Towing Tips and Observations

[Himself]

Dear all,

I have been doing some towing with a 2000lb trailer/boat.

I notice that the truck feels 20% more sluggish when towing. MPG drops from about 17 to 13.6mpg estimated.

The truck usually runs at about 2200rpm during towing. But once it hits a very mild incline, it has to downshift to maintain the speed during cruise control.

My questions are :

1. Is it better to tow in cruise control or not? Or are there certain terrains that cruise control towing is not recommended.

2. What does turning overdrive off do wrt to the truck. Is it better for the truck transmission? Is it better or worse for mpg?

Thanks!

[Dennis Cone]

Originally Posted by Himself

Dear all,

I have been doing some towing with a 2000lb trailer/boat.

I notice that the truck feels 20% more sluggish when towing. MPG drops from about 17 to 13.6mpg estimated.

The truck usually runs at about 2200rpm during towing. But once it hits a very mild incline, it has to downshift to maintain the speed during cruise control.

My questions are :

1. Is it better to tow in cruise control or not? Or are there certain terrains that cruise control towing is not recommended.

2. What does turning overdrive off do wrt to the truck. Is it better for the truck transmission? Is it better or worse for mpg?

Thanks!

Hi I have 24 ft fifth wheel and it better to tow out of cruise control I have a better control . and do not let it slow down befor the hill

[HockeyFreak]

ALWAYS tow with the overdrive off!! Do a search under the Towing section and you will find all the info you need.

[DCTUNDRA]

In my opinion, using cruise control is fine for towing but generally it is best on relatively flat terrain. In hills, you are going to find that you want to anticipate the uphill grades by accelerating slightly and having the gas pedal headed down towards the floor before you start up the grade. Conversely, you might want to start "backing off" as you crest a hill and start down the other side. Try it out and you'll get a feel for when it works and when it doesn't. Remember, cruise control is just a robotic gas pedal.

Toyota reccommends towing with overdrive "off" for enhanced engine braking. The v-8 engine likes to rev and develops its power at fairly high rpm's. Therefore, if you need horspeower and torque to pull a hill, you need the rpm. De-activating overdrive effectively lowers the gear ratio and allows for higher rpm at a given speed. When pulling on relatively flat terrain I use overdrive, if the engine doesn't seem to be "pulling" real hard. You can "feel" how hard a load is pulling by how the rig responds to disruptions in the road surface and how much gas pedal movement is required to compensate for slight hills. Again, there is some engine-braking effect with overdrive "off" and that helps to avoid frequent braking applications for minor speed adjustments.

On some transmissions (Ford notably), the overdrive is a planetary gear arrangement - I imagine it is the same on the Toyota. If I recall correctly, Ford started off using 5 satellite gears around the periphery and experienced a lot of failures due to towing loads. They beefed up the gears and increased the number to 7 to provide a more robust overdrive unit and this particular type of failure seems to have gone away. I have never heard of Toyota having a reputation for overdrive failure. Many serious towing people use transmission temperature gages to monitor the temperature of the fluid. Towing with overdrive "off" will tend to allow the temperature to lower if it starts to run hotter than desired. I'm not sure if this is due to higher rpms of the transmission or reduced "load" on the gear train.

In summary, you don't have to be bound by someone's "hard and fast" rules. Use common sense and feel what the truck is telling you. You can drag a 1,500lb trailer around without worrying about either cruise control or overdrive issues. When you start pulling 5,000lb up and down hills, that's a whole different ballgame. Your 2,000lb boat load is just heavy enough that you need to be "tuned in" to how the truck is responding. It is probably just fine on the "flats" to use both overdrive and cruise, but as you start to enter the hilly areas, you probably want to turn the overdrive "off" and start working the gas pedal yourself. I have towed thousands of miles with my 2004 Double Cab, and don't particularly notice a gas mileage "penalty" for having the overdrive "off". The engine will just sing right along at around 3,000 rpm for hour after hour without gulping fuel at an excessive rate. My most recent tow was from San Antonio, Texas to Dayton, Ohio. I was running around 70mph with another Toyota pickup on a tow dolly and both truck beds were loaded with household goods.

