Taco V6 towing ability... are they strong enough? (1 Viewer)

[Rainman]

Headed out in a few minutes (I know, nobody cares right now) to pick up my new pick up. Turns out that the best deal I've found was exactly what I was looking for on January 1st. A 2012 Tacoma PreRunner Access Cab V6 with 100k that's pretty damn clean. Not the color I really wanted here in this heat but I like the color anyway. Magnetic Grey.

I'll post again if worthy.

 

[Rainman]

I finally got around to towing some things:

Towed a '51 Ford Victoria about 30 miles or so. I definitely notice a difference from the Dodge Dakota V8. I'd love more power but it actually does fine. Then I towed a load of lumber for a deck I'm building on the same 18' trailer and could still feel it. The wood was wet so I'm guessing the trailer and a light car. I also found that listening to advice either on this thread or another that shifting into 4th while going uphill makes perfect sense.

Side note... My wife says the Tacoma is "zippy" and finds herself going to fast. AHAhaHAhAAHahaaaa.. She normally drives a Honda Civic 4 door.

 

[WanderinWhitlows]

Mine tows fine with 35's and 4.56 gears. Loaded a friends Tacoma onto my Aluma flat deck when he broke down and towed him home. Pull my camper trailer with it too.

 

[NYCO]

towed a 16' cargo across country twice with mine fully loaded...definitely pushed the limits

s/c on 35's and geared 4.56. also have EBC slotted brakes to help and the trailer brake was a must..

for a similar truck with better towing, a 1st gen tundra would be ideal... v8 with similar size truck

 

[just differentials]

Most people in our experience have griped about the lack of power out of the factory. These trucks are known to come undergeared from the factory as to gain favor in other areas that make the "buy me" factor go up...such as "Great MPG!" at the cost of feeling gutless.

We offer Tacoma Gear Packages for all years & have had nothing but happy customers. A gear change (especially if you roll big tires, tow, or live in hilly areas) will gain all that lost performance right back.

 

[Gappy]

Rainman, do you have a pic of the new truck?
How do you like it now that you have had it for 10 months?

 

[Rainman]

I love it. It only took about 5 miles to feel like home. It's my umpteenth Toyota. Glad I replaced the Dakota with it. I'm going to be hauling my '32 with it later this week to get the paint job finished. (and a costly repair I don't want to talk about)

 

[Gappy]

I love it. It only took about 5 miles to feel like home. It's my umpteenth Toyota. Glad I replaced the Dakota with it. I'm going to be hauling my '32 with it later this week to get the paint job finished. (and a costly repair I don't want to talk about)

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With that said it would only be proper for you to post a pic of your '32 loaded up behind your truck.
I am considering using my '14 Taco as my occasional tow vehicle for my wheeling mini truck so I'm curious on towing feedback.

 

[Rainman]

I'm loading it up tomorrow to take it back to the paint shop. I'll get a shot of it and post.

It's very hilly here in middle Tennessee and I'll say that it is a noticeable difference after driving the Dakota with the '32 behind all the way to Detroit and back (more than once). I think it does fine but if I was towing vehicles more often I'd have to go with more power. I'll review after tomorrows drive. It's only an hour each way this time.

 

[Gappy]

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Rainman]

I'm headed out shortly with the '32 in tow. Maybe in a month the car will be completely painted and then comes the scary part. Finishing the rest of it without screwing up the paint job. Hate to do it in this order but it's the only way right now.

 

[Gappy]

Very nice!
I like the old barn too!

 

[Rainman]

Okay @Gappy ,

The Taco did okay. Note: Okay. Held it's own, slowed on the hills, I had to downshift a number of times to convince it to power down for about half of the hills. With the car in tow it didn't want to cruise more than about 65 to 70. I imagine I could've pushed it harder and cruised 80 but I hate abusing the throttle. I'm cheap that way. Used about a complete 1/4 of the tank one way. 49 miles.

To sum up, like I said, if I had to tow something often, this would not be the ride of choice. Since I only tow a few times a year, I love it those 360 days out of the year. The other 5 I just enjoy it. I'm not complaining.

'P.S. The '32 will be completely painted in a few weeks. After that as the funds allow, Wire harness, gauges, One more transmission removal and work out the shift and carb linkage, Get an alternator and make a bracket for it, chrome a few things like the windshield frame, then interior... And that's about it.

 

[Sweets]

I had an '07 Taco 4.0 and was happy with the way it towed my 40. I was planning to buy a '16 Taco but the towing reviews were pretty awful; ended up getting a tundra instead.

ReallY? Given I used to tow my 17' sailboat, trailer, fully loaded, 2 adults up through Vermont to the Canadian border - in my 1982 Subaru DL, 4cyl...I would tend to disagree with aforementioned 16 Taco towing reviews.

 

[76FJ40]

This is the most informative, real life review I found when I was looking at Tacos.

 

[Arailt]

ReallY? Given I used to tow my 17' sailboat, trailer, fully loaded, 2 adults up through Vermont to the Canadian border - in my 1982 Subaru DL, 4cyl...I would tend to disagree with aforementioned 16 Taco towing reviews.

Your 82 4cyl probably had more low end torque

 

[msahr]

If you get an automatic tow in 4th gear and keep it out of overdrive.

I have to agree with this. I've towed light (U-Haul trailers carrying 1 or 2 pieces of Mid-Century furniture), and a few times towing a So-Cal Teardrops off-road trailer. Found out after all this towing that it's not a good idea to tow in 5th gear since the transmission computer wants to be in overdrive as much as possible (fuel economy) and that's not a good thing. Now, my Taco is a rare non-SR5 non-trailer tow package 4x4 v6 auto double-cab. So no trans cooler, no larger alternator, no power out of the trailer connector for charging a battery on an RV trailer (but I digress).

My Taco has 190,000 plus miles and if I'm going about 35-40 MPH it will "shudder" unless I hit the brakes which automatically downshifts from 5th to 4th or manually shift to 4th which stops the shudder.

I don't know if these problems exist with Tacos equipped with a transmission cooler. There are definitely times I miss my 5.7 Tundra with the Trailering package.