V6 fourth gens-who tows what?
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nated05
New member
3,500# boat/dual axle trailer prob. close to 4000# loaded
Usually about 500 miles each summer through the Ozark hills of southern MO. Gas mileage is approx cut in half from normal driving so down to about 10-12 miles per gallon. Never had any issues with passing or acceleration, in fact I was able to pass a car going up a hill without much trouble. I also use an anti sway bar which works well.
Usually about 500 miles each summer through the Ozark hills of southern MO. Gas mileage is approx cut in half from normal driving so down to about 10-12 miles per gallon. Never had any issues with passing or acceleration, in fact I was able to pass a car going up a hill without much trouble. I also use an anti sway bar which works well.
boston_kevin
New member
Double Axle trailer carrying a 23' boat. Total towed weight is approx 4200 lbs. Usually towed approximately 10 times each summer on a round trip of 260 miles. Gas mileage tends to be lower 12-14 mpg I prefer to tow at 65 mph, mostly flat terrain, some minor hills. Never a problem towing or passing with 4 passengers and the boat.
Iron Clad Lou
New member
Cornfed
New member
22' Power Cat w/twin Suzuki 115s, approx 5300lbs with 100gal of gas.
I don't tow it far, 10-50 miles round trip but I do tow it nearly every week. Saves time and money as my boat gets 3 mpg measured via gps with dual fuel flow meters and the T4R pulling it gets 13-15 depending on the wind. Never had a problem merging with traffic. I have the HH 70411 receiver and a lg tranny cooler.
The 4WD really helps on some of the boat ramps around here that probably haven't seen any maintenance in 20 years or so.
I don't tow it far, 10-50 miles round trip but I do tow it nearly every week. Saves time and money as my boat gets 3 mpg measured via gps with dual fuel flow meters and the T4R pulling it gets 13-15 depending on the wind. Never had a problem merging with traffic. I have the HH 70411 receiver and a lg tranny cooler.
The 4WD really helps on some of the boat ramps around here that probably haven't seen any maintenance in 20 years or so.
thebionicman
New member
I tow my car on an open car trailer. Weight is around 4700#. I have the V8 hitch from suspensiontechniques.com. I am not running a tranny cooler, I monitor with an aftermarket temp sensor, in 88 degree ambient temp the outport of the tranny was reading 175 max, most of the time 165 while towing.
This last trip I towed from Minneapolis out to Mid Ohio, 1800 total miles. I was getting around 13 mpg the whole trip. I had no problem going up any hills or passing up hills.
I am using a weight distributing hitch. It helps a lot!
This last trip I towed from Minneapolis out to Mid Ohio, 1800 total miles. I was getting around 13 mpg the whole trip. I had no problem going up any hills or passing up hills.
I am using a weight distributing hitch. It helps a lot!
mikgrail3
New member
I've been looking around for a while, this is my first post.
We moved from NH to AZ in 2005 and towed a 6x14ft single axle cargo trailer with our stuff in it. The trailer was rated at 3500#'s, but it was overloaded for the trip. One of the axles was bent when we unloaded it upon arrival. :bugeye: I'm guessing it was at least at 5000#'s, just a guess though. I had one blowout and wore the inside tread of the other tire in 2,800 miles.
Well our 04 V6 pulled that thing very easy. I was able to run 65-70mph all the way to OK before I blew a tire on the trailer. After that it was no faster than 60mph with a break ever couple hundred miles to cool the tires. We averaged 10mpg's on the trip, with a large portion with a strong headwind.
Here's a picture (sorry that the back door is open, but it sat fairly level):
We moved from NH to AZ in 2005 and towed a 6x14ft single axle cargo trailer with our stuff in it. The trailer was rated at 3500#'s, but it was overloaded for the trip. One of the axles was bent when we unloaded it upon arrival. :bugeye: I'm guessing it was at least at 5000#'s, just a guess though. I had one blowout and wore the inside tread of the other tire in 2,800 miles.
Well our 04 V6 pulled that thing very easy. I was able to run 65-70mph all the way to OK before I blew a tire on the trailer. After that it was no faster than 60mph with a break ever couple hundred miles to cool the tires. We averaged 10mpg's on the trip, with a large portion with a strong headwind.