[KLS]

The 2000-2002 Tundras had a weak overdrive unit. I haven't heard of a 2003+ with OD failure.

Don't use cruise control if it causes too frequent gear changes. Your transmission will thank you.


Ken

[Himself]

Originally Posted by DCTUNDRA

In my opinion, using cruise control is fine for towing but generally it is best on relatively flat terrain. In hills, you are going to find that you want to anticipate the uphill grades by accelerating slightly and having the gas pedal headed down towards the floor before you start up the grade. Conversely, you might want to start "backing off" as you crest a hill and start down the other side. Try it out and you'll get a feel for when it works and when it doesn't. Remember, cruise control is just a robotic gas pedal.

Toyota reccommends towing with overdrive "off" for enhanced engine braking. The v-8 engine likes to rev and develops its power at fairly high rpm's. Therefore, if you need horspeower and torque to pull a hill, you need the rpm. De-activating overdrive effectively lowers the gear ratio and allows for higher rpm at a given speed. When pulling on relatively flat terrain I use overdrive, if the engine doesn't seem to be "pulling" real hard. You can "feel" how hard a load is pulling by how the rig responds to disruptions in the road surface and how much gas pedal movement is required to compensate for slight hills. Again, there is some engine-braking effect with overdrive "off" and that helps to avoid frequent braking applications for minor speed adjustments.

On some transmissions (Ford notably), the overdrive is a planetary gear arrangement - I imagine it is the same on the Toyota. If I recall correctly, Ford started off using 5 satellite gears around the periphery and experienced a lot of failures due to towing loads. They beefed up the gears and increased the number to 7 to provide a more robust overdrive unit and this particular type of failure seems to have gone away. I have never heard of Toyota having a reputation for overdrive failure. Many serious towing people use transmission temperature gages to monitor the temperature of the fluid. Towing with overdrive "off" will tend to allow the temperature to lower if it starts to run hotter than desired. I'm not sure if this is due to higher rpms of the transmission or reduced "load" on the gear train.

In summary, you don't have to be bound by someone's "hard and fast" rules. Use common sense and feel what the truck is telling you. You can drag a 1,500lb trailer around without worrying about either cruise control or overdrive issues. When you start pulling 5,000lb up and down hills, that's a whole different ballgame. Your 2,000lb boat load is just heavy enough that you need to be "tuned in" to how the truck is responding. It is probably just fine on the "flats" to use both overdrive and cruise, but as you start to enter the hilly areas, you probably want to turn the overdrive "off" and start working the gas pedal yourself. I have towed thousands of miles with my 2004 Double Cab, and don't particularly notice a gas mileage "penalty" for having the overdrive "off". The engine will just sing right along at around 3,000 rpm for hour after hour without gulping fuel at an excessive rate. My most recent tow was from San Antonio, Texas to Dayton, Ohio. I was running around 70mph with another Toyota pickup on a tow dolly and both truck beds were loaded with household goods.

Thank you all for your input. I think it has been a great help. I figured as much that it would be better to tow with the overdrive off if it kept shifting during cruise control. I did not really like the sound of it when it has to suddenly downshift and accelerate just to take a small incline. Thanks again.

[Geodude]

I found that towing our old popup w OD on it would downshift a lot more, especially if using the cruise. I did a three hour run with OD on and then the return with it off and I got a hair better gas mileage with the OD off. The truck hardly down shifted at all and add noticeably more oomph without the OD.

Now with our larger TT at twice the weight, OD goes off the moment we leave the driveway.

[j4x4ar3]

Originally Posted by HockeyFreak

ALWAYS tow with the overdrive off!! Do a search under the Towing section and you will find all the info you need.

