Towing with a 200-series Toyota Land Cruiser (1 Viewer)

[linuxgod]

+1 @Sandroad. The factory tongue weight on my current trailer is supposedly 500#, including electric jack and 2 propane cylinders. I added a 65# battery and mine was 770#. On my prior trailer the TW was supposedly 375# dry, yet I clocked in at >600# with just 60# of propane and a 65# battery... again go figure.

Also go spend the $10-12 and weigh your rig on a truck scale, because you probably weight more than you think.

 

[VooDoo2]

Touring n Towing. Van was 3500kg, Camper 2500kg, Cub 2000kg. All done with zero issues.

 

[vapilotda]

Thought I would post some scale reports for a recent weigh in with my Airstream. I'm running a medium OME suspension, blue ox hitch with 1000 bars on the 9th link and it is balanced out pretty well. The trailer had a fair amount of gear in it and half of a tank of fresh water when weighed. The two sheets show the weight distributing bars on the hitch unhooked and the other is connected and on the 9th chain link.

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[vapilotda]

Another topic I wanted to hear input on is after a bit of towing now with the 200 and watching temps closely on the engine and transmission is a "what's most detrimental?" Scenario....

On flat ground here on the east coast on the highway, leaving the truck in 4th gear, all temps stay 190ish at highway speeds (65mph ish,) the engine is running 2600ish RPM. I can shift the trans to 5th and drop the RPMs below 2k but the temps will slowly rise towards 200ish.

The debate is, would you rather run temps a bit lower and rev the engine like that for hours or let the temp run a bit warmer and keep the RPMs down???

Discuss

 

[Kansas Scott]

Thought I would post some scale reports for a recent weigh in with my Airstream. I'm running a medium OME suspension, blue ox hitch with 1000 bars on the 9th link and it is balanced out pretty well. The trailer had a fair amount of gear in it and half of a tank of fresh water when weighed. The two sheets show the weight distributing bars on the hitch unhooked and the other is connected and on the 9th chain link.

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Thank you! It is great to actually see the data. I recently traded "up" to a 2019 Keystone Bullet Crossfire 2070BH. I am going to haul to the scales and run through the same process you did.

 

[coleAK]

Another topic I wanted to hear input on is after a bit of towing now with the 200 and watching temps closely on the engine and transmission is a "what's most detrimental?" Scenario....

On flat ground here on the east coast on the highway, leaving the truck in 4th gear, all temps stay 190ish at highway speeds (65mph ish,) the engine is running 2600ish RPM. I can shift the trans to 5th and drop the RPMs below 2k but the temps will slowly rise towards 200ish.

The debate is, would you rather run temps a bit lower and rev the engine like that for hours or let the temp run a bit warmer and keep the RPMs down???

Discuss

My 0.02
As mentioned before I tow a ~6800lb Black rock 22BHS with my ‘13 LX. In general heat kills transmissions. I’ve towed over 30k miles (with ~65k on the truck), all over Alaska and western Canada. I think it towes way better in 4th. I keep it in ECT- power and trans set to S4. The only time I manually shift to 5th is on long gradual downhills where there is too much engine break in 4th to “coast it” but even that scenario is rare.

There are a few other guys on here that also tow similar size campers a lot of miles. And hopefully they will chime in as well.

 

[vapilotda]

I can understand that. One thought my brother in law had (career mechanic) is to bypass the radiator and run the trans cooler as a stand alone. He was saying the coolant will heat soak the transmission fluid and you can watch that as the engine works harder in 5th gear, coolant temp rises first, followed suit by the transmission fluid. I may try that experiment this summer to see if the trans will stay cooler in 5th but like you said, it does just fine in 4th, was just worried about running the rpms like that for extended periods of time.

