1st Gen Tacoma Towing

Hello all,
I have a 2000 Tacoma V6 4x4 Manual Access Cab TRD, and I plan to be using it to tow a 23' 1988 Award trailer (3,400 lbs dry) that I picked up. My truck is bone stock, aside for a light bar on the front, and I figured I'd share my journey as I work to make the truck towing-capable.

To begin with, I've been searching all over online for tow restriction information (Maximum Gross Trailer Weight Rating and Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating), but to no avail. I finally got myself a manual for the truck, and figured I'd share this information in case someone else is looking for how much their truck is legally allowed to move. This manual is for a 2000 Tacoma, but I presume it'll work for any 1st generation Tacoma.

Maximum Gross Trailer Weight Rating (MGTWR)
2RZ-FE: 3,500 lbs
3RZ-FE: 3,500 lbs
5VZ-FE: 5,000 lbs

Note: if towing a trailer and cargo weighing over 2,000 lbs, it is necessary to use a sway bar device with sufficient capacity.

Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating (GCVWR)
Two-Wheel Drive
2RZ-FE: 6,700 lbs
5VZ-FE: 8,300 lbs

Four-Wheel Drive
3RZ-FE: 7,400 lbs
5VZ-FE: 9,000 lbs

 

There is a dedicated towing sub forum, might want to check that out...

I towed a ~2500 pound camper trailer with my 2004 v6, and let's just say it wasn't super happy climbing hills. It could do it, but I was doing 40-45 up some hills where the speed limit was 65 or 70. Expect yours you weigh over 4k.

Get a trany cooler for sure. About $60 and easy to install. Well worth the investment. Obviously you'll need a brake controller, too. I have a teconisha (sp?), but with our tacos you need to do all the power and brake wiring fron scratch, but the brake/signal lighting is easy with a plug n play harness that plugs into the tail lights.

Edit, wait, I noticed you have a manual, nevermind about the tranny cooler, lol.

While the "max" weight is 5000, and you are technically under that, your taco WILL struggle. My parents have a 20 foot airstream (4000 pounds I think) they tow with their Sequoia and a wd hitch, and that works just fine, but I can't imaging pulling that thing up a hill with my 3.4L taco or even my 4L 4Runner.

So, if you're a flatlander and only tow it on flat ground, you're probably fine, just be sure to be extra careful with the tongue weigt and the balance of the trailer.

 

Your truck looks to have just about the same as my truck's capacity, but mine is an 01' with automatic trans. & towing option.

I just finished a road-trip from Michigan to Philly (about 1600 miles), and had about 600# in the bed (with a cap). Gotta tell ya, going through the Allegheny mountains, that little 6-banger was down-shifting constantly to maintain 75mph, and sometimes 2 gears down. With a 4500# trailer behind it (loaded), you might be putting your 4-way flashers on and traveling up the mountain at 45mph at times or possibly overheating the engine.

Previous to owning this Tacoma, I had a 2009 F350 crew-cab 6.4L 4x4 diesel that I used to haul our 28' travel trailer (about 5000# loaded) and didn't have a problem, but keep in mind, the truck was rated for something like 12,000# towing capacity. Pushing that truck to tow "just about" it's maximum capacity might be pressing it, and you might be rather disappointed with the performance, and fuel economy.

 

Thanks for replies and feedback, always appreciated!

Some back story to my reasoning behind what I'm doing and why I'm doing it; I see my Tacoma as being apart of all worlds, not the greatest at anything but good at everything. I can keep up with the jeeps on the trail, I can load my motorbike in the bed, I can tow a reasonable amount of weight, and I get reasonable fuel mileage. Buying a larger truck that's better at towing is a possibility, but then it won't perform as well at other tasks that I enjoy (ie. trail driving).

My objective is to haul the trailer from Saskatchewan, Canada, to the Nevada desert, in order to attend the Burning Man festival in August! There will be hills, there will be heat, and it's going to be interesting.

The first thing I chose to acquire is a "Veepeak Bluetooth OBD2 Diagnostic Scanner", which plugs into the truck and sends internal information to my phone. This will allow me to track operating performance, analyze the benefits of future modifications, and drive in the most fuel efficient manner possible. I'm using the "Dash Command" Android application, and so far have been very pleased with everything it provides!

 

Dear Towbar,

Good Luck driving to the Burning Man Festival. Remember these Tacomas are small trucks. Towing large amounts of weight are not really their forte. Although, from the way you described the weight of your trailer, it does not sound abnormally heavy. I have towed a little bit with our Tacoma, which is the exact same rig as your Tacoma with the exception it is a year older. It does okay, but it does take quite a bit of effort to get them to stop.

Take it easy,
Paul

 

I have a 24 foot enclosed trailer double axel, it pulls it around town just fine,
I have electric brakes setup with brake controller add a leaf for springs, class IV, hitch, if your going long distances it will suck up your gas, I normally get 20 mpg, with the trailer I was getting 10 mpg, you have to stop a lot.
Trailer is 7.5" tall. It's like pulling a kite. Truck didn't like it when I drove the trailer 2000 miles, but
it will do it.

 

One does what one has to A Tacoma is not my first choice to Tow anything But Welders .

For Real Towing I use my Ford F250

 

I think the Tacoma is perfectly fine for towing. We are spoiled with the full size V8 trucks in this country and then think Tacomas are inferior. In other parts of the world people tow with compact cars and they do fine. Yes, it will go slow uphill and crosswinds will make you pukker a little, but they actually tow just fine. Happy towing OP!

 

Found this thread as I was searching for the official towing capacity for my 1st Gen Taco 4x4 w/3.4L and A/T. I had recalled that it was published at 5,000# and just wanted to confirm that.

The reason I wanted to confirm it is because I just finished a 1200 mile trip from Dallas to Appleton, Wisconsin towing a 5x9 U-Haul Ramp trailer (1200#) and about 2500# of granite countertops and the experience was less than inspiring. I have 120K miles on my rig and when I got it at 116K miles I immediately drained and flushed the trans fluid with Valvoline full synthetic fluid and installed an aux transmission fluid cooler in series with the OEM radiator cooler.

For the first half of the trip I used the ECT button. This allowed for a sensitive downshift on grades which there were plenty of in Oklahoma and Missouri. On one really long slight grade I was maintaining between 65-70mph and the A/T had downshifted out of OD. This long grade tripped the A/T Oil Temp light and when it did I immediately let up off the throttle to allow OD to engage and the light immediately went out. I was able to make 60mph up the grades without the light tripping again. I must add that this high oil temp light tripped with an OAT (Outside Air Temp) of about 55°F.

The next day covering the remaining 500 miles I did NOT use the ECT button which left the transmission in OD for longer periods of 65mph and when the hill grades came a downshift out of OD occurred. With an OAT this day further north of about 30°, I experienced one tripping of the A/T high oil temp light, which went out immediately after I backed off the throttle.

For background, here is what my Owner's Manual says about the "A/T Oil Temp" light:
Automatic Transmission Fluid

"Temperature Warning Light
This light warns that the automatic transmission fluid temperature is too high. If this light comes on while you are driving, slow down and pull off the road. Stop the vehicle at a safe place and put the selector lever in “P”. With the engine idling, wait until the light goes off. If the light goes off, you may start the vehicle again. If the light does not go off, call a Toyota dealer or qualified repair shop for assistance."

I researched the temp which triggers the A/T Oil Temp light and found a TW post stating 302°F.

On the flat sections of northern Illinois and Wisconsin, the truck was able to pull at up to the 70mph speed limit in OD.

The engine coolant temperature never varied from slightly below half scale deflection and is the normal position of the needle in all driving conditions and speeds without trailer towing.

Gas mileage was between 12-14mpg while towing and the gas purchased beyond Missouri was predominantly 87 octane. In Texas, OK and MO the gas purchased was primarily 91-93 octane.

