gens are essentially the same at heart. Many people have even done 3rd gen conversions to 2nd gens and put on the 3rd gen body panels.

 

I see posts frequently on TW regarding regearing. Exactly what does that entail? It sounds like it would be pricey.

 

Most people take it to a shop and have it done. I believe its around $2500 usually for gears + labor

There’s only a handful of people that have regeared MT trucks, thats only cuz they are running 35s or are super heavy. The majority of people have been ATs going to 4.88s or 5.29s

 

Man, this just isn't my experience at all. I'm lifted on 33's all stock motor and gearwise. I get between 10-12.5 MPG towing about #3000 through flat to mountainous terrain. I run S4 & 5th with ETC and usually I am somewhere between, 2000 and 2800 RPM at speeds of 65 or so while towing, sometimes faster, sometimes slower. Obviously the RPM's climb with needed downshifts, but my truck absolutely does not live there. I do hit 3rd gear on bigger climbs, but my truck has 0 issues maintaining 4th simply cruising along. 5th is like molasses though. E rated 33's really hurt and with the 265/70/17's I had before it was much better. My truck would only hit 3rd gear on the really big climbs maintaining speed with SL tires.

Your sig says you have a 17 now, so I'm assuming you traded off your AT a while ago and wonder if the latest tune makes that much of a difference. I know on my truck, bought 12/16 it made a big difference. I'm guessing the '21 would be much better than my truck since it has a different tune anyways.

While there is some airflow differences for sure between a camper and my SxS, it sticks out in the air enough to have a negative impact. The windshield alone knocked almost 2 MPG of my tow MPG. My cargo trailer gets similar MPG and has the same airflow characteristics as a camper.

MT has some distinct advantages, but OP has already ruled that out.

 

Your experience seems very similar as mine. I have basically the stock size tires yet...and i don't know what it is with the need for sumo springs, and re-gearing. The stock ones work fine.

 

Yeah i traded it off Spring of 2017. I was already up to 50k miles on it and decided I either needed to deal with it or trade it off before i put a bunch more miles on.

This is the trailer I’ve been pulling (7x14 aluminum haulmark - 1800 lbs empty)


My 2016 was a 04b00 that eventually got updated to 04b02 (which definitely made a difference.. as sad as that is compared to what’s available now). I’d usually go S4 and it would still dance 3-4-3-4-3-4-3-4 trying to maintain 65 on flat ground. I think the best trip i ever had was 10.5 MPG



Same trailer, i can tow in 5th and rarely ever need to downshift. Usually around 14 MPG at the same speed / area as I went with my 16.

I’m definitely impacted by wind resistance just due to how tall my trailer is (6.5’ interior vs normal 6’). I’m assuming a boat or something else low profile is going to see better MPG but its hard to say how much. I’ve got no doubt the newer ECU revisions have improved things (I’ve gone from 04b12->04b13->04b14) and have seen them help my MT.

There is only so much tuning can do though. In my experience, the gearing makes this truck completely different too. When i first drove a 3g MT, I couldn’t believe this was the same truck.

 

As a trade-in you have the advantage of low mileage, however you should be able to easily get another 200k miles out of it. I bought a 2019 and rcvd $11,000 for my 2006 with 100,000, because I wanted 4 wheel drive.

If you go for the new truck, do the things you want to it, but wait for the re-gearing or tune mod. The AI shifting is different since the late 2019s. For towing put it in S Drive and change to 4th.

Personally, I’d keep the ’06.

 

I run Sumos. On the stock OR suspension, my truck porpoised pretty badly. I was never able to balance the trailer to get it settled down to my liking. Sumos and Dakar's fixed that.

 

Bingo bango. All vehicles rust if you drive it in the shit they use on the roads. Dosent matter who makes it. The whole rust mentality here on TW blows my mind sometimes.

 

What kind of MPG do you get with the 5th wheel lol?

 

I ran sumos on my 16 for the same reason. On my 2017, I put on fox 2.0s instead and that fixed the porpoising with the extra dampening over the factory shocks.

 

I can pretty consistently get 12+ with my current tacoma lol i also had a Turtleback trailer for a while. Around 14 pulling it.



About 10 with my tundra, but the habitat kills my aero in general though. I went from 17 -> 14 after i put it on the 38 gallon tank makes up for it though.

 

19ft Hideout ~4200lbs






3rd gen pulls it much nicer.
4.0 got it started alright but ran out of puff on the highway, fought to keep it around 90km/hr, and the temps were always pretty high.
3.5 once wound up gets the job done, 4S+ECT, revs up to climb but stays out of 3rd on most of the hills.
both were hard pressed to get over 11 mpg with the trailer on.