Towing in 3.5L vs 4.0L

If anything, the tune is much better for the motor than the factory tune was. The latest TSB tune, at least equivalent.

I'm keeping the Taco until the wheels fall of.

 

When it comes to towing, the engine has very little to do with towing capacity as well as towing power. Power of the engine means nothing if you do not have a good transmission. This is why, like most things, the 3rd gen is far inferior to the 2nd gen. The transmission has shift points that allow it to access the torque that the engine can provide. Look up the gauntlet towing videos to see how well the 2nd gen does towing a loaded trailer up the larges incline at the highest elevation in the US. You can also upgrade your wheels to a heavier load range to allow more weight and airbags make a huge difference as well. My 2nd gen has 60k miles on it and about 30% of that has been towing about 10k pounds 3 times a month. It handled that wight no problem and I was also keeping up with traffic. You feel the trailer back there, but in no way does it feel like a slug. Smooth hard pulls and stable. I also just had the differentials serviced my mechanic was amazed at how clean the old oil was. I will no longer be towing with it as we moved up to a box truck, so I am retiring my tacoma to be my travel rig. I just put a 1300 pound Capri camper on it and will be towing my 1200cc sportster scrambler and kayaks in the summer and sleds in the winter. Hope this helps.

 

Um.... on that same hill and test the 3rd gen comes in at least a minute ahead of the 2nd.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCkBmiZV09w

Not quite. I could have a few beers before 2nd finally made it up that same hill. Just sayin. It is what it is. 2nd bogs down like a sob. Also never try to pass 3rd gen on the highway unless he lets you, will never happen.
Won't even get into the Flinstone interior.

 

Oh hell yeah in for the dick swinging contest for 2 v 3

 

lol, not gonna get it from me. I was just giving the OP genuine fact and personal input to help his decision.

Actually, 37 seconds to be exact. And I’m glad you feel good knowing that you can go fast in your truck. I use to love driving sports cars around but personally grew out of it so I bout a truck that could get the job done.

So back to my point of helping the OP with his decision and since you want to compare the two trucks on the gauntlet let’s talk about the points that matter.... If you watch both videos, you will notice that the 3rd gen holds 60 mph but sounds rough and spends a decent amount of time looking for the right spot on the switchbacks because of the gear ratio. It is also sitting mostly at a whopping 5500 rpms. The 2nd gen you will notice sits pretty comfortably at 3500 rpms and doesn’t search for gears as much. It also just purs and doesn’t sound taxed. As I mentioned, hp is pretty much pointless and torque (the force of power at the wheels) is what matters, but only if the transmission can do all of the proper work. Both trucks have about 265lbft of torque and probably max this out around 2k rpms. All that these numbers are telling us is that the 3rd gen is pushing 3.5k rpms more above the power ban creating only more hp as it goes up and doing nothing for actually quality towing. The 2nd gen on the other hand is using the torque it needs at a lower rpm thus saving hp. In the long run this is better for fuel efficiency and carbon buildup (higher rpms = more fuel being burnt) as well as creating more heat (higher rpm = more friction) and overall constant high revving of an engine, especially far above its max torque rpm (as well as the other two mentioned issues) is bad for engine life. So, if you are looking for a truck that will handle towing and also last you years to come while towing in a comfortable engine range then I still stand behind the 2nd gen. But if all you care about is getting there faster then, well, you already know your answer.

 

My old 2nd gen use to bog down at higher rpm's. Lost sense of power really. Just never try to pass a 3rd, won't happen.
3rd at upper rpms rough sounds tons better the pussy purring 2nd actually.

 

I've towed with both a 2nd gen and a 3rd gen. 6x12 H&H enclosed trailer, towed it all over the country. Never more than about 2000lbs but its 8ft tall. Wind is my worst enemy.

