First tow with 06 4rnr

[Kensho4rnr]

Today I towed my boat (2100lbs w/trlr)for the first time with my SR5 V6.
I waited until she had 1500 miles.

I have a few observations:

Running in 4 - I hit around 3k RPM's at 70 - engine and exhaust seemed a little loud.
Think its OK to do so for 5 hours straight?

With a tongue wght of 190 the rear drops a good 3-4 inches - which surprised me -
I had nothing in the truck and no passengers.


Very (cushy) smooth ride -
Mirrors where nicely sized
Stopping was fine - trlr has brakes
Gas mileage wasn't bad at all
Look forward to hitting 4 of the 5 great lakes this summer -

Same boat compared to towing with a Cherokee Sport 4.0l
Jeep had more power, quieter, less brakes, firmer ride, same mileage.

Next sunny day I'll post some pix of the full rig!

 

[boston_kevin]

Today I towed my boat (2100lbs w/trlr)for the first time with my SR5 V6.
I waited until she had 1500 miles.

I have a few observations:

Running in 4 - I hit around 3k RPM's at 70 - engine and exhaust seemed a little loud.
Think its OK to do so for 5 hours straight?

That should be okay, but I would consider adding a tranny cooler as additional protection. Also keep an eye on the temp guage. You should probably vary the speeds (and RPMs) when towing for extended periods anyway.

With a tongue wght of 190 the rear drops a good 3-4 inches - which surprised me -
I had nothing in the truck and no passengers.

Is this 2WD or 4WD? My rig drops about that much, but it weighs in at twice the weight of your right. Mine is 4wd (SR5) V6.

Very (cushy) smooth ride -
Mirrors where nicely sized
Stopping was fine - trlr has brakes
Gas mileage wasn't bad at all
Look forward to hitting 4 of the 5 great lakes this summer -

Same boat compared to towing with a Cherokee Sport 4.0l
Jeep had more power, quieter, less brakes, firmer ride, same mileage.

Kinda surprising there... My '04 has done very well towing a 4200 lb rig. I don't think my 4.0L jeep would have done any better, but the 4.0 inline six did have more torque than the 4runner, but the gas mileage was half what the 4runner will do when towing.

 

[Koz]

Walk in the Park! You should be able to run that set-up for 5 years straight. Does the trailer have brakes?

Koz

 

[rickst29]

Today I towed my boat (2100lbs w/trlr)for the first time with my SR5 V6.
I waited until she had 1500 miles.

Running in 4 - I hit around 3k RPM's at 70 - engine and exhaust seemed a little loud.
Think its OK to do so for 5 hours straight?

With a tongue wght of 190 the rear drops a good 3-4 inches - which surprised me.

With regard to towing in 4th: First, the RPMs are OK. But 70 MPH is awfully fast for dragging a 2100 lb trailer, especially when you're not using a WDH. I think you're towing at dangerous speed. (And, I note that your speed w/Trailer is illegal in some States, for good reasons.) Are the Trailer Tires even rated for 70MPH (hint, hint) ???

In your favor, however, the wind profile of a boat is much better than most Travel Trailers. And many parts of MI are quite flat, maybe you can 'lug' along in 5th. My V8 would probably be very comfortable. But if you hear the slightest bit of pinging, or if the tranny does a lot of "hunting" up and down, back it down to 4th and DEFINITELY stay there. It's unfortunate that the V6 lacks a tranny cooler, I recommend that you add one.

As another guy says above, the engine and exhaust noise is no problem. Just vary the RPMs , (I won't insult you by saying something obvious re: Cruise Control), and change your oil and filter more frequently... maybe 3 or 4K miles, I think that even 5K is definitely too long if you do some towing. (If you DIY, you'll know you did the right thing because of the color, smell, and viscosity breakdown in your oil collection pan.)
- - - -
Is your tongue weight measured level before connecting to the 4R? If so, your rear axle is actually carrying a lot more: a whole bunch of weight "unloaded" from the front axle, plus whatever additional is "unloaded" from the boat trailer due to the post-connection non-level profile. Your "unloaded" front axle has a lot less weight than mine would, I've got the V8. That's a bad safety risk, please buy and use a WDH!

(You just spent $30K on the vehicle... plus I've no idea how much on the boat. Adding 300 bucks and a couple more minutes of set-up to keep your stuff from jack-knifing off the road, with you in it, OBVIOUSLY MAKES SENSE, right?)

You can see my horribly long and detailed WDH discussion on page 2 of the "Towing with 2005 4Runner" Thread, http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9237&pagenumber=2 . Look for the one named "The TRUTH about Towing (!!!) ", there's a lot of confused #$%@ in the Thread.

 

[Colemanfu]

Don't tow but I do haul. The KTM is about 280 #'s and the Versahauler is about 50+#'s. So well over 300 just on the hitch alone. I have not had problems but did add some air bags to help the sag. Ran them at 17psi and at times forget there is a bike back there. You can see it sits more than level loaded. I do let some air out when un loaded to avoid the south of the border look.

 

[flippedman]

Thought I'd post my towing experience, as I just came back from a ~2500 mile roundtrip roadtrip to Miami.

