3000lb everyday towing? Tacoma

[MattKoch]

I'm in the market for a new to me truck but I'm torn on v6-v8. .... I've been pulling my trailer with a 1st gen tacoma auto 3.4 4x4 and it struggles., but it's pushing 300k miles . Would you all want to haul 3000lb every day with your 2nd-3rd gen tacomas? Manual or auto?  Thanks

 

[MattKoch]

Thanks! I live in western NC ... can be pretty hilly.

 

[calicamper]

For kicks I'd suggest driving the Diesel Colorado. If you tow that much the 2.8 Diesel would pay back, and more in both mileage and having the easy towing grunt.
It's worth a look especially if your doing that much hauling.

 

[plainjaneFJC]

By the time you get a diesel Colorado you could get a mid level full-size. Maybe your not interested in that though.

 

[calicamper]

The v8 full size options are obviously plentiful. I think daily 3k towing with my Sequoia and the 4.7 would grow old pretty quick. It's a baby v8 lots of snap and go in soccer mom mode. But dragging around 3k every day it would be a thirsty dog. The Tacomas V6 would be miserable as a daily schleper of 3k

 

[p nut]

I grew up in East NC and visited the western side quite a bit. Yeah, get yourself a V8 (or a boosted V6 ). If you're sticking with Toyota, the 4.7L would be great, but I will say the 5.7L is a joy to pull with.

 

[MattKoch]

I've actually driven the 2.8 and in theory it would be perfect. Domestic+ diesel has me concerned with initial cost+ maintenance though ....there so tempting but so is the 10k I could save on a used truck.

The list :
Tacoma ---- starting to sound like the v6 is a no go though
Frontier -----
100 series lc
Tundra
F250 sc sb - gas
Colorado

Shorter wheel base is a big plus for me. I tend to put my trailer in some pretty tight spots.

I really appreciate the feedback! hard to test drive a truck and trailer. Here's the rig! Doesn't look heavy but it's full of horse shoes and other heavy things.

 

[calicamper]

Fairrier? That's a dying skill in my neck of the woods. Our guy had a f150 older one just rigged up for his shoe jobs. The rest of the time he drove a 4Runner.

The Sequoia is only body wise about 9.8 inches longer than the LC. I had a J80 before the 1st gen Sequoia. The ability to wedge into spots is nearly the same between the two. Though the Sequoia is less twitchy towing than the LC. A standard cab Tundra keeps the length down but those seem pretty rare.

A dedicated Full sized beater Pickup is shorter than the trailer truck combo ;-)

 

[MattKoch]

Fairrier? That's a dying skill in my neck of the woods. Our guy had a f150 older one just rigged up for his shoe jobs. The rest of the time he drove a 4Runner.

The Sequoia is only body wise about 9.8 inches longer than the LC. I had a J80 before the 1st gen Sequoia. The ability to wedge into spots is nearly the same between the two. Though the Sequoia is less twitchy towing than the LC. A standard cab Tundra keeps the length down but those seem pretty rare.

A dedicated Full sized beater Pickup is shorter than the trailer truck combo ;-)

No doubt on the full size beater !!! Hahaha pit fall of a trailer .. ....... that's crazy the LC is only 9" shorter!

 

[calicamper]

Parked side by side it's pretty amazing how close they are in size. But the 3rd row configuration in the Sequoia is a full 3 across vs a very tight and midget legged 2 seater in the LC. Width wise they are nearly identical. But the new generation Sequoia is a giant fat turd it's really wide!!!!

 

[Deleted member 9101]

You could always get a 1st gen Tundra V-8 and swap in the 4.30 gears from a 1st Gen V-6 4x4 Tundra. Quick and cheap way to get pulling power.

 

[calicamper]

The 4.7 is a great engine. Though I found with the 05 Sequoia Toyota tuned it to be a soccer mom drag racer and it ideally likes / needs 90 octane when doing hard work. They de rated it in the LC and in 06 Sequoia it got a lower HP rating my guess is due to the octane vs more aggressive timing they gave the earlier models. It will ping on 87 under load but running 90 octane it's fine. That's for the 04-05 Sequoias, Pretty sure the 06 got a less aggressive tune due to the slight drop in hp rating.

 

[p nut]

You could always get a 1st gen Tundra V-8 and swap in the 4.30 gears from a 1st Gen V-6 4x4 Tundra. Quick and cheap way to get pulling power.

Regear for pulling a 3k lb trailer with a V8? Why even bother? You'd just be wasting money on the regear and on gas. If it were a bigger trailer, that may make sense.

 

[Hummelator]

I'm bias towards toyotas but I'll give you my opinion anyways. I would opt for the 4.7 tundy. I have owned both a 4.7 and 5.7 tundra. Obviously the 5.7 will be superior for towing but I towed about 3000 LBS with my 4.7 and was extremely impressed. I currently have the 5.7 but if I had the chance to swap it for a 4.7 I would do it in a heart beat. Also, used Tundra prices are reasonable compared to used Tacoma prices.

 

[p nut]

I'm bias towards toyotas but I'll give you my opinion anyways. I would opt for the 4.7 tundy. I have owned both a 4.7 and 5.7 tundra. Obviously the 5.7 will be superior for towing but I towed about 3000 LBS with my 4.7 and was extremely impressed. I currently have the 5.7 but if I had the chance to swap it for a 4.7 I would do it in a heart beat. Also, used Tundra prices are reasonable compared to used Tacoma prices.

Now you got me curious. Why 4.7 over the 5.7? From my own experience, the 5.7 was an improvement in every way. More power, more torque, same MPG.