Towing with a 200-series Toyota Land Cruiser

[eatSleepWoof]

How does access to the safety chains work?

Judging by the perfect black paint on the tow balls, I'm guessing there hasn't been any actual towing done yet, and the safety chain detail hasn't come up

Then again, the bottom of the plastic piece is cut right off, so maybe there's enough room there to feed the chains!

 

[coleAK]

40-50 mph head wind today going to Seward. Kept it 50-55 mph. My son took this while I was driving. 120 miles and I averaged 7.4mpg…

 

[dcs111]

Judging by the perfect black paint on the tow balls, I'm guessing there hasn't been any actual towing done yet, and the safety chain detail hasn't come up

Then again, the bottom of the plastic piece is cut right off, so maybe there's enough room there to feed the chains!

40-50 mph head wind today going to Seward. Kept it 50-55 mph. My son took this while I was driving. 120 miles and I averaged 7.4mpg…

View attachment 3054978

Oh my. You must be towing a brick house at Cessna altitudes?

 

[OBXDreamer]

How does access to the safety chains work?

I’m sorry- you do have to take the plastic piece off when towing, but you can leave the ball hitch in place when not towing…. thanks!

 

[OBXDreamer]

Judging by the perfect black paint on the tow balls, I'm guessing there hasn't been any actual towing done yet, and the safety chain detail hasn't come up

Then again, the bottom of the plastic piece is cut right off, so maybe there's enough room there to feed the chains!

The picture was from before I used it to tow our boat over 800 miles from PA to NC…

 

[linuxgod]

Finishing up our trip to Acadia and back we’ve been getting about 7MPG on the highway at 70-75 when I drive or about 7.5-8MPG at 60-65 with my wife behind the wheel. 4.88s, 34” tires, mostly 5th gear except uphill, aero like a brick.

 

[coleAK]

Finishing up our trip to Acadia and back we’ve been getting about 7MPG on the highway at 70-75 when I drive or about 7.5-8MPG at 60-65 with my wife behind the wheel. 4.88s, 34” tires, mostly 5th gear except uphill, aero like a brick.

I’m usually more like ~8.9-9.4 mpg on the route. The headwind was impressive.

 

[Sandroad]

I’m usually more like ~8.9-9.4 mpg on the route. The headwind was impressive.

Impressive is the word! Speed plus wind might have been 90-105 mph. That’s some serious drag and like a category 2 hurricane.

 

[a200]

I was going to say something similar as @TeCKis300. I was heavily loaded this weekend on a trip (firewood, camp chairs, fan, 2 bikes on the roof, and yeti 65 full of beer and ice in the back of the cruiser) but was careful to keep more of the trailer load over the axles or forward. From your recent trip to the scales, it appears as your rig is closer to 1k lbs heavier than mine and I'm guessing it tows just fine? @linuxgod Why do you keep your tire pressure at 45? I'm guessing the load capacity of the tire is ok at that pressure but I've noticed quite a bit more tire sway at lower pressures. I've fiddled with mine and I'm running 285 75 17 BFG AT that are load range E as well and I have found 70psi in the rear and 50 on the front to "feel" better towing. Nevertheless, these are tough vehicles and I got a chuckle at seeing 2 dead chevy trucks with campers behind them on the side of the road going over Afton mountain in VA this past weekend. Ha

View attachment 1988691

How many people do we have towing with stock gears and over sized tires? @linuxgod and @TeCKis300 you guys are my 200 towing inspiration and I know both of you have regeared. Am I going to hate life going up to a 33.7" 285/70/18 or should I pick a 285/65/18 instead?

We tow a lot in hilly terrain. How much hunting does the transmission do when going up and down with oversized tires?

 

[Tex68w]

285/75/17 (34’s) on stock gears towing 4200lbs at 70-75 and I was seeing 8.2-9.4mpg (adjusted). This was towing in the hills of the Texas Hill Country, on coastal flat land I was seeing 10.3mpg. Towing that weight I see no need to regear.

 

[dubyahard]

285/75R18s here towing a Lance 2185 (6500# or so) and my response would be the same as @Tex68w above. Horrible gas mileage but as long as I keep the trans in "S4" it works without regearing. Would it be nice? Yeah, but I'm prioritizing a LRA tank to expand my range first.

 

[Tex68w]

285/75R18s here towing a Lance 2185 (6500# or so) and my response would be the same as @Tex68w above. Horrible gas mileage but as long as I keep the trans in "S4" it works without regearing. Would it be nice? Yeah, but I'm prioritizing a LRA tank to expand my range first.

Agreed, bumpers, winch, sliders, drawers, etc. are far more important at the moment.

