Towing with the 2005 V6 4Runner

[hagaar]

I'm a new 4Runner owner (after 5 tahoes) and have been reading the site most of the evening trying to learn about towing capabilities. (I have to u-haul my son in July)

Really good info here, but back to the original subject of towing with the 2006 6 cylinder. I've seen a lot of comments on the site about adding a trans cooler. Will the 2006 V6 pull its rated 5000 lbs ok without the cooler?

 

[Koz]

If you are going to occasionally tow up to 5K lbs. without steep grades you don't need the cooler. If you are going to tow 5K lbs regularly, it would be better for the trans if you had a cooler. An aftermarket cooler would not cost too much and would provide piece of mind.

Koz

 

[boston_kevin]

:iagree:

Koz is 100% correct. V6 2WD will have no problem towing the 5000 lb combined weight of trailer and cargo, especially if you are on (more or less) flat ground. I tow with my 4Runner a few times per year, so I installed the cooler on mine. There is only one caution since you are towing at the limit of the vehicle (unrelated to transmission/engine)... You need to add the tongue weight to the combined cargo inside the vehicle to make sure you are not exceeding the max cargo capacity... I would also highly suggest some air bags for the rear springs to help level the vehicle (you will probably be nose-up with that weight).

 

[gizmopt2002]

Well we have a 04 4wd V6 and the standard hitch and we tow a 22' deckboat that wieghs in at about 4800# and have had no problems at all towing it and when we were at the ramp (it was pretty steep actually) it was like a piece of cake pulling the boat out, i wasnt that surprised because my friend has a seqioua with 7 passengers and tows a 7,500# trailer many, many, many miles and has had NO problems no overheating any thing. IMO yotas are VERy capable towing vehicles.

 

[jackrabbit66]

2005 toyota v6 towing my boat

I have the 2005 v6 rear wheel drive that I use to tow my 19' dual console boat & trailer. I believe it weights between 2000 - 3000 lbs.

Where I live I have to take the boat on a raised interstate at 60mph for 10 miles & cross a 3 mile bridge at 45mph to get to the boat launch. I also live on a steep hill and keep the boat in the back yard. To get it back in the yard i have to back the boat up the steep dirt hill.

My roommate has a Ford F-150 V8 4x4. Before I got the 4runner I used his truck to take out my boat.

From my experience, when towing with the v8 4x4 its like the boat isn't even there. The v8 has no trouble going up hills accelerating at 60mph. It has the same performance when breaking as the 4runner.

In the 4runner I only notice the car struggling when I'm on the interstate going up hill. At 60mph if i put the cruise control on the engine really has to work to maintain the speed, its not in the red but its probably 5000 rpms. Because of this I only drive 55mph on the raised interstate. If I was driving on a flat road at that speed I don't think the boat would be much trouble other than the breaking. With that much weight behind your car you need more breaking time or assisted breaking. for me the ride is also very bumpy but that may be my boat trailer more than the car.

The two trucks preform almost the same for going up my steep dirt hill with the boat. my hill is probably at 25-30 degrees and the trucks have no problem with that. I've seen other vehicles spin the tires just trying to get an empty trailer up my hill in reverse.

 

[black4vcobra]

New thread bump record from what I've seen.

On topic, I do have a V8 4Runner but a buddy has a 04 V6 and I was impressed how well it handled a 4000 lb boat, it didn't struggle to maintain speed on slight inclines and yanked the boat up a fairly steep incline pretty damn well.

 

[Ruffian]

Ha! I'm here to see if my 4Runner will be fine with a 2,300 pound 2 horse slant load trailer and one 1,000 pound buckskin mare. Yes I'll be doing a brake upgrade on the 4Runner and the brake assist controller. So with the V8 I know it's fine to pull, and doing the upgrade on the brakes and the controller, I can stop. But now I'm thinking about wheelbase. I know others have done it...but just not seeing much. I really don't want to get a truck...