Here's a picture (sorry that the back door is open, but it sat fairly level):
Don't have pictures unfortunately but I've pulled a loaded 6X12 Uhaul boxed trailer loaded completely. Ofcoarse you could tell you had thousands of pounds behind you but it pulled fine. It was a very short move so MPG wasn't really calculated.
Tomorrow however I'll be renting another trailer to move a few things with my dad for about 40 miles each way, so we will be able to get an empty weight mpg and loaded weight mpg. I'll also try and get pics as well.
I do have a question to pose though, why does 4WD decrease the tow rating?
Tomorrow however I'll be renting another trailer to move a few things with my dad for about 40 miles each way, so we will be able to get an empty weight mpg and loaded weight mpg. I'll also try and get pics as well.
I do have a question to pose though, why does 4WD decrease the tow rating?
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Camprunner
New member
"06 V-6" here ......... I tow a Jayco 19H travel trailer with my runner the camper is aprox 4,200 to 4.500lbs loaded. And I have no problem getting her up to 65-70mph on the hiway. As far as the MPG I get between 9 and 10 running her in 4th gear (5th gear only going down a long hill). I must say I was quite impressed with the V6 towing.
No "picks" yet but it is sort of like LV4R's Funrunner it's just about the same size with the twin axle's
I did the hitch upgrade and I installed a large trans cooler at the start of the summer.
No "picks" yet but it is sort of like LV4R's Funrunner it's just about the same size with the twin axle's
I did the hitch upgrade and I installed a large trans cooler at the start of the summer.
Tleahcim
New member
I moved from Atlanta to Las Vegas in January and towed a U-Haul 5 x 8 trailer a little over 2K miles with the total load beging a little over 2500 lbs. Average speed on the trip (according to the GPS) was 60.2 mph and I got anywhere from 10-12 mpg. Not too shabby.
I had a tranny cooler installed before the move and things have been okay in the tranny department until recently where I've started to notice the shifting has been a little rougher so I'm starting to wonder if I'm starting to have tranny issues or if the fluid just needs to be replaced. Any thoughts? I bought a can of the SeaFoam tranny treatment but realized that I don't have any way of getting it into the tranny itself since it's sealed. Doh!
I had a tranny cooler installed before the move and things have been okay in the tranny department until recently where I've started to notice the shifting has been a little rougher so I'm starting to wonder if I'm starting to have tranny issues or if the fluid just needs to be replaced. Any thoughts? I bought a can of the SeaFoam tranny treatment but realized that I don't have any way of getting it into the tranny itself since it's sealed. Doh!
boston_kevin
New member
4 spd tranny isn't sealed. Only the 5 spd tranny is sealed. I wouldn't add anything to the tranny fluid though. I've had a cooler on mine since purchase in '04 and it still shifts like normal.
First, thanks for all the info on this board. 99% of the time I can find my answer, so I've never had to post a question--until now. I have a particular towing situation that I could not find addressed even though I spent a couple of hours looking through the threads. I put it here in hopes of finding some help about the V-6 and towing.
Due to a drought situation, the lake where I have my boat has been drawn down to such a level that the regular ramp is no longer usable, and a temporary concrete surface has been put down to extend the ramp into the water. This temporary concrete material has virtually no texture, in fact it's not much more grippy than your garage floor (it's some sort of erosion control precast junk, don't ask). Since it's submerged, it's EXTREMELY slick and I haven't seen any vehicles get anything but rear tire spin until they get onto the regular ramp surface. However, almost all of the tow vehicles I've seen are large 4 x 4 pickups and such and clearly outclass my own vehicle for towing, plus they are only pulling bass boats. Trailer, boat, and gear for me is 3500-3800 pounds, no extra weight in truck.
Now, here's the issue. The rear wheels on the 4Run will get zero traction on the temp submerged ramp. My front wheels will have almost perfect traction on the heavily corrugated original concrete portion of the old ramp (wet ramp beyond the water's edge is NOT the problem). Will the V6 still have enough power transfer to the front axle to get me that ten (10) or so feet I need to get the rear tires on solid traction? Don't forget there is a trailer, so there will be a little front end lift due to the hitch weight. It's basically ALL front axle power at first, and again, the old part of the ramp has near perfect traction so it's just the submerged part that's a problem. If I lock the cent diff, I would actually get that rear wheel spin, which I don't want, plus the Torsen LSD actually gives 53% power to front axle and balances me out for the good part of the ramp power wise. Also, I would prefer to keep it in 4HI because it's about a 3/4 mile winding road before there is a place to pull over on flat ground where I can shift it out of 4Lo (don't like to stop on a hill, with load, shift to neutral, switch to 4HI on a one lane road just in case something screwy happens).
