Pushing The Limits On Tow Vehicles

Marwayne, you bring up good points about the dry weight. That said I truly don’t think I am much over 3k lbs with what you mention. There is little stored in our Rpod and water/waste tanks are always empty. I would estimate everything in the pod weighed together that we travel with would be 200 to 250 lbs but I could be wrong. Never weighed it which would be interesting to do.

Birdediane526, thanks for the info on the towing thread. I will check that out. I assume you 04 4Runner is the v6 model. I have seen more than a handful comments about a tranny cooler. I will install one if I keep my current rig which seems unlikely long term.

Tars Tarkas, I assume even if you are running in 4th gear on a 5 spd that it’s better/easier than running in 4th on a 4spd but someone let me know if I am way off here.

All good info, thanks!

Hi,
We tow a 179 with a 2004 4Runner with a WDH and E2 anti-sway bars. No issues with this. But climbing mountains in the west caused overheating so we want to add a tranny cooler. We are full-timers and keep storage bins in the 4Runner cargo area. Also, I started a thread called Towing capacity and lots of great information was posted. You might want to search for this.

Thanks John! I think that is something to seriously look at as well in similar price range and features. I will check those out too. I am not a fast driver with or without a trailer so that is not really of concern to me. 

Now that I am in a new year I am starting to look at this topic again and what I should do. After more research it seems clear to me why I am falling a little short of pushing another 5 to 10 mph more up hills because of the 4 speed.

Fwunder said he was fine with his V6 4Runner, a 2008 5 spd. ToolmanJohn mentioned his experience being sluggish like me and he had the exact same 4Runner as I have, a 2003 4 spd.

Additionally, I have been doing research beyond this form and find many folks commenting on the notable difference for towing with 5spd v6 vs 4 spd v6 on the 4th generation 4Runners, and other makes with similar differences. The 5spd being the pretty clear winner. I am going to be looking for a v8 4th gen 4Runner but sounds like a good v6 2005 or newer with 5s spd will be better than I have now.

I know some of you may wonder why I don't just get something bigger or much newer. I want to stay with similar sized vehicle (really like my 4Runner), not drop much more $ than my current TV and stay with a brand that is known for reliability into 200k+ on the odometer. I will eventually come back to this post with an update (hopefully before summer) on what I ended up with and how it's working.

Happy travels!

I usually cruise between 60-65, get the best mileage. Though I do like passing an 18 wheeler every now and then