I think airbags would have helped (where did you get yours from colemanfu?)

Basically, the 4runner is a beast when it comes to towing! I have the 06 V8 and trailered

1. 2300lb trailer
2. 5 motorcycles (2400lbs)

for a total of 4700lbs

There were also 4 people in the truck and the trunk was fully loaded with luggage!

Drove for about 24hrs on the way down with multiple stops.

Handled it no problem, the runner handled it like a champ. I will have pics up later.

I do wonder though how much strain is put on the drivetrain/powertrain in such a situation.

 

[Colemanfu]

Flip - can remember the exact place I got mine but there are bunch of threads on air bags if you dig a bit. Try to put "air lift 1000" in a search and you should get tons of info. I think the site was airliftcompany.com? Good luck i love mine - bets $100 mod yet!

 

[Kensho4rnr]

Rickst29 WDH?

I could go 65 but even in the right lane, I am holding up traffic.

I put brakes on the trailer the month I bought the rig.

 

[MDT4RNR]

Pics of ride

Hey Flippedman, where are the pics of your trip to the Sunshine State?


:worthless :


Dax

 

[flippedman]

Yo

This thread definitely IS worthless without pics!!! So here we go!!

The Bikes 1

The Bikes 2

Stuck in Georgia traffic

 

[ellsworb]

Dude,

Nice bikes. . i have an 05 R6 myself. . tow it on a 5X8 utility with my runner.. no sag. . hardly even know its there. . love it!

 

[RickyCRX]

Re: Re: First tow with 06 4rnr

With regard to towing in 4th: First, the RPMs are OK. But 70 MPH is awfully fast for dragging a 2100 lb trailer, especially when you're not using a WDH. I think you're towing at dangerous speed. (And, I note that your speed w/Trailer is illegal in some States, for good reasons.) Are the Trailer Tires even rated for 70MPH (hint, hint) ???

In your favor, however, the wind profile of a boat is much better than most Travel Trailers. And many parts of MI are quite flat, maybe you can 'lug' along in 5th. My V8 would probably be very comfortable. But if you hear the slightest bit of pinging, or if the tranny does a lot of "hunting" up and down, back it down to 4th and DEFINITELY stay there. It's unfortunate that the V6 lacks a tranny cooler, I recommend that you add one.

As another guy says above, the engine and exhaust noise is no problem. Just vary the RPMs , (I won't insult you by saying something obvious re: Cruise Control), and change your oil and filter more frequently... maybe 3 or 4K miles, I think that even 5K is definitely too long if you do some towing. (If you DIY, you'll know you did the right thing because of the color, smell, and viscosity breakdown in your oil collection pan.)
- - - -
Is your tongue weight measured level before connecting to the 4R? If so, your rear axle is actually carrying a lot more: a whole bunch of weight "unloaded" from the front axle, plus whatever additional is "unloaded" from the boat trailer due to the post-connection non-level profile. Your "unloaded" front axle has a lot less weight than mine would, I've got the V8. That's a bad safety risk, please buy and use a WDH!

(You just spent $30K on the vehicle... plus I've no idea how much on the boat. Adding 300 bucks and a couple more minutes of set-up to keep your stuff from jack-knifing off the road, with you in it, OBVIOUSLY MAKES SENSE, right?)

You can see my horribly long and detailed WDH discussion on page 2 of the "Towing with 2005 4Runner" Thread, http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9237&pagenumber=2 . Look for the one named "The TRUTH about Towing (!!!) ", there's a lot of confused #$%@ in the Thread.

Woah there....Don't speak like you know the Gospel of All Things Towing.... You're grossly incorrect on some things you said...

First of all, I've done 80+mph without any problems at all while towing an S2000 on a 2200lb steel deck car hauler with my 4Runner. If you do the math, the 2850lb car and 2200lb trailer add up to a little over 5,000lbs without a weight distributing setup. When loaded and balanced properly, the back of my 4Runner barely sags at all even with that trailer loaded with a car on it. I've had no steering/directional problems, and no problems slowing it down with my electric brake controller. I also tow in D and let the transmission do what it wants to do (although I never use cruise control while towing and always let my speed bleed off on uphills and gently accelerate on downhills so that I don't force the trans to downshift all the time).

70mph with a 2100lb loaded trailer on a 4Runner is NOTHING. Most 'real' trailers weigh more than that when they're empty.

In addition, I would also not worry about the oil so much. I realize that the V8's are known to be easy on oil, but I just went 7500 miles on my last oil change and with over 800 miles of that while towing over 5,000lbs (at a minimum of 65mph, with a lot of time spent at 80mph) during that interval my used oil analysis still came back great (see attachment). Although I have yet to see a UOA for the 4.0L V6, I can assume you will see very similar results. Furthermore, the color and odor of the oil doesn't tell you ANYTHING about the condition of your oil or how much active additive is left in the oil. A TBN analysis is the only way to tell if your oil is still protecting your engine.

Chill out a little; he's WELL within the limits of what his vehicle can do and should not be stressing it at all. I WOULD, however, recommend the transmission cooler... But other than that, he should be just fine.

Ricky