06 V8 4R transmission upgrades for towing?

[vanion2]

I love my V8 4R because it does so many things well. DD, power for merging in traffic and even towing my 3800# PUP and still averaging around 15 mpg in 4 on the shifter.

My concern is when I trade my PUP in at the end of this month for a TT with a max GVWR of 6100#. Wider, taller, and heavier. I have the 2WD and have factored in the tongue weight/payload, will be using a WDH/sway kit, brake controller, etc. My 4R did come with the tow package as I wouldn't have bought it otherwise.

What I would like to know is does the V8 4R have the same transmission as the 1st gen Tundra?
Should I invest in a larger transmission cooler?
Are there any other upgrades I should look into to help keep the transmission for towing duty?

Yes, I could buy a truck and all that but for one weekend a month it would be a waste to invest in and I know the 4R can do the job just fine. I am not a speed demon when towing and maybe in a few years down the road a crewmax Tundra 5.7L is where I will end up but in the meantime I want to keep my 4R's transmission healthy.

TIA

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[AuSeeker]

I would suggest getting a OBD2 dongle and a appropriate app to monitor the transmission temperature in real time while your driving/towing, as long as you don't overheat the transmission it will do well, no way to tell otherwise until it's too late and you may do real damage since the transmission temp light doesn't come on until the transmission is way too hot, if you see it's getting too hot to often then upgrade the cooler, with the dongle and app you can also monitor many other things in real time, gas mileage, engine temp, as well as read error codes, etc.

You may want to consider air bags to help keep the rear from sagging, I'll be putting them on mine very soon for that very reason, I have the same 4R and engine as you have, mine's a 2004.

 

[AuSeeker]

You'll need to check but I believe that the 1st gen Tundras have a lesser towing capacity then your T4R, I think they are 6500 to 6900 depending on the model/year.

I think they all had the 4 speed transmission until 2005/6 and then had the 5 speed.

 

[vanion2]

I would suggest getting a OBD2 dongle and a appropriate app to monitor the transmission temperature in real time while your driving/towing, as long as you don't overheat the transmission it will do well, no way to tell otherwise until it's too late and you may do real damage since the transmission temp light doesn't come on until the transmission is way too hot, if you see it's getting too hot to often then upgrade the cooler, with the dongle and app you can also monitor many other things in real time, gas mileage, engine temp, as well as read error codes, etc.

You may want to consider air bags to help keep the rear from sagging, I'll be putting them on mine very soon for that very reason, I have the same 4R and engine as you have, mine's a 2004.

I have one but I am not sure the Torque app is showing the proper temps. I read several posts on using the different formulas that others have tried but no one had confirmed if they were accurate.

As for air bags I already have the Firestone air bags in place. One of the first things I did before towing. I learned that lesson from my 3rd gen. Also have a Prodigy P2 brake controller wired in and a WDH.

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[AuSeeker]

In that case buy or borrow a IR thermometer and check the pan temperature to get a close comparison to the Torque reading.