 

[wngrog]

How many people do we have towing with stock gears and over sized tires? @linuxgod and @TeCKis300 you guys are my 200 towing inspiration and I know both of you have regeared. Am I going to hate life going up to a 33.7" 285/70/18 or should I pick a 285/65/18 instead?

We tow a lot in hilly terrain. How much hunting does the transmission do when going up and down with oversized tires?

I tow everywhere with 285/70-18s and stock gears.

I drop it into 6th and never worry.

No way I would regear for just towing

 

[dubyahard]

Agreed, bumpers, winch, sliders, drawers, etc. are far more important at the moment.

After the LRA tank, I'll probably follow @TeCKis300 regear method.

 

[dubyahard]

I tow everywhere with 285/70-18s and stock gears.

I drop it into 6th and never worry.

No way I would regear for just towing

Ah yes, the 8-speed would be nice. I wonder if I could swap one in to my 2008...

 

[TeCKis300]

How many people do we have towing with stock gears and over sized tires? @linuxgod and @TeCKis300 you guys are my 200 towing inspiration and I know both of you have regeared. Am I going to hate life going up to a 33.7" 285/70/18 or should I pick a 285/65/18 instead?

We tow a lot in hilly terrain. How much hunting does the transmission do when going up and down with oversized tires?

Depends on how much weight, TV and trailer. As a datapoint, my ~6500lb rig did fine towing 8k on 33.2" tall tires and stock gearing. Credit to the 5.7Ls strength. Actually, it got its best cruising MPG in this config as S4 was almost an S4.5 gear that was great for efficiency (10-11mpg). In the extreme grades and elevation of the Sierras and Rockies, it wanted more gear. Both for acceleration from a stop, falling into a torque hole in second gear and not being able to accelerate, and probably the biggest difference was engine braking. If you're trailer is any less than say 6.5k, and you watch the weight added to the TV, I think it'll work fine with a 33.7" tire.

Now that I'm on 35s with 4.3s, almost exactly stock gearing, it's definitely a solid improvement in the higher elevation mountains where I do a lot of camping. No more acceleration hole in second gear. And much stronger engine braking in 2nd gear where I can control momentum without physical brakes. It gets your attention when you can't keep downhill speed in check in even 2nd gear because physical brakes only go so far until they overheat. Then there's the grades where you know you're really heavy when needing to be in 1st gear to manage a section. I would re-gear for the safety of engine braking alone if really heavy.

I drive manuals and maybe that translates to the LX as I'm always in S4 and don't let it hunt (builds heat in the transmission when towing). Still enough torque with this gearing setup to manage mild hills. 3-5% grades, slap it into S3. 6%+, 2nd gear.

 

[Romer]

How many people do we have towing with stock gears and over sized tires? @linuxgod and @TeCKis300 you guys are my 200 towing inspiration and I know both of you have regeared. Am I going to hate life going up to a 33.7" 285/70/18 or should I pick a 285/65/18 instead?

We tow a lot in hilly terrain. How much hunting does the transmission do when going up and down with oversized tires?

Stock gears and 34" tires. Just about everywhere I go I have to go over a mountain pass or two

 

[wngrog]

I love my 200 to tow. I have Firestone airbags and a Redarc and just go

 

[Tex68w]

Yes, the RedArc is a must imho.

 

[Artie]

How many people do we have towing with stock gears and over sized tires? @linuxgod and @TeCKis300 you guys are my 200 towing inspiration and I know both of you have regeared. Am I going to hate life going up to a 33.7" 285/70/18 or should I pick a 285/65/18 instead?

We tow a lot in hilly terrain. How much hunting does the transmission do when going up and down with oversized tires?

I tow a 4500lb camper while running 285/70R18 with stock gears on a chunky, scratch that, FAT cruiser. Most of the time it’s totally fine. However, Colorado mountain passes were sucky. Just as @TeCKis300 explained, there is a torque hole and it can be unnerving on long climbs or descents if you aren’t thinking ahead and preparing for the climb or descent. You will definitely need a scan tool to watch extra gauges, trans pan, trans torque converter, gear selectio, and torque converter at minimum.

My MPG sucks when not towing so it’s not much worse when towing, I would recommend you don’t even consider this data point as it’s irrelevant and unchangeable.

I have the 8 speed and it doesn’t hunt because I’m its boss and tell it what gear we need when we get into the hills. Otherwise it’s in 6, which it’s always in 6 regardless if I’m towing or not, and it gets to think for itself.

One of these days I’ll re-gear and probably do 3.90 or 4.30. Fantasy land would be super charger but idk if that would ever happen because our build purpose is dragging our camper off road and the extra 100 ponies under the hood wouldn’t benefit me there, plus there’s still no ECU tuning possible.

If you run trails and wheel off road then get the tires. Embrace the money pit and enjoy.