Towing Problem

[Robb235]

Hi guys,

I've had my 4Runner for a few weeks now, and yesterday I used it to tow for the first time to bring my boat to the river for the 4th of July. I was towing a 16ft Yamaha jetboat that weighs under 1,700 lbs, plus the trailer.

Even with OD off and ECT on, I was rather disappointed in the towing ability of this Toyota SUV. It was a complete dog towing it through the city, but the by for the worst part was towing over a small mountain. The road was somewhat steep, and the elevation change is approximately 700 feet. I built up my speed to 55mph before starting the accent. I almost didn't make it to the top. I had it floored, but it just felt like I was coasting and not giving it gas. I barely just made it over the mountain.

Is this normal?? The kicker is that I have towed this same boat and trailer over this same mountain road with my dad's '02 Infinity I35 and had plenty of power to spare... and we're talking about a 4 door sedan with taller gearing.

 

[djskorch]

I will admit that the 4runner is far from the greatest tow vehicle however it sounds to me like you have something else going on for it to act like that with only 1700lbs.

I use mine to tow my class 1600 offroad race buggy on a flatbed trailer with a combined weight of around 3800 lbs and have never had a problem lacking power even on hills. Granted its not the same as pulling with my 07 dodge 2500 hemi but it does just fine for the smaller load.

I once pulled a huyndai sedan (cant remember the model but its the full size car) on a uhaul car trailer from boise idaho to slc utah with no problems. Im guessing that was around 3500 lbs and anyone who has driven that knowa there are some pretty good grades and it would pull 55+ on the hills and 70 on the flats just fine.

I have an all stock 96 with michillin 265/70/16's. The only upgrade i have is a b&m tranny cooler.

Hope that helps some.

Edit: just wanted to add that i have the factory elocker so i have 4.30 gears. if you dont have the locker you probably have the 4.10's but that shouldnt make much of a difference.

 

[Robb235]

I will admit that the 4runner is far from the greatest tow vehicle however it sounds to me like you have something else going on for it to act like that with only 1700lbs.

I use mine to tow my class 1600 offroad race buggy on a flatbed trailer with a combined weight of around 3800 lbs and have never had a problem lacking power even on hills. Granted its not the same as pulling with my 07 dodge 2500 hemi but it does just fine for the smaller load.

I once pulled a huyndai sedan (cant remember the model but its the full size car) on a uhaul car trailer from boise idaho to slc utah with no problems. Im guessing that was around 3500 lbs and anyone who has driven that knowa there are some pretty good grades and it would pull 55+ on the hills and 70 on the flats just fine.

I have an all stock 96 with michillin 265/70/16's. The only upgrade i have is a b&m tranny cooler.

Hope that helps some.

Edit: just wanted to add that i have the factory elocker so i have 4.30 gears. if you dont have the locker you probably have the 4.10's but that shouldnt make much of a difference.

I do not have the e-locker, so I have the 4.10 gears. I just can't figure out for the life of me why I'm having so much difficulty towing this boat. My 4Runner is completely stock, with stock size tires.

 

[quicksilvr]

How recently has the 4Runner been tuned up? A lot of times a vehicle will "run good" under low stress of normal driving, but when you tax it, the weakness of old plugs, dirty filters, etc comes out.

What rpm were you at when it felt like you weren't going to make it to the top?

 

[CoMarc]

That doesn't sound normal for our 4Runners. I pull a 2200lb pop-up through the Colorado Rockies, and although I slow down I'm never to a crawl (except for when I hit traffic). We've got a pretty steep climb at one spot on I-70 that seems like it just keeps going up and up till you hit a long tunnel through the mountain. During that climb I go from about 70 mph to about 40 mph (again depending on traffic). By the time I get down to 40mph I'm running in 3rd gear too to keep the power going.

Now I know my condition might be different as I'm running a manual 5spd versus an automatic, but you should still be able to access the same power from our 4runners. Is the truck shifting down when you slow down? You might try shifting the gears yourself to a lower gear to increase your power. Hope this helps!

 

[Robb235]

I'm really not too sure about the history of the truck. It has 209k miles on it, and the previous owner was a mechanic, but that doesn't mean he kept up on it. All I know was that the timing belt, water pump, and seals were replaced around 208k miles. I took the air filter out and it looks very clean. I guess I'll start out with spark plugs.

 

[BrianSD_42]

189 HP at the flywheel!

Can you tow with it? Yes & I have BUT you should keep the expectations pretty low. This vehicle does not weigh enough nor does it have the proper amount of power to be considered a GOOD towing vehicle.

 

[Robb235]

189 HP at the flywheel!

Can you tow with it? Yes & I have BUT you should keep the expectations pretty low. This vehicle does not weigh enough nor does it have the proper amount of power to be considered a GOOD towing vehicle.

I gotcha. I'm not looking to tow a mobile home or anything, just a small boat. I had no idea that it wouldn't be able to make it up steep hills.

 

[BrianSD_42]

I had no idea that it wouldn't be able to make it up steep hills.

Well ... it should be able to make it up most hills, just not very fast.

I have towed 2000 lbs in a 12 ft UHAUL trailer without any problems.

 

[quicksilvr]

Robb235,

Yes, pulling 2000lbs over any kind of decent grade is going to severely tax your 4runner, even in perfect running condition. However, if you keep your engine rpm over 3500....you should always be able to make it. You might be moving pretty slow though.

 

[Whackmaster]

I just got back from a 1600 mile round trip pulling my 18' Bass Tracker and it did pretty good. Most of the trip was on flat land but about 400 miles were in the hills of Northern Arkansas...Some of the hills slowed me down to about 55mph. I had OD off but forgot about the ETC button..I really thought that I was going to have more of a problem than I had getting up and over..I also have 285/75/16 with stock gears. The only problem I had on the whole trip was a blow out on the boat trailer at 3 am.....

 

[LittleCaesar]

Brianmc2 and quickslvr are correct. While the 4runner has the power to tow, it takes its time in getting it. I found that the Tacoma, with the same engine, seems to tow much better due in theory to a more stable and higher rear end I guess. But it is slow too.

My friend's younger brother has a 5cyl Chevy Colorado and pulls a pair of Yama Wave runners. That engine has no torque. Their mother's 97 Volvo 960 pulls them better and quicker than the Colorado. Go figure.