Towed first trip with camper in “D” with ECT PWR on

Thanks!
I never really looked much into the Casita. I have seen a few out and about before and they look really nice. Is it true that you have to pick them up from the manufacturer in Texas? I was really looking for a pop up but ended up going with a hybrid for the nicer bathroom. I once had a Fleetwood Niagara pop up which had a bathroom and I pulled it with a 2010 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. That pop up was a beast to pull though.

 

I towed a uhaul from NC to Chicago last summer. Not a 16 footer, but can’t say I exactly obeyed the weight limit either. It was about 1000 miles with some pretty decent grades through the Appalachians too. I drove in sequential shift mode with ETC the entire time and ran through the gears like a manual. No problems here.

 

Here is a photo of mine from a rest stop on Hwy 26 in NC. This was taken during the trip when I drove the whole time in “D” instead of sequential (like a dumb-dumb).

 

What MPG did you get? Nice looking rig.

 

Thanks!
I got 12.2mpg. Curious to see if it will be much different now that I know to tow in S mode.

 

Bet it doesn't change much.

 

Casita will deliver for a fee, otherwise yes, they must be picked up in Rice, Texas. Friends of ours bought the same model we did, and we're driving out to pick them up together.

 

12.2 sounds about right. What was your speed?

 

Tried to keep it around 65mph.

 

Man that's perfect. I can almost guarantee your truck stayed in 4th on it's own.

 

Absolutely incorrect.

It will not pull 6th at all unless on a decent and the same with 5th. You spend your time in 4th with it downshifting as nessecary. You are bang on regarding the wind resistance as it causes most of the load when towing regardless of the weight of the trailer.

I have tested it in S4 as well as short tests with light loads in OD. Just use S4 and turn up the radio to cover the added noise from it rev’ing higher. Your fuel economy is non existent when towing so deal with it.

 

The manual suggests towing in “S”, and no higher than S5.

 

I said "probably." Chill out.

 

I have experience not guesses. Was trying to fill in the blanks with fact and noted where you were bang on the money.

 

10-4, good buddy.

 

With the mountains to our west, I like how light the Casita is. Plus being hard sided so we can go back to Yellowstone and relax! I wonder what the delivery fee would be to Denver... Do you know who services the Casitas?

 

No clue on the delivery charge. Service work can be done by any local, qualified, RV shops. Casita can recommend a shop, or you can use one that you're familiar/happy with. Warranty work is contracted the same way, through a local shop.

 

It seems like that's more for engine braking to keep from overheating the brakes; not to prevent overheating the trans.

If you have the tow package with the trans cooler I can't imagine overheating the trans would be a problem.

 

the only issue is that you probably took a few thousand off miles off the transmission fluid (how much life you burned off is up to speculation), depending on how hot the temp was during towing. running in auto makes the transmission not unlock the torque converter (in a timely manner, you can see this happen when you drop down a gear in auto and the converter wont unlock and watch your temp sky rocket very fast) which will cause the outgoing temp to jump into the 210F or higher range.

if you run in S4/S5 compared to auto, the temps going into/out of the pan will vary a lot. running in S4 you should be seeing maybe the high of 185F (I was seeing between 165/185 with a few short jaunts into the 190-210F range.

use a BT app and a BT ODB2 port adapter to read the TT pan temp and output temp. the BT adapter you can find easily on Amazon (ELM427 I think).

here is an old link detailing what happens when you stay in "D" compared to forcing 4th.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/transmission-temp.299505/#post-7595902

edit : forgot to add, that was a 2012 Tacoma v6 TRD TX stock w/ tow package

 

my wife never reads the manual of anything new....she just asks me because i do.....then she gets pissed off when i tell her to read the manual