Depends on your vehicle actually. The 05 Tacoma actually says to put the shift lever in D when doing hard towing and let the transmission decide. I would say ALWAYS check your owners manual for recomendations.

[HockeyFreak]

Originally Posted by j4x4ar3

Depends on your vehicle actually. The 05 Tacoma actually says to put the shift lever in D when doing hard towing and let the transmission decide. I would say ALWAYS check your owners manual for recomendations.

True....but since he has a Tundra, that was the vehicle I was refering to.

[johnrobi]

I have just bought a 03 tundra, I will be towing a 6 by 12 trailer, plus a full bed of houshold goods form Ketchikan AK, to Maine. The truck has the towing and TRD package. I have never towed anything that far and I'm hoping soemone might have some good advice.

[mckannick]

I have noticed that on these 'equalizing' and stabilizing hitch devices that the gizmo generally raised the effective hitch height above the reciever height. I have only towed my 5' x 10' utility trailer and 2000#gvwr popup camper so far and have an adjustable height tow ball hitch to get the trailers to tow on the level.
See my unit here:
It's a 'Master Lock' unit rated for 5000# / 500. Adjusts with a wrench on top or bottom.

The manufacturer's websites and other info sites show these equilizing / anti sway units on some kind of mini-van or other low slung frame vehicle, not on an average 'tall' pickup and the gizmo goes directly into the hitch reciever. The question is: if one used this on a typical Tundra height vehicle, wouldn't the direct into the reciever arrangement, with it's extra height induced by the device design, cause the trailer to sit way too high in towing?

Wanna go 'cheep' and build your own? http://www.green-trust.org/junkyardp...tchPSJul67.pdf
Not my plans, build / use at your own risk!

Now, where can I find an equalizing / stabilizing adaption unit that works with my adjustable height tow ball unit or whatever to keep it towing level ? Or, is it just luck that when you get trailers that are heavy enough to need them, the trailers just happen to be that tall?

[RockyMtnRay]

Originally Posted by mckannick

Now, where can I find an equalizing / stabilizing adaption unit that works with my adjustable height tow ball unit or whatever to keep it towing level ? Or, is it just luck that when you get trailers that are heavy enough to need them, the trailers just happen to be that tall?

Not to worry...there's actually at least as much height adjustment (probably more) in all WDH than in your adjustable height weight carrying hitch. No, you can't use an equalizing unit with your existing tow ball unit for the simple reason that you don't have the necessary flanges for the equalizing spring bars. You will have to get a dedicated WDH instead...but you will actually gain more height adjustment in the process!

If you look carefully at the the image you posted, you'll note that the hitch shank (the part that actually inserts into the receiver on your truck) has a number of bolt holes. These shanks come in a variety of lengths. The ball carrrier (the part that carries the ball and anchors the weight distribution bars) is bolted (not rigidly welded) to the hitch shank. The shank itself can be a modified T-shape or an L-Shape...so you can attach the ball carrier anywhere up and down the shank. And if you can't get enough adjustment with the shank pointed down, you can flip it over (and rebolt the carrier) with the shank pointed up. That's something you can't do with an adjustable drop weight carrying hitch. See various types of shanks here: DrawTite-Hitches.com


When I first bought my Reese round bar WDH, I was towing with a Jeep Cherokee (center of receiver to ground was 15 inches). With the Jeep, I had to point the shank upward to get a proper ball height for my trailer (hitch height around 18 inches)...the base of the ball was a couple of inches above the center of the hitch receiver. When I got the Tundra, the center of the receiver was around 18 inches above the ground. So I simply unbolted the ball carrrier from the shank, flipped the shank over, and then rebolted the ball carrier (into bolt holes that placed the base of the ball a little below the center of the hitch receiver. Different hitch receiver height, same trailer hitch height by simply flipping the hitch shank and rebolting the ball carrier into the appropriate holes.

[mckannick]

Kool!
Thx for the info, I was wondering just how far the adjusting capabilities of the gizmo would go.