My issue with the 2nd gen was in 4th, you were turning about 3k at 70mph. The 4.0 seemed too loud at that RPM. Never lacked power, just annoying. 4th is 1:1 and fifth is 0.73:1. Always felt like I was missing a gear. 4th seemed too low. 5th seemed too high.

The 3rd gen manual I have seems to have that extra gear, with 5th being 0.85:1. Plenty of power at 70mph in 5th, and I'm only turning 2800rpm.

I think auto to auto, the 2nd gen takes cake, but my 3rd gen manual runs circles around my 2nd gen auto.

 

Neither truck is making peak power at 2k RPMs. The 4.0 makes 236 hp at 5200 RPMs and 266 lb-ft of torque at 4000 RPMs. The 3.5 makes 278 hp at 6000 rpms and 265 lb-ft of torque at 4600 RPMs. So neither is a torque monster and neither are making a ton of power down low.

The extra horsepower that the 3.5 is making at 5500 RPMs is far from useless. It can mean the difference between maintaining speed (or even accelerating) and slowing down. I’ve towed with both and at 5000+ lbs, the 4.0 lost steam quicker than the 3.5 in passing situations and both were screaming.

How the engine feels in these situations is subjective. The 4.0 didn’t feel as composed to me when you got above 4000 RPMs, whereas the 3.5 seems perfectly happy there. They are different engines, different transmissions, and different driving experiences whether you’re towing or not. I loved my 2008 and I’ve loved my 3rd gens, but I’m very much aware that neither generation was designed with towing as the number one priority.

 

There is so much wrong here, i'm not even sure where to start.

So i'll just say this, 4.0 peak torque is at 4k RPM, 3.5 peaks at 4600 RPM.

Also, not sure what video you watched, but that 4liter was spinning at 5k RPM for most of the video.

 

If you are willing to exceed your trucks rated tow capacity by 3,500lbs on a regular basis you should not be giving tow advice to ANYONE.

 

Why do you think the ov tune is much better for the engine? Honest question.

 

The way the engine ran on the factory tune and the first TSB was not real great. I had a lot of pinging on hot days, surging is generally a sign of lean running, and drive line lash that has smoothed out with the tunes had caused me to questioning the longevity.

 

Mine runs pretty damn good out of the gate so I am sticking with the stock set up. in Highway mode, 2wd high, it does seem to struggle to find 77 mph against the wind, however, in 4wd low it is spot on.

 

I have owned both trucks and the 3rd is more fuel efficient plus it runs a cleaning cycle at idle so it will not suffer any carbon build up issues.

 

10k pounds in 3 feet of snow up pikes peak twice a day with another 3k in bed. Drug a broken down semi up on the same trip once, too. That 2000rpm torque peak makes it all possible

 

When I put 10K lbs of trailer on my 3/4 ton, I very much know it's there, especially stopping said weight. I don't tow like that every day day, but once in a while yeah. If you pulled that on public roads, you're the problem. not the solution.

 

Really no complaints pulling loads around 2k lbs or so. Truck does fine except imo those od gears are worthless except for going downhill. I kind of wonder though how happy this truck would be pulling the same load over 10 hrs straight like i did with my 01 tundra.

 

I think that’ll be one of those subjective things. It’ll do it, no doubt, but everyone will probably have different thoughts about it.

We took our ATVs to West Virginia a couple of years ago. Trailer weight was around 2,500 lbs and I had my 2017 TRD OR. From south GA it was a little over 9 hrs each way. I thought it did great. I used ECT and S mode and kept it in 4th or 5th. Some of the longer steeper grades I would bump it down to 3rd, but never had trouble keeping up with the flow of traffic. I would happily make that trip again.

 

Back in the day when racing ktm's on the gncc circuit, it was no problem carrying a couple bikes in the bed of those small pickups to west virgina to run the blackwater, or go the south jersey to run an ama enduro. Towing an open 2 place snowmobile trailer, and sleds 10 hrs or more into central quebec could be a real adventure if bad weather.

 

I’m not too sure the 3rd Gen is heavier