What have you towed with a 4 cylinder??

Hi All!!

I have a 2003 tacoma prerunner 4 cylinder, I want to tow a 17-18' travel trailer weighing 2800lbs dry. Think it will tow well? Has anyone towed a trailer with their 4 cyl?? Thanks

Ken

 

only thing I've towed with my 4 banger so far is a 4 seater Kawasaki terryx side by side on a steal trailer. That was with coolers and all my camping gear in the truck also, going up a winding mountain road up into the hills. Not sure what the total weight was but she handled it like a boss, I was actually surprised how good it did.

 

I've towed a 5x8 Uhaul loaded with furniture. Probably weighed about 1400 lbs or so. I know the 2nd generation 4 cyls have a 3500 lb limit (not sure about 1st gens) so your truck should be able to pull it. But....every hill, heck every slight grade, will have your truck working awfully hard. For me, the deciding factor would be how far I'd be towing the trailer and what the terrain would be like.

 

I've towed a lot of crap with my old 99 4banger and it ran fine. I mean, its no Super duty and I'd never recommend a Taco if you hauled for a living but it is good for what it can do. You feel everything back there especially on hills but it'll get her from a to b. I think my sixteen foot tandem was the largest I hauled. I helped a friend move and all the furniture and a big awning went on there. Pulled as good as it could. I know this is repeated a lot, but a good cooler, locking it out of od, and a very long braking distance help tremendously.

 

I've made several trips to and from the West Coast with fully-loaded 4-cylinder Toyota trucks plus a utility trailer loaded to about a ton. For the most part, the trucks did OK once up to speed in flatter areas but they really slowed down going uphill. In the mountains, expect to stay in the slow truck lane in third gear when going up a long steep grade with a 4-banger pulling a trailer.

Remember too that the tow capacity of a Prerunner 4 cyl is only 3,500 lbs. It doesn't take much to exceed this with a horse or travel trailer.

 

Thank you! I am definitely installing the

$53 hayden 678 universal rapid-cool 9.5” x 11” add-on transmission cooler – not for direct replacement of the OE cooler

hayden 678 tranny cooler, want to hand this over to my son in two years. just don't want to have to go buy a new truck just to tow a 2900 lb trailer 6 times per year..

 

Up to 177k miles mine was my company truck. It towed a 2000 lb trailer, carrying a JD gator and alot of chemicals, all those miles. Drove the interstates of Florida with no problem. It now has 260,000 miles. Two years ago I pulled an empty 16ft Casita travel trailer in Oklahoma. It worked the truck hard. All trailers had their own brakes. If I planned to tow much again I'd have to upsize the truck.

 

My old 99 was a 2.7 and my current 01 is a 3.4. The engine never seemed to be the problem on these trucks. Their light, light weight and tow capacity are the killers. I couldn't imagine towing anything over 2K on the interstate. The trucks can pull them, but jeez that'd be a tedious endeavour what with the trailer towed just pulling your truck to a stop as much as it can.