 

[Dan Higgins]

I suspect that Toyota recommends 4th gear and ECT PWR just as @coleAK is running it. I know that on my 2016 w/ the 8-speed the owners manual specifically says to use S6 and ECT PWR (lower when needing engine compression to slow it down.). I would stick with the manufacturer's recommendations. Also, I don't believe that running at 2600-ish or even 3,000-ish is all that bad for the transmission. I suspect, though I am not an expert, that the evolution to overdrive and more gears has been driven more by the desire to lower MPG than by a desire to extend the live of the transmission with lower RPM.

 

[Dan Higgins]

BTW, my compliments on a well tuned weight distribution! 680# moved off of the rear axle with 520# to the front (bringing it back in line with the rear) and 120-140-ish back on to the trailer. The Blue Ox did a nice job.

I am curious what your truck weighted without the trailer hooked up. It seems that with the trailer hooked up it is ~7300#. My truck comes in at ~6800# before I hook up. I'm just curious how much weight you are adding to the truck overall vs what it is when not towing.

 

[linuxgod]

Another topic I wanted to hear input on is after a bit of towing now with the 200 and watching temps closely on the engine and transmission is a "what's most detrimental?" Scenario....

On flat ground here on the east coast on the highway, leaving the truck in 4th gear, all temps stay 190ish at highway speeds (65mph ish,) the engine is running 2600ish RPM. I can shift the trans to 5th and drop the RPMs below 2k but the temps will slowly rise towards 200ish.

The debate is, would you rather run temps a bit lower and rev the engine like that for hours or let the temp run a bit warmer and keep the RPMs down???

Discuss

Run in 4th with ECT PWR on. 4th gear is 1:1 and it's less wear on the torque converter as it's not locking and unlocking. The MPG difference when towing is marginal between 4th and 5th. The engine will hum along at 3,000 rpms all day. And it's minimal engine wear in 4th but much more transmission wear in 5th. (Side note: I've done a Blackstone analysis with TBN after 6500 miles, 4000 of which were towing including a trip out to Teluride and back and even running in 4th the whole time they said my oil had plenty of additives still in it and looked good so "run 8000 miles next time and send us a sample". A nearly 8 quart oil pan probably helps.)

If you're really concerned add a larger or additional transmission cooler pre-radiator. Do it pre-radiator because you want the fluid to get up to operating temp (~195F) and doing so ensures if it "overcools" the radiator will warm it correctly. If you do it post-radiator you may run with fluid that's too cold, particularly if you're on the highway when temps are in the 40s or 50s, which provides *less* lubrication.

BTW yes Toyota says you can run in 5th, but as you've seen the transmission temps will be higher. That said if you downshift from 6th to 5th on the highway when you're not towing you'll see your temps will creep up as well. Really I just avoid 5th gear for any extended amount of time...

 

[vapilotda]

BTW, my compliments on a well tuned weight distribution! 680# moved off of the rear axle with 520# to the front (bringing it back in line with the rear) and 120-140-ish back on to the trailer. The Blue Ox did a nice job.

I am curious what your truck weighted without the trailer hooked up. It seems that with the trailer hooked up it is ~7300#. My truck comes in at ~6800# before I hook up. I'm just curious how much weight you are adding to the truck overall vs what it is when not towing.

Thank you! My cruiser wasn’t very heavy so that certainly is a variable. Traveling, it’s me,my wife,two little kids, and some cargo as I put most in the trailer. I’m certainly at or above the placard limitation for payload between tongue weight and us. That weigh was just me, a bit of camping equipment, tools in the back, and a half tank of gas. I don’t have bumpers or any other armor. I know suspension is part of the payload equation. The OME certainly adds capacity.... how much? I don’t know.

 

[vapilotda]

Run in 4th with ECT PWR on. 4th gear is 1:1 and it's less wear on the torque converter as it's not locking and unlocking. The MPG difference when towing is marginal between 4th and 5th. The engine will hum along at 3,000 rpms all day. And it's minimal engine wear in 4th but much more transmission wear in 5th. (Side note: I've done a Blackstone analysis with TBN after 6500 miles, 4000 of which were towing including a trip out to Teluride and back and even running in 4th the whole time they said my oil had plenty of additives still in it and looked good so "run 8000 miles next time and send us a sample". A nearly 8 quart oil pan probably helps.)

