high altitude hauling - romer and farinvail

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

K

kmcoop7

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
Threads
46
Messages
264
Location
CO MTNS
This post is directed to Romer and Farinvail and other Colorado 100 owners.

I am moving out of my 80 and into a 100. I know this has been discussed in other posts, but not necessarily by those who live in Colorado.

My question is: how does your cruiser move up the mountains, particularly on I70, Vail Pass, Eisenhower, and the hill up to Silver Plume from GTown? I am particulary interested in the difference between 4 speed and 5 speed or 2001-2002 and 2003-2004. That is why i am picking on you two.

Some specifics would help me in my decision:

- average speed on the hills mentioned
- how hard are you working it to maintain that speed (RPM's and gear)
- Was it ok when you bought it, but then slow with big tires and steel?
- what about big tires, steel and a family with associated crap?
- Can you hold 70-75 with out dogging the truck
- If you put the pedal in the carpet, does it move?

I am really trying to get some real world data from modded 100 owners on if I should spend the premium for a 5 speed tranny. I had a 5 speed VVTI tundra that was great, but it was 700lbs lighter stock and well over 1000lbs lighter once i beef up a 100, plus 40 more HP. I have grown used to powerful trucks and don't want to drive another dog.

Lastly, are there any power mods you have done that made a difference? Intake, DT headers, good exhaust?

No offense but I don't really care how anyone's 100 does outside of CO. Our altitude makes a huge difference on power and I live at 6800' elevation and hate going slow.

Thanks in advance for your input.
 
Mine does fine on the places mentioned other than the Georgetown hill. If I lose speed going up that, it takes a while to get back up to speed. I'd definitely get the 5spd if you can. Pedal to the carpet with the 4spd will start to accelerate, but you're not drag racing the hoards of Tahoes/Escalades.

35s and full steel certainly slowed it down to where it was unbearable heading up to the tunnel from silverthorne, so I got gears. My truck is over 1000 added LBs. If you're expecting your tundras performance speed wise you'll be sad. But the ride will more than make up for it IMO. The DT Headers made a difference in smoothness up in the mountains and definitely gave it a boost.

That said, I take the LS up I70 5x as often as the LX. I hate going slow too, so I dont drive the 100.
 
As Loud stated, if I lose speed at all going up, I have to stomp it. I am running 33's with extra steel. It is not terrible, but gears and DT headers are on deck. When you start loading it up, you will notice...
 
It may be my imagination but since installing the snorkel (I previously installed DT headers) it sure seems like the engine pulls harder with more hp when the rpm's are up. The difference was noticeable on our recent drive to Oregon...which was the first real comparative test for me along a familiar route.

Although I'm not in CO...I know you didn't want to hear from us non-CO'rs...but we live and play in the Sierra with its share of steep passes/trails and I've driven it up and over your tall passes too...and I can tell you when you get a 100 all armored up you're going to have to be patient (my rolling weight in off-road touring mode is right at 4T).

Having said that based upon what I've learned you'll be better served with an '03+ or any year + SC/turbo IMO.
 
sc/turbo options

Are there any SC/Turbo options out there for 03' and up? I guess if I have to spend 7500 on a turbo, I am getting a 99' anyway so it doesn't matter! 7500 for a turbo and 10k for an SAS. There goes the build budget.

Maybe I should just keep my 80 and put in an NV4500 behind a GM 6.0L?

thanks for your input guys, even you from outside of CO.
 
I think you've noticed that directing to specific members isn't necessarily necessary. :D. Especially in DEN/ATL you will find plenty of help.

I travel the aforementioned corridor often as well. I have a 2005 which is the 5 Speed. I also have 4.88s which I think made a noticeable difference. My truck is loaded up similarly to the above people and the people you mentioned in the thread title.

I can set the cruise control anywhere between the speed limit and 10+ over and never drop below what I set. There is plenty of downshifting and the trans likes to stay at high RPMs in areas.

If I have to slow down due to a left lane driver/weather, It takes considerable time to get back up to the limit on the steeper sections but I can always accelerate to some extent.