Maybe I'm just being overly cautious, but I don't want to get in a bad situation at a remote boat ramp ---I'd like to have a plan and some confidence before I get out there. I've never run into this problem where I'm towing and literally get no rear axle traction, but I would appreciate any assistance or thoughts as to best ways of managing this. And "you should have bought the V-8 " is not an answer. Thanks.
Due to a drought situation, the lake where I have my boat has been drawn down to such a level that the regular ramp is no longer usable, and a temporary concrete surface has been put down to extend the ramp into the water. This temporary concrete material has virtually no texture, in fact it's not much more grippy than your garage floor (it's some sort of erosion control precast junk, don't ask). Since it's submerged, it's EXTREMELY slick and I haven't seen any vehicles get anything but rear tire spin until they get onto the regular ramp surface. However, almost all of the tow vehicles I've seen are large 4 x 4 pickups and such and clearly outclass my own vehicle for towing, plus they are only pulling bass boats. Trailer, boat, and gear for me is 3500-3800 pounds, no extra weight in truck.
Now, here's the issue. The rear wheels on the 4Run will get zero traction on the temp submerged ramp. My front wheels will have almost perfect traction on the heavily corrugated original concrete portion of the old ramp (wet ramp beyond the water's edge is NOT the problem). Will the V6 still have enough power transfer to the front axle to get me that ten (10) or so feet I need to get the rear tires on solid traction? Don't forget there is a trailer, so there will be a little front end lift due to the hitch weight. It's basically ALL front axle power at first, and again, the old part of the ramp has near perfect traction so it's just the submerged part that's a problem. If I lock the cent diff, I would actually get that rear wheel spin, which I don't want, plus the Torsen LSD actually gives 53% power to front axle and balances me out for the good part of the ramp power wise. Also, I would prefer to keep it in 4HI because it's about a 3/4 mile winding road before there is a place to pull over on flat ground where I can shift it out of 4Lo (don't like to stop on a hill, with load, shift to neutral, switch to 4HI on a one lane road just in case something screwy happens).
Maybe I'm just being overly cautious, but I don't want to get in a bad situation at a remote boat ramp ---I'd like to have a plan and some confidence before I get out there. I've never run into this problem where I'm towing and literally get no rear axle traction, but I would appreciate any assistance or thoughts as to best ways of managing this. And "you should have bought the V-8 " is not an answer. Thanks.
PredBlue said:
Ideally you would do this in 4lo with the diff locked. If you are not comfortable with putting it in 4lo b/c of the terrain then you should still lock the diff I think to maximize your traction. Otherwise the trucks own traction control will keep cutting the power and trying to transfer it back and forth anyhow. Locking it makes sure that the power is going at a constant rate to both axles. 4Low will help you not spin the tires as much since you won't be appylying the throttle as much.
Good luck! I'd be excited to see how well it does!
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Avet14 said:
My first thought was locking the diff would just cause rear tire spin since there would be no grip. Since I'm in a front axle traction only situation starting out with no rear, I guess I was just thinking it would be different than if I was stuck in a rut--probably not though. Plus, now that I think about all of the old 4 x 4 pickups at the ramp, I sure they have simple old style 4wd and there are just locking out anyway, of course they have much more pulling power. Sometimes better technology makes me overthink. I think locking diff is the answer. Thanks.
boston_kevin
New member
You want to be able to apply that torque to the ground effectively. I'd go with the 4Lo and diff locked solution. Once you get out of the water, you can unlock the diff and drive in 4Lo up to about 25 mph for short distances. I have seen lots of people do this on a ramp near my house. The primary thing is to prevent spinning because the tires get hot and you lose that friction.
I tow a 22' pontoon and have a question for you all. I've decided to start storing/winterizing it about 150 miles away from my house. I typically only towed short distances in the past. Now the boat motor and trailer are not that heavy, easily under 3000lbs, but the thing acts like a big kite behind the runner while going 65 down I-75. So in my situation, would it be more economical/easier on the truck to two in 4th, or keep it in 5th? Thanks.
