Show us what you tow.

built it myself, motor, drive train, body, paint. Dynoed 581 HP at the wheels all motor, 864 HP on a 250 shot. 511 c.i. stroker, turbo 400 w/ trans brake. Don't know quarter mile cause we don't have a dragstrip nearby.

 

Badass! Nice

 

Hey I just noticed your teardrop in your sig pic, and checked out your gallery. Did you build that yourself?

 

yeah i’d say the truck had a hard time with the wind resistance! if you look at my other post of the rhino and atv. it’s all almost the exact same weight you are pulling and truck does just fine! only time i really know it’s back there is when i’m going up a hill at 70mph and have to slow down a little and trey and speed back up on the hill, RPM’s will jump up to like 4k. if i can hold 70 or 75 it does just fine, rpm’s will stay down around 2500 maybe 3k going up a hill. I can tell that the truck and do a lot more.

 

No - it's a Little Guy cross between a Rough Rider/Silver Shadow. It's the 6X10...lots of patience getting it right but I am quite happy with it!!

 

Yeah, the truck moves the trailer pretty easily until I get up to 45 mph plus. That's when the wind resistance really starts to kick in and it's like the trailer brakes are on.

It can haul it fine, it's just I won't be able to hold speeds over 45 mph on grades. I'm basically stuck behind the 2nd-slowest 18 wheelers. That's not the most horrible thing in the world, but I figure the supercharger will make trailering life more bearable.

 

I though the same thing when I rented and pulled a travel trailer a while back. It was around the same weight as yours. I can't believe some people are pulling 24' trailers.

I know the altitude is some of it. We drove from Utah to Salida. The climb over Monarch Pass on US50 was pretty crappy. Transmission temps were pretty high.

 

We just got a Treeline in April, only had a chance to take it out twice so far this year, still shaking it down. They are really fun little rigs.

 

Been a while since I've posted but I took this pic of my setup this summer.

 

That's two pallets (each over a ton) of polished marble floor tiles. Entire load was around 6500#

 

This about I will be towing. Should I look at a Tundra 4.6L 310 hp 327 ft-lbs, or 5.7L 382 hp 401 ft-lbs 4x4 auto with tow package instead?
Bob

 

you talking about a camper? idk how that handles talk to monkeyface. if it’s the photo i posted than taco would be fine.

also imho the 4.6 is a little under powerd in the DC and crew max. also i don’t think it get any better MPG the 5.7 is a BEAST my brother has a ’11 double cab with the 5.7 and i like it more than the taco. just can’t afford to trade for it and insurance right now.

 

Thanks Tn, It is a 16 ft. (21.5 ft. total) 8 ft. wide and about 9' 8" tall travel trailer. With HD battery, 20 # propane and all equiptment (no water) it will be 3,200 lbs. We have 6% grades on I 70 here in Colorado.

You are spot on, there is not much MPG difference in the V8s; 14/19/16 vs. 13/17/15. We only have room for a standard cab with the 6.5' bed in the garage.
Bob

 

ok, and i really don’t know but also if that is 3,200 without any of your personal stuff in it i’d add another 1500 to 2k to that depending on how many people will be going all your stuff is going to add up weight really fast. i think the weight it self would be just fine. but you will have quite a bit of wind drag.

I know my brother has a ’11 trd off road 4wd double cab with the 6.5’ bed and gets like 17 or 18 mpg and he does not go easy on it at all! if i was to drive it i could probably get another 2mpg out of it.

also could always park out side.. or if you have the room out side can get one of those metal car ports so it keeps the sun and snow off.

 

I Pm'd you Bob.


For anybody else interested I tested the 3100 lb dry trailer on a 7% grade and I could hold 50 mph. That was in 3rd gear floored. 3500 rpm at 50 mph.


I could accelerate a little on the 7% grade in 2nd gear, but 2nd gear at 50 mph is 4500 rpm. I probably could have got up to 60 mph in 2nd gear on the 7% grade, but that would have been redlining the 4.0.


The only weight on the trailer was two full 20lb propane tanks, the weight on the truck was the shell, me, a black lab, maybe 60 lbs of tools.


I got 11 mpg on that short 80 mile trip, but it was 80% climbing 7% grades. Not bad, I'm sort of happy and I'm not gonna get the supercharger. $4800 plus less MPG doesn't sound too good.


Bottom line is the 4.0 stock is adequate, but if you really want to pull a 7 % grade at 60 mph plus a V8 is the way to go.

 

Thanks for the I70 experiment. I am really glad to hear of the towing stability with a WDH in high winds. This is one major concern with the lighter Taco. I’ll discuss this with the DWtonight.

We live a townhouse and the garage is only 18’ 4” long. I would like to park the new truck in thegarage otherwise it is a long, uphill walk to park the truck off site (HOA requirement). Our first choice would be a Tacoma V6 4x4 automatic with tow package either an AC or DD. Only a Tundra standard cab with the 6.5’ bed might fit in the garage (about 3 or 4 inches to spare).

I still might consider the supercharger; less expensive that a Tundra and would the GPM any less that the large 5.7L V8?

This is a super group and thanks guys for helping out a newbie.

Bob

 

Yeah, the short garage at my house kind of dictated the choice of a Tacoma AC instead of a full-size truck or even the DCLB. And the narrower body allows us to get two vehicles in the garage.


In the perfect world you'd probably be better off with the 5.7l Tundra for towing because that extra torque will keep you in a higher gear therefore less fuel used.


Unfortunately, the supercharger doesn't work that way. You may be able to stay in 4th gear rather than 3rd with the SC, but the SC boost will still decrease MPG's. There's just no way around it.


Maybe you're at a lower RPM with the supercharger, but it drinks more fuel. Well, anyhow, good luck with your plans . . . . we got a little offtrack with this from "show us what you tow".

 

A bit on the heavy side but she does just fine.

 

Sick! What's the weight?

 

Im guessing around 5000lbs.