Overall it's a great mountain/high altitude traveler, I've had cars that are better but the 100 had been the best SUV/Truck I've driven over.
 
^^ "I've had cars that are better but the 100 had been the best SUV/Truck I've driven over"
x2
Only thing I would consider other than the 100 is a diesel truck with a FJ40 behind it... oh yea, and the Accord DD... :rolleyes:
 
I had no issues with power at altitude going over the mtn passes. Going east on vail pass is always the hardest pass to haul (IMOP)

I have done it in my 100 have been with a 3500 trailer. With this trailer I was able to easily maintain 65 on everything but east on Vaill pass which was closer to 55-60.

When I got behind someone going slow, it did take a bit to get my momentum going.

My 80 was supercharged and carrying the same load, this was easier.

When I came back from the Maze, I don't recall any issues, but there was a blizzard at the time, so speed was not something I was looking for

I can only imagine it would have been a breeze without the heavy trailer
 
Last edited:
We've got a few 8k passes in NM. Stock 04 with full load and family I can hold 70-75 on the passes without slamming the pedal. It would be tough to go much faster and I do notice that other SUV's/Trucks can pass me. It's a nice upgrade from my 00 4Runner that would slowly decelerate up any big hill.
 
5 speed

Sounds like those with a 5 speed have a much better time, 5 speed and 4.88s even better. I drove one in Denver the other day and it felt good going up to lookout mountain, no problem accelerating at 75. 4th gear held it at 75 pretty easily, but I was concerned what big tires, and 1000lbs would do.

All in all sounds much better than my 80 which moves along at 55 in 2nd gear on the above mentioned hills.

Thanks, you guys have satisfied my concerns, about regretting buying a 20k vehicle with 100k miles on it because it didn't have any guts. Keeping me in the LC fold.

One last question: How about snow wheeling? I spend a lot of time running my 80 through the deep stuff and it barely had power to keep the tires spinning. I am talking about the 3 week old sugar on top of 2' of consolidated snow, so not really easy for anything, but?
 
I can't talk about lack of power on 80 vs 100 in snow. But, there have been some threads on here with 100s pre ATRAC and VSC. Some had experienced the back end slide out a bit on them while descending snowy mountains.

Seems like anyone with a 100 with ATRAC and VSC (2000+) did not experience this problem.

BTW, I've seen what might be a good deal on an 03 a few hours south of you. I think they want 17k for it, but I'm not 100% sure of the price. It's been listed for a while, so I'm not sure if there are any issues. I saw it at a Toyota Dealership in Santa Fe for sale 2.5 years ago and it looked nice.
2003 Toyota Land Cruiser GET APPROVED IMMEDIATELY
 
kmcoop7 said:
Sounds like those with a 5 speed have a much better time, 5 speed and 4.88s even better.
Click to expand...

With the 5 speed, you may want to hold off on gears and see how you like it. I had gears and 35's on my 80 and the 100 5-speed gearing going down a hill felt the same. e.g. I coul ride the engine breaking most of the way while everyone else were using their brakes

I also went with a 33.6" tire (Toyo MT) and this seemed to be a good sweet spot for me without having to throw a lot of extra $$ for 35's or gears. 35" would have only bought me a half inch clearance.
 
FYI, I guess Im a flatlander to You, buti routinely tow at altitudes above 5000 with grade. I am a boy scout leader and avid boater that spends a lot of time crossing the appalachians. In my opinion, the 2000 100 series is a bit of a dog at high altitude grades. Unloaded is better, nbut not great. I may be a bit biased, since my other weekend toy is a 220rwhp turbocharged miata that destroys the same mountain passes. Regardless, my experience is that the 100 series is way less than quick in the elevations but much better Han an 80 series.
 
Just to chime in... Stock LC (other than sliders) with the 5 speed, no issues whatsoever going up the passes on I-70. I'm not sure on the pre 2003 transmissions, but the 5 speed will also downshift quickly when slowing down coming down said mountains too, or to hold speed down with the cruise on. Couldn't be happier with it as a mountain truck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom