Squeezing more power from the 5VZ-FE or swap it?

I have a 2002 6cyl 5 speed 4x4 that we inherited a couple of years ago. I have used it to flat tow my Jeep TJ (about 3,400 pouds) on short trips. It doesn’t love it, but it does it without complaining too loud if you stick to 65mph. I would like to take it on a few longer trips but any long grade or hill slows me down to 55mph or so. Now 55 isn’t horrible, but if you do 55 on the highway for long around here you are just asking to get ran over.

I know I probably really need a true ½ ton truck for this but I really like the size and look of this truck. So, is there actually a proven way to get a little more power from the 6cyl or am I realistically looking at an engine swap. The truck isn’t my daily so I have time for it to be down a while if an engine swap is done, but I also can’t see spending more than $3k on getting a new motor in it. Am I shit out of luck?

 

Put your Tacoma Cab on a Chevy pick up running gear . Adjusted to the size you need

Build a small block Chevy engine for a easy 500 horse power

Replace drive line parts as they fail not to mention lots of parts in yards

Cheapest way to go in the long run

 

Is the truck still all stock? Including the original tire size?

 

No, it's lifted about 3 inches and is on 32's. It has the factory 4.10 gears.

 

I asked it that way on purpose. The larger tires and to some extent, the lift, have robbed you of some of your power. Believe it or not, you can reclaim the lost power by regearing.

 

I have thought about removing the lift and getting a little smaller tire but I usually only tow the Jeep 4ish times a year.
The more I see on engine swaps the more I am thinking I'm better off just not even going down that road.
Hell, I just looked at the Enterprise website and I can rent a full size for less than a couple of hundred bucks for a weekend.

 

You could swap in a 4.7 v8 out of a tundra or sequoia. I’ve seen threads of it being done before, also Timmy the Toolman has a video of swapping one into a 4runner. https://youtu.be/Fce7IgMTdKg

 

Me too, but if I could find the right parts I would try to swap in a 1KZ diesel. I’d hate to go through the work of an engine swap and have it not be a Toyota diesel

 

The diesel option is very interesting. I looked into the specs on the 4BT but it doesn't look to be much of an upgrade from what I have now. Plus the extra weight on the front suspension would need to be accounted for. I guess it can't weigh more than the 4.7 though.

 

Just install a supercharger and get an extra 100 horses, 100 pounds of torque with a few mods that will take less than a day to do and be off and running

 

Curios Mike. How does the lift add to a lose in power? Worse aerodynamics?

 

Yeah, being up a little more in the wind makes a difference. A little more turbulence means a little more drag.

In addition to the increased lever ratio introduced by larger circumference tires, the tires are also wider which impacts how air moves around the truck. Most will notice with a drop in MPGs, but that really translates to having to push the skinny pedal harder to make up for it which is then perceived as a loss of power.