I am looking at buying a travel trailer and I am concerned about how much weight I can tow. I know the limitations in the manual but does anyone have some experience with actual towing ? I live in the mountains so I will be going up/down some hills. I have the 4x4 V6. Thanks in advace for the feedback

what kind of help are you looking for? I've got a '00 4x4 V6 and I've towed boats and trailers but nothing near the limit of the truck. I think if you take it easy and don't push it too hard it'll be fine. Go easy on the brakes though. My front discs are warped right now. Not from towing but still, the added weight you have to stop will make your brakes run hotter. Just keep all the fluids in check. I'd change all the fluids in the drivetrain too, sooner or later esp if you're going to tow alot up/down hills.

I towed my old Porsche 911 on a lightweight open trailer for ~ 25K miles with my '98 LTD V6 over the five years I had it. The rig weighed ~ 4K lbs but had only modest aero drag, as the car and trailer mostly hid behind the 'Runner. Some random thoughts:

-Brake fade is a MAJOR problem on long, steep downgrades. You MUST anticipate this and manually downshift to let engine braking help you out. Even with downshifting to 2nd, I twice completely lost the brakes towing in the Virginia mountains. Don't even consider towing any substantial trailer unless it has good brakes.

-Toyota recommends towing with OD off (i.e., 4th gear is locked out). This is a good policy. Don't try using OD except in flatlands with no headwind.

-In the mountains, try to anticipate the need for a downshift when approaching an upgrade and manually do the shift before reaching the hill so the downshift is made with light throttle openings. You should expect to run at 4500 - 5000 rpms for minutes at a time in 2nd gear climbing upgrades at Interstate speeds. My usual Interstate cruise speed was 70 mph, and the rig would do 15 - 16 mpg at this speed.

-I added rear Air Lift bags to level the rig. They worked well, installed easily and were inexpensive and durable. I highly recommend them. OTOH, I never added a tranny oil cooler and never saw the need for one.

-I ran 93 octane fuel when I towed. Dunno how necessary this was, but it seemed a good idea.

My '98 was a very decent tow vehicle if you were aware of the brake inadequacy and were skilled enough to use engine braking to partly overcome the problem. When I traded it at 75K miles and 5 years old, it still was very much like new and had needed only replacement of one oxygen sensor as unscheduled maintenance.

Thanks for the feedback. I will put airbags in it to help with the ride. This is a great site, full of information. Little disappointed that only 2 replies to this question... thanks to you both.

Cheers !!!!

I agree that this is a great site for 4Runner owners and/or enthusiasts. As for only getting 2 replies to your question, it could be because most of the contributor's to this site seem to own 4th generation 4Runners, (or so I've noticed). Since your question was about our beloved 3rd gen, maybe most couldn't adequately answer your question. Either that or maybe most people don't tow. Just my observation.

Well, I think you got two good answeres. Two good answeres are better than 8 lame ass ones like, it does great. I'm worried about the brakes thing, today I'm towing a big (biggest u-haul 12x6) trailer down from asheville to savannah and there is a huge down grade. The trailer isn't THAT heavy as far as how much we loaded but its a big trailer. It does have the automatic brakes thing which I hope will help out a bit but my brake fluid is sorta bad and I didn't have time to change it before today and today was all packing day. I did however get full syntehtic A/T fluid and a hayden tranny cooler at advanced auto parts for 39.99 or whatever (about $40) and that would be a good addition to any truck that has the A/T and is going to be towing in the hills. Your tranny fluid can never be too cool whether your toing or not. I have put this tranny through some pretty tough stuff but I'm good about the fluid so hopefully I'll get another 100k out of it. One thing I do recomend is getting some slotted brake rotors and some carbon metallic brake pads. When I first put them on I had my stock wheels and tires and since then I added steel wheels (uah, heavy) and bigger tires. When I went to get an oil change one day, they said I need new brakes all around and I didn't ahve time to order some new slotted ones. I needed my truck so I got the stock ones and WOW, what a difference. There is a slight sound/feel to the slots, but IMHO well worth it. This goes for anyone, just just for people towing. It sounds like your not towing anything too big so I wouldn't worry about it. What exactly are you looking to tow?

Sometimes you get more response, sometimes you don't. You can also try the search feature. I typed in "towing" in the General Disscussion area and I got 105 threads. I know there are quite a few dealing with the 3rd generation model.

Even if you are not a member, you can use this feature and get a lot of good info.

I towed with my 4runner. Some light loads and some heavy. The biggest problem I had was massive braking retardation. I would suggest putting in heavy duty brakes if you plan on towing a lot. Also I put in air shocks. They ROCK. You can adjust you height according to your load. Happy truckin!

Gregg

You can replace the rear drum brakes with rear disc/drum combos from the LC95 Prado or from the 4th gens.

I've checked from the Toyota EPC and it looks like it's a direct bolt-on. All you have to doo is remove the drum assembly. If your truck has the ABS, there's no need to remove the ABS sensor since it's the same.

This will surely improve your brakes.

HTH.

How about adding oil cooler? Is that beneficial to towing?

Yes, an ATF cooler will surely help. An ATF cooler is most important if you regularly tow for long distances and over hilly/mountainous terrain. It helps in preventing the ATF from overheating.

Two good brands of ATF coolers :

TRD (expensive but very good) and Hayden.

HTH.

Will I need an ATF cooler if I'm just towing a Coleman folding camping trailer once a year for 8 hours one way? over small hills.
during the summer.

I will be towing 5000# soon. I met a guy pulling 5200# with his 994R and is having no trouble. Anyone know where to buy slip over mirror extensions ? Wide load coming through !!! Thx.

Hey heavy, sorry to hear you're not getting as many replies as desired. I've had better luck with asking tow questions on truck related sites, some of those guys are virtual encyclopedias. I tow a ~ 2500 lb ski boat every weekend with a dual axle Magnum trailer with surge brakes... previously using my 1996 4.3L V6 Chevy Blazer and now using my '04 Sport V8 Runner. The differences were immediate and obvious - MUCH better brakes, and MUCH more torque. My only complaint, and it probably doesn't apply to you in the '98, is that the hill start assist sometimes makes terrible noises when it tries to hold a boat on a boat ramp. I have been assured multiple times that this is normal, but it still gives me the creeps. For a vehicle with the 7,000 lb advertised tow rating like mine (not sure what yours is, probably 5000 as you said?), the hill start assist should be bullet proof or have a manual shutoff. I'm guessing my load is approximately 3,000 - 3,500 lb w/equipment and gas, and my truck handles it very well over short trips in hilly country. Having a good turn radius such as we do with the Runner makes maneuvering and backing the trailer a joy compared to most full-sized pickups. As far as your situation goes, is it a dual axle trailer? Tongue weights should be less and handling would probably be better. I assume it has some kind of brakes with that much load? If you're pushing your towing limit, be very conscious of your reduced vehicle handling and your greatly increased stopping distances. This can be hard to impliment in the city, as people will constantly pull into the buffer zone that you're leaving in front of you.

Sorry for the rambling, hope it was some help. It would be very nice to have a dedicated towing thread on here...

Justin

picked up my travel trailer on the weekend and it towed nicely. i am going to be running about 4500# loaded. i put rear air bags in to help but didn't really need them. i live in the mountains so up and down hills a lot. it is a good pull up hills but i generally hold about 50mph and 4000rpm on the tach. on the level, pulls nicely at 60mph. thansk again for all the feedback.