So, my final thoughts for towing loads approaching the published max towing weights on slight/modest grades at Interstate speeds is:

1. have a good synthetic fluid in your A/T to get the extra temp and performance protection

2. Install an aux transmission cooler, which gives additional cooling capacity as well as additional fluid capacity to the paltry (IMHO) 2 quart A/T fluid capacity listed in my Owner's Manual. I may evaluate going with a bigger aux cooler considering that the OATs I was operating in were very mild, with 100°F Texas summer temps this likely would have been a disaster.

Any other heavy towing thoughts for the 3.4L w/AT are welcome.



Mike

 

IMO, The AT light (all modern warning lights and gauges really) is really signaling it's too late. They only reflect near catastrophic conditions when moving. I only trust the fuel gauge but rumor has it there's a clock somewhere. I know the OP has a stick shift <lucky> but still our trucks are not made for towing. On that long of a drive to the 'Burn, don't load the trailer to max weight. Go slow and keep an eye on real time temps. Most folk here have an automatic, so get a trans cooler and a Scangauge that can be set to read the transmission temps (auto's), and motor temperatures in real time. You'll figure out when to manually shift and use the OD button by watching the transmission temperature in real time to keep it under 200* When I see the trans temp go north of 190, I begin to slow down/shift/turn off the OD until it drops or at least stays there. I don't know at what temperature the light turns on but I've never gotten there (302* mentioned above? Yikes-I'd head straight to a shop to change the fluid). Our trucks are now old and slow compared to newer vehicles; don't expect to stay at the flow of traffic when loaded or towing up hills. BTW, I've never been able to tell if the ECT button actually does anything. My '04, 4x4, V-6 has 315k on it's motor/trans and hasn't been taken apart.

 

You actually don't want to tow in OD. That is what will shoot the temps up. I towed a trailer from CA to TX and would turn off OD any time the trans temp approached 220F.

 

Thanks for the thoughts on my towing post.

If I had thought more before the trip I would have tried to hook up the OBDII scanner that I have and queue up the Torque app on my Android head unit or another app that would have let me monitor transmission temps.

BTW: the engine consumed no oil on this trip and today I smelled the transmission fluid from the dipstick and it did not give off a burnt smell.

I’m definitely glad that I used one of the top synthetic transmission fluids available when I did my flush and fill.

Mike

 

I have almost the exact same truck that you do. I have flat towed my Wrangler a couple times from central OK to NW Arkansas. The truck hates it and I found numerous times up hill that I had to down shift to 3rd gear and run about 5k RPM just to maintain 45 up some of the hills. The gross weight of the wrangler is 4400 pounds and I'm sure between the tools and gear that I take on my off-road trips I was at or over 5000 pounds. It's just too much for the truck. I like the truck too much to push it that hard for that long. I won't make that trip again with my Wrangler behind the Tacoma. In town or short distances sure, but not that far. After the last trip I accepted that the brakes were also not up to the task and I purchased the parts for the Tundra front brake swap.
I know this may be an unpopular opinion but I think you need more truck to comfortably tow that trailer that distance, especially if you will be going up any significant grades. My recommendation is more truck or less trailer. I'm a fan of the R-Pod trailers. Friend had one and our trucks can handle them without a problem.

 

Thanks for your thoughts Jeremy. The hill grades on my route were not too bad but yes, I agree, it was too much for the 3.4L engine. I usually only have two kitchens of granite on the trailer and this time there were three. I've weighed my truck at the county dump scales with tool box, me and full fuel and it's 4160#.

Thankfully, my Tundra brake upgrade was never truly "tested", but I could feel them doing the job.

I have the Torque app on my head unit but didn't think to use it on this trip (arghhhh). Regardless, my 1995 ECM does not have the capability to monitor transmission temps.

As a precaution, I'll be draining and flushing my transmission fluid shortly as this fluid surely deserves retirement.

Mike