If you're really concerned add a larger or additional transmission cooler pre-radiator. Do it pre-radiator because you want the fluid to get up to operating temp (~195F) and doing so ensures if it "overcools" the radiator will warm it correctly. If you do it post-radiator you may run with fluid that's too cold, particularly if you're on the highway when temps are in the 40s or 50s, which provides *less* lubrication.

BTW yes Toyota says you can run in 5th, but as you've seen the transmission temps will be higher. That said if you downshift from 6th to 5th on the highway when you're not towing you'll see your temps will creep up as well. Really I just avoid 5th gear for any extended amount of time...

Completely understand...I did an oil analysis as well with a bit of towing and it’s no different than any other analysis. I guess I was just worried about revving that hard all day long but as Dan said makes sense. Gears for fuel efficiency, the motor can handle the revolutions. Fortunately, it’s quiet at 3k rpm and you barely notice your are running at half the red line. On another note, I change all drivetrains fluids every 30k and that’s probably a waste as it all comes out spotless but the ocd wouldn’t let me sleep otherwise! Ha

 

[swatski]

Run in 4th with ECT PWR on. 4th gear is 1:1 and it's less wear on the torque converter as it's not locking and unlocking. The MPG difference when towing is marginal between 4th and 5th.

So - would this be 6th in 8 speed LC models ?
TIA

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[CharlieS]

I’ve towed massive loads with the land cruiser. IMO you are overthinking this.

 

[linuxgod]

So - would this be 6th in 8 speed LC models ?
TIA

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Yep

 

[Blake Loggins]

Just curious what kind of towing mpg's you guys are getting? We bought our first camper a few weeks back and on our recent trip I averaged 6 mpg!! Trailer weighs just under 5k lbs and 200 has 35's on factory gears. Front and rear Arbs and loaded down with kiddos. It only gets 10-11 mpg with no camper so Im used to awful! 4.88 gears are going in next week.

 

[vapilotda]

I've been 8.5 all week towing the Airstream.

 

[linuxgod]

Unless you've re-geared, larger diameter tires really hurt mileage, even if you adjust the mileage reading for the change in tire diameter. My 34s run the speedo about 5% low, so I mentally adjust my MPG for that. Even still my trailer runs close to 6k lbs when loaded and I get about 7 MPG when running a bit over 70 MPH on relatively flat lands, +/- 0.5 MPG depending on wind and terrain.

Speed also plays a huge factor in MPG. If I hit the midwest flat lands (IL, IA, NE) and set my cruise around 70-72 (so I'm actually running 73-75) I'll get about 7 MPG, but if I keep it 55-60 I'll easily manage 8-9MPG.

 

[coleAK]

I’m in a stock LX570 pulling a Black rock 22BHS. I get ~9mpg running 55-60 mph if i up it to 65-70 mph I get 7-8 mpg. I average almost 15 mpg when not towing and get 18-19 mph not towing when I’m doing the same kind of trips not towing that I do with the camper. So I guess what I’m saying is I take ~50% hit in mpg towing my camper.

 

[Kansas Scott]

Help confirm my next step in adjusting my weight distribution hitch...

I took my 2015 LC to the scales and weighed without the trailer (but with full tank of gas and two kids):
Front Axle: 3400 lbs
Rear Axle: 3680 lbs

... then I (and the two kids and virtually full tank of gas) went through the scales again with the travel trailer (2019 Keystone Bullet 2070BH) using the WD hitch (Equal-i-zer):
Front Axle: 3240 lbs
Rear Axle: 4360 lbs
Trailer Axle: 3900 lbs

My initial thought is that the WD hitch is not adjusted properly, as the front axle should increase in weight, not decrease, once the trailer is properly hitched. This is probably a blindingly obvious observation, but I am still trying to figure all this out.

If there is something I am missing, please let me know.

Thanks,
Scott in Kansas