towing with an 80 series

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Skip,

I have both a 1995 80 series and a 2008 LX570. I regularly pull an 18' tandem axle flatbed, stakeside trailer, maxed out at 8600 (but not for the 80). We have both hills and mountains in Charlotte and near us.

I don't have any reservations pulling a 2k load with either. The concern I have is stopping. The LX570 has much larger brakes and still doesn't stop well enough to suit me (the trailer is just under 2k empty), without trailer brakes. IMHO, trailer brakes are a must for trailering behind any L/C in anything but Kansas.

Yes the V8 will pull better, but every hill has two sides, and only one of them is up.

HTH.
 
An 80 will tow a 2K pound trailer and all of you just fine. If your truck is lifted with big tires, lower gears will be a big plus if you don't have them yet.
I have been towing my offroad trailer that's roughly 2k lbs (maybe a bit less) when fully loaded, and my wife and 4 kids are typically in the truck with me. We've been doing this for years in a cruiser with stock gears and 35's and now in our cruiser with 4.88's. The 4.88's help on the canyons etc. On rare occasion on the really steep climbs it may drop below the speed limit briefly but it's not bad.

A 100 series will have a bit more power with the V8 but we've pulled my trailer with my brother in laws LX470 and honestly it didn't feel much different than it did with our 80. Didn't feel much extra power and it still slowed down a bit on the big climbs.

 
Buy a 100 if towing is part of your main criteria. Get one with the 5speed trans. The 80 will do it but not nearly as well.

I have a number of trailers. My camper is 1700# dry. I'm stuck in 1st gear on pretty much any Colorado mountain pass. Altitude will kill you too. I really see the power drop over 9000'. I live at 8000'. I'm also very heavy to begin with. Much like Adam's truck above and with 4.88's. Even stock I had to drop to first gear back in the day pulling a heavy trailer (over 3500).

On the flats I can hold 65 but sometimes need to drop to drive/3rd if its windy.
 
Simple solution - keep the 80 and install the 4.7L V8 :-)
 
The last time I went through the Johnson tunnel (Eisenhower tunnel's West to East version), I was knocked down to about 45mph to keep from overheating. No trailer, but I was fully equipped for week-long family camping so my FZJ80 was about 7000 lbs by itself. That is with a relatively well maintained coolant system and a supercharger driving 315/75R16 tires via 4.88 gears. It was July and 100*F at 8000' that day, so probably still 90*F up at the tunnel. That climb from Silverthorne at 9,035' to the tunnel entrance 10 miles away at 11,158' has a long 6% grade and the air gets pretty thin up there. On a cooler day I could probably have held more speed.

On the same trip, Pike's Peak at 14,100' wasn't an issue at the posted speed limit of 25mph in either direction. Uphill was mostly in 2nd gear. Going down I put it in 2nd and didn't have to use the brakes much at all. They were still 'cool' at the brake check. We also did the Medano pass (9930'), but the terrain is rough enough that maxing out speed wasn't a consideration.

If you want to do mountain passes uphill at 'full speed limit speed', you might want to reconsider either option. If you want to enjoy the trip and are willing to slow down a bit to let your 15-20 year old truck breathe a bit, either one should be good.
 
There is a old adage, There is no substitution for cubic inches, this is especially true when towing, IMHO these truck are terribly slow and under powered add big tires & armor makes it worse & not a good choice fore towing.
 
mct75 said:
The only things that kill Land Cruisers are rust and rollovers.
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Lack of Gas Stations will kill them too.

Roll overs = Roll Over again, Bob the top, and hit the trails.
 
Malleus said:
Skip,

I have both a 1995 80 series and a 2008 LX570. I regularly pull an 18' tandem axle flatbed, stakeside trailer, maxed out at 8600 (but not for the 80). We have both hills and mountains in Charlotte and near us.

I don't have any reservations pulling a 2k load with either. The concern I have is stopping. The LX570 has much larger brakes and still doesn't stop well enough to suit me (the trailer is just under 2k empty), without trailer brakes. IMHO, trailer brakes are a must for trailering behind any L/C in anything but Kansas.

Yes the V8 will pull better, but every hill has two sides, and only one of them is up.

HTH.
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IF your towing a 8600lb trailer or any trailer with out BRAKES remind me to stay off the HWY's of Chalotte
 
Towing 8,000 lbs with a freewheeling trailer is not dangerous if the driver is a seasoned tower and the tow rig is well equipped (Brakes n such, sorry the 80 doesn't qualify here). Now when you push past the 10,000 lb zone it becomes much more dangerous.

Sorry but I kinda chuckle at the people who say 'whoa tiger let me know when your in my area so I can stay off the road'. Really? Just think about all of other overloaded rigs that you drive right past without a second thought. Or about Aunt Suzy's under maintained Pontiac Bonneville that hasn't had its brakes bled in 10 years. Or Ashley speeding down the interstate late for her physics 101 test at the same time shes putting on her make up in the mirror singing semisonic's closing time.

To the OP, the 80 is not a tow rig. There are millions of these threads on here, the last one was started less than a month ago with almost the exact same title.

In my opinion the 80 should not tow more than 2,500# maybe 3,000#. Our old 03' 100 with the 5 speed sucked down gas faster than you could light it on fire just to haul 8,500# over the flat (Had to have the foot to the floor for 5 hrs to maintain speed). So IMO the 100 isn't great either unless it has the VVTi 2UZ. The 200 however is more than capable of handling 12,000# with trailer brakes, load levelers & air bags.

Take it for what its worth, plenty of people on here will tell you they've hauled their 12,000 boat with their 80, good for them. But if you get real with yourself then you will realize that it shouldn't tow more than just a light weight offroad trailer. Again, this is just the opinion of someone who has towed more than the average person my age, with loads varying from 500lbs to 75,000lbs... (off topic but I've always found the ultra light weight trailers to be the most squirrelly)
 
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Manufactures have max tow ratings for a reason. IMHO towing above the max rating is DANGEROUS for every body that is on the road around you, and yes there are other dangers on the road but there not posting up that they are safe on the road.
 
Towing more weight regardless of the manufacturers rating is inherently more dangerous.

Also did you know that the manufacturers tow rating for the 80 differs based on where you are in the world? More to do with politics than imminent doom and destruction.

I'm not advocating hauling overloaded just pointing out that a couple k over the 'max rating' is not a big deal, especially when the rig is well equipped for the task (again the 80 is not). But hey I live in Fort Collins Colorado and tow a lot so be sure to steer clear. :flipoff2:
 
Broski said:
IF your towing a 8600lb trailer or any trailer with out BRAKES remind me to stay off the HWY's of Chalotte
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No problem. It's off the beaten path to the dump and back.
 
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