The Tacoma Towing Bible

Great info on the first page...lots of other info between there an here. What about towing a regular 5'x8' UHaul trailer with some household goods in it?

Thanks.

 

Thank you.

 

Thanks again...towed really well. I had no issues.

 

Ummm. that's not correct...

 

Sub'd for future reference

 

Gonna have to keep it in 4 wheel drive. It might be a bit tough to tow and gas mileage will be bit poor.

 

Unless you're towing in low-traction conditions, keeping your truck in 4WD doesn't really gain you anything, and it may worsen an already "light steering" feel.

 

Needs some advice, suggestions & opinions!
Truck - 2001 Tacoma Ext Cab 4X4 w/TRD Off Road Package
Here is the situation. I plan on moving from Houston to Flagstaff around September this year. My Taco is currently stock and well maintained. The beginning of this year I had the frame and many other components replaced under Toyota Safety Recall. Lucky me, I know! (That was about a $13,000 repair at no cost to me!) Call me crazy but I want to tow the majority of my things from Houston to Flagstaff. I plan on renting a 6x12 Cargo Trailer from U-Haul and that weighs around 1900 lbs empty according to their webpage. I feel as though my cargo is going to weigh around 1500 - 2000lbs. So once everything is loaded up there will be about 4000lbs behind my Tacoma and 1200 miles in front of it. I have my doubts about the Tacoma be able to do this. So my plan is to upgrade the Taco in few ways. I will list my planned upgrades.

1. Hayden Transmission Cooler
2. Tundra S13WE 199mm Front Brake Upgrade w/ Slotted Rotors & Steel Braided Brake Lines
3. Reese Trailer Hitch
4. Sway Control for the Hitch & Trailer
5. Old Man Emu Heavy Duty 2 inch Lift Suspension Lift Kit
6. New BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 Tires

After those modifications I will have a little more peace of mind. However I still have little bit of doubt. The truck has 220,000 miles with the original engine & transmission. Like I said before everything is well maintained. It is an automatic transmission so I plan on keeping it out of overdrive and sticking to about 55 mph.
I am sure that engine won't have much power left anyways to go any faster.

Any suggestions, ideas, advice, opinions, experience & etc? Thank you in advance.

 

I would add a scanguage or ultrguage to the list, that way you can keep a close eye on the coolant and trans temps.

With the trans cooler, trailer brakes, and suspension the truck won't have a problem, I've hauled much heavier loads with my 2003 tacoma.

 

Get yourself a ultraguage, best money I spent on my truck also helps with your peace of mind Lol.
I wouldn't waste your money on the tundra brakes, just get a good set set of pads. I put the EBC yellowstuff on my truck and I'm throughly impressed with the stopping power I have from just the pad upgrade. I bought the Trucool 4454 trans cooler for my truck and it kept my temps down in the 160's to the high 180's on my recent trip picked it up for 70.00 on ebay. Like others have said keep it out of D and just take your time, our trucks our plenty strong enough for 4000lbs.

 

I have already purchased the Tundra Brake Calipers so I am committed to that for now. However I will definitely check out the EBC Yellowstuff brake pads and try to include them as part of the Tundra Brake upgrade.
Thanks for the feedback and advice.

 

The scanguage is a excellent idea and I will include that to my shopping list. Definitely would bring peace of mind.
Thanks for the advice.

 

There's nothing insane about what you're planning...people do it all the time.

It sounds like you've got most of your bases covered, and I agree with the previous two replies, and have my own $0.02 to add (of course).

I have an ultra-gauge, and it works well, and is easy to install/remove with minimal fuss. Monitor your coolant temp, and prior to the trip (if you haven't done it in awhile) have your coolant system flushed and re-filled with high quality coolant/water, in the appropriate mix (50-50, I think). You might also consider liquid ice, since you're towing in a desert area.

I'm not sure if the lift will be beneficial or detrimental - the SW states often pose a problem with wind/trailer sway, and lifting will aggravate that situation. I was going to say the anti-sway was not really necessary, but when I realized where you were towing, I re-thought that. Watch your tongue weight and tire inflation - check them periodically along the way (with cold tires).

Don't go with bigger tires if your current meats are in good shape - switching to larger diameter tires changes your final gearing, and you don't need to be adding to your transmission/engine/braking load, turning bigger, heavier rubber...wider/more aggressive tires reduce your MPG/efficiency - wait until you get where you're going.

Check your hitch and do a visual walk-around inspection EVERY time you stop. You'll be amazed at what you can find has changed after just a few miles of travel.

Best of luck, and have a safe, enjoyable trip. You got this.

 

While towing in the mountains, my scanguage II is showing too high transmission temperatures on my '04 V6 AT tacoma (non-tow package). Talked to B&M racing yesterday. They recommend their 70268 stack plate kit (which I think is a little big for my first gen).

What I found most interesting is that they said to run the lines from the transmission to their cooler and straight back to the transmission. Do not run the lines through the bottom of the radiator.

Is that what most people are doing?

I was assuming you put the aux cooler in either before or after the radiator, but kept the radiator in the loop. Doesn't the radiator help warm up the cold transmission when you first start?

 

You don't want to mix tranny fluid with coolant. The tranny cooler takes tranny fluid to the tranny cooler to cool it then back to the tranny. Two separate systems.

 

There are advantages and disadvantages to using the stock oil cooler that's part of the factory radiator -
aside from the possibility of catastrophic failure causing the ATF to intermix with the engine coolant...

The advantages include - cheap - it's already there, just waiting to be hooked up. Plus, it's right up front, in the best position to take make the best use of the considerable airflow to be found there. It also takes advantage of the cooling fan(s) which provides better cooling at idle and low speeds (like rock-crawling) Finally, it's relatively well protected from rocks, debris, and other nasty stuff that routinely rattles around under trucks. Naturally, in the case of a front end collision, all bets are off.

The downside to using the stock cooler are (as already mentioned), the proximity to the engine coolant, which during normal operation, will transfer some of the engine heat to the ATF, reducing the cooling efficiency of the system. Also, if your radiator fails, you have to replace it with one that has an integral ATF cooling loop, to keep it working. An aftermarket ATF cooler (which is just a small radiator), if placed in a spot where it can get clean, cool air, consistently (which may require its own fan system for low speeds and idle), will perform as well or better than the one in the truck's engine coolant radiator. The trick is finding such a location, where it won't get damaged, and isn't in the way of routine maintenance.

 

I do it this way. I put the aux cooler in front of the radiator and first in the loop before the stock cooler. The theory is; the aux cooler will cool down the fluid from the trans, taking some load off the radiator in hot weather but warming up the trans fluid when it's cool, thus keeping the trans fluid at a temp that will avoid condensation in the fluid, but keeping the fluid from the damaging high temps encountered during hot weather.

I figure you can't have too much cooling.

 

I installed mine the same way and it's works great for me.

 

Sounds like a great plan. Thanks! Appreciate your concern for warming up the transmission. Most just worry about too hot. Too cold is bad also. I'll get a B&M with a bypass (9800 BTU - #70255). It's 11x 5-3/4, so it should fit nicely in front of my gen 1 radiator and take the edge off the temps on the rare occassions that I tow the trailer.