Towing Capacity Manual vs Automatic

It doesn’t come anymore aerodynamic than this.

 

Tires are stock with no spacers. Didn’t have the cargo trunk or truck cap at the time either so I was as light as I could be.

 

Well, you coooould remove the boat rack.


I dunno, seems like your expectations are pretty reasonable. I've definitely towed more with my nissan and been happy.

 

You can go crazy but towing any thing will hurt mileage no matter what you drive. Take the cap off, remove the tail gate, don't drive with a full tank, keep the speed down you can go crazy. I tow an 18' duel axel and the last thing I worry about is economy. Brake controller absolutely necessity. Open road 22 MPG towing 14. Me I like the manual I don't need an automatic making decisions for me. Toyota engines like to spin that's where their power band is.

 

If you’re towing with the truck like that, you’re probably already starting over payload. Payload is probably 940 ? Subtract trailer tongue weight, the weight of the hitch its self, camper shell, bumper guard, side steps, ski box, your weight, passenger and anything else you’re carrying. I’ve only got a tonneau cover and I can barely carry 5 gallons of extra fuel if I tow according to the calculations.

 

You might think about getting it flashed. Would likely make a pretty significant difference.

 

I do feel this ~3500 lbs. on some hills but by paying attention, downshifting and accelerating before the hills and keeping it closer to full torque I don’t as much:

All things equal double axle is the way to go on the road, if possible. I’m generally shifting 500-1500 rpm’s higher than usual depending on grade. And I think if you’re flooring it you should be in a lower gear. MAYBE get close to flooring it or floor it before and during the first part of a hill. It’s ok to lose a bit of speed on a hill, but in my 4.0 I want to keep it around 3000, too. But 100 km/h IS a weird speed for my 6 speed when towing. I’d rather go a bit faster in 5th or slower in 4th. You can do 5-10 below speed limit and let people pass, too.

 

I tow ours with a 2.7 5sp manual.

 

I tow 5000 lbs every weekend. Tacoma handles it fine. But towing with small displacement and a manual requires attention. Watch the terrain, watch the revs, watch the headwinds, watch the temps. Mountains mean lots of climbing in third gear and 4000 to 4500 rpm. Wouldn't tow with anything else.

 

I've towed 3000lbs from Vancouver to Grande Prairie and truck did fine, big bear pass was a 3rd gear hill for sure to maintain 120kph but otherwise I was keeping up around 110-130 in no lower than 4th. Tops i've towed is 6500lbs (lifted explorer on car hauler mind you) from Canmore to Fort Mcmurray and it was also fine. I recommend towing with premium gas, it'll make a big difference. Tested it my self on many occasions and with different trucks even. Don't be scared to use your gears this isn't a high output engine that can chug over a house at 2500 rpms. Don't use cruise control and pretend you're in fast an furious grabbing gears. A guide I can offer is don't expect much below 3500 rpm with this truck. It's a revver for sure

also downshift for decending hills of course to save your brakes