Towing with a Taco?

[CLynn85]

How many of ya'll use your tacoma for towing? I know the newer V6's are somewhere in the ballpark of ~6500lbs towing cap. Anyone towed a car trailer, etc? Impressions?

 

[flyingwil]

I can not speak for the third gen's but I have been impressed by my '01.

 

[BogusBlake]

I have an '04 and I flat tow my ~3000 lb rock buggy with it. Power is fine (could use a little more, of course) but it really lacks the brakes to stop two trucks. I imagine a trailer with a good set of brakes would help.

I recently added a TRD trans cooler and heavy duty fan clutch, but I haven't towed with those yet.

I have another idea to help the brakes, but I'm keeping it to myself until I'm sure it works...

 

[mountainpete]

I have found my 03 to be not bad, but not great. Fuel mileage takes a huge hit - more than I first expected. On the flats it tows great and can hold regular highway speeds. On the hills and mountain passes, well anything over 3500 lbs is really going to slow you down and will absolutely require trailer brakes. Actually I would recommend brakes for anything over 2k - the Taco brakes tend to fade quickly with the added weight.

 

[asteffes]

Brake fade is mostly due to pad selection. Rotor mass plays a part, as the rotors are just giant heatsinks (my '06 has huge rotors and the nice 4-piston calipers, but the pads aren't intended for constant towing and will eventually cook if asked to stop huge loads repeatedly.) Pads that work well for 99% of everday driving conditions, as factory pads are designed to handle, won't work well duing the 1% of heaviest-duty use such as when towing a heavy trailer.

Heavier-duty pads will make a huge difference. Certainly, use trailer brakes if you're pulling a heavy load, but I would look at upgrading pads if you tow a lot.

 

[Bergger]

I'm actually impressed with my 03'. I only tow a 2600lbs tent trailer but even with the cab and bed loaded with another 1000lbs or so it does great. Now when going over 11,000+ foot mountain passes you won't break any land speed records but it still moves at about 40 mph. Once up at altitude it cruises along just fine. Definitely get trailer breaks though.

 

[Desertdude]

I've towed 4500lbs of tile once up to Sedona from Phoenix - that was quite a ride :violent-smiley-031: - can you say "Slow ride" :rockon:

...I would not reccomend it :smiley_drive: