Tundra V6 towing

I like Toyotas but I think you are asking too much of it. A trip through the rockies would be VERY hard on it, hard than going to AK which is mostly flat once you get into canada, I suggest you look for V8 power for this planned trip. If new you do not maybe need the new

5.7 but you want at least the smaller V8. THe rockies can be very "trying" towing through

----------------- TheSnoMan.com

Should work, but seems like its pushing it. My 04 DC Tundra with the V8 works OK for my 6k lbs travel trailer, but I don't like to work it that hard. I'll buy the new Tundra with the 5.7 when it comes out.

When you get in the Rockies, it is not just the long climbs that you can run into, it is also the loss of power as you climb in altitude which at around 6 to 8000 feet will reduce a small V8 to sealevel V6 towing performance and a V6 to near like 4 cyl performance. Depending on where you travel in rockies, some pass on major roads can easily top 10,000 feet and with a few getting past 12,000 where power is really down a lot. The Eisenhower tunnel in I70 west of Denver is just a few feet under 12,000 feet and it has a very serious long climb going west that has claimed more than a few victims vehicles towing. When you look at tow rating on a Toyota, cut them in half if you plan for high altitude towing and you want fairly good performance on climbs. What you can effectively pull in the flats vs the high mountains is a completley different matter.

----------------- TheSnoMan.com

You are correct......

Prices on the current Tundra's will be dropping quite a bit with the new ones rolling out. I'd go for a V-8 Tundra and be done with it. I bought a 2003 v-8 and have a decently weighted camper, and the thing will pass like no other.

"NS" didst type:

I'll chime in with the others on the V8 being a better choice. I live in Colorado and drive over the passes regularly with an '04 Tundra D-Cab with the 4.7l engine. My loads are less than yours with two of us in the truck, two coolers with enough food 'n beer to last a week out in the desert, camping & riding gear, 25 gallons of water, tools and a 3-rail trailer with

3 dirtbikes and 20-25 gallons of fuel. I'd guess the combined load to be around 2200 to 2500 lbs. and depending on how stiff a headwind I have, I still have to kick 'er down to 2nd and sit @ 50 mph for the steeper/higher sections of the Eisenhower Tunnel approaches and Vail pass. With your load and a V6, better bring along a friend or two to help push ... :-)

Blah

Well put! :)

----------------- TheSnoMan.com

I have a 4 liter V6 in my '05 Tundra and have no problem at all with towing

3,000lbs. The truck is "rated" to tow 5,000lbs.

Not in the mountains it is not and the difference between 3k and 5 K is a lot and when you go into mountains the rating or abilty is decreased. Relitically they should come with two ratings, one fore mostly flat low alttitude and the other for long steep climbs in thin air. Somewhere drag has to be factored in to because a 4K flat bed load tows easier than a 4K travel trailer with a lot of aerodynamic drag.

----------------- TheSnoMan.com

You can nitpick all you want.... I am just relating what I know from personal experience. I don't make it a habit of towing empty flatbed trailers. I do use my Tundra for towing utility trailers loaded with air conditioning equipment and furnaces, pallets of refrigerant, and trailer loads of scrap iron.... also keeping in mind that my Tundra has a *normal* payload of around 1200lbs in camper shell, tools and equipment. FWIW, I didn't have any problem whatsoever towing a trailer load (4000lbs)of gravel in the mountains of Northern California *yesterday*. Any more coments??

North Carolina does not have mountains, they are more like foot hills compared to rockies for driving. While not many roads get above 3000 feet and even fewer above 4000 ft in NC out is colorado and WY you can be at 4000 to 8000 MSL in the flats (depending on where you are) BEFOrE you start the long climb abd while power can start to sag a little bit around 3000 to 4000 ft, it can really take a dive above 6 to 8000 feet anf get to be a a bit of a joke at time above 10000 MSL especailly towing. THere are many passes in CO above 10000 feet and a few around 12000.. Peopel that have never been through there are in for a very rude surprize if they are not in a tow combo that is "over powered" at lower elevations. That V6 will feel like a 4cyl above 6K or so and like even less above 10K in altitude. I have logged more than a dozen trips through rockies and several through NC and there is no comparison as NC is walk through the park vs rockies for towing. Granted it is more challanging in NC that flats but still nothing like real mountain towing out west.

----------------- TheSnoMan.com

As a piston engine pilot, I can agree that altitude is everything!

Airplane flight manuals state HP ratings at different altitudes. The difference between sea level and 7-8,000 feet can be startling to a non-turbocharged piston engine.

Over 10k, many normally aspirated engines can take as nearly a 50% HP hit.

All piston engines have to follow the same rules of physics, regardless of what they are installed in.

Yea, that is of course unless they are turbo or supercharged which enabled some piston powered aircraft in WW2 to perform with sealevel performance up to and well above 30,000 feet.

----------------- TheSnoMan.com

Isn't that what "normally aspirated" means, no turbo or supercharger?

You missed there sport, I said NORTHERN CALIFORNIA....*not* CAROLINA. One of the passes I came through was 5000ft, and the roads are like a roller coaster. BTW...for the information of the ignorant, California is over 1000 miles long, and only a very small percentage(.05%) is in the LA basin.

Why not get the V8? There's not enough difference in gas mileage to worry about.

-jeff

It would be good for you to indicate, how fast do you need to go up the high altitude hills. Do you prefer Automatic transmission ? Are you considering used versus new.

I have pulled the summit in both my 2002 tundra, (however it's a V8) And my FJ cruiser.

Each vehicle, on occasion did drop down 2 gears from overdrive.

I say that because the FJ is 5 speed automatic and the Tundra 4 speed automatic.

I think you would be OK with a V6 but you should have the V6 on 2005 and newer Tundras. It's the 4.0 instead of 3.4 and is rated with much more power, and torque. It also uses variable valve timing.

HOWEVER 2005 is likely to bring the price up so you will be comparing an older V8 to a newer V6. I don't know if that is the kind of trade off you want to make.