Toyota Tundra as a Tow Vehicle

[sherrylynne]

Originally Posted by m.hony

Big Boss Tundra? Do you mean the 5.7 iForce, 381 horsepower, and 401 ft. lbs. of torque?

Bingo!
Big Boss Tundra did great today crossing the continental divide! I, on the other hand am wiped out!

[Gnorts]

Our Crewmax Platinum is the third "Rhino" we've owned. The first was an early 70's Jeep Wagoneer, the White Rhino - what a beast, with awful brakes! The second was an '86 F-150 4x4, the Black Rhino - pulled a '71 18ft Caravel once around the planet (25K miles) back in the 90's, at about 9mpg. The Tundra is the "Silver Rhino," and we love it!

We also refer to the Tundra as "the Locomotive." The thing is just massive. It's so big inside, especially the back seat, that it reminds us of a Checker taxi. It's not really a daily driver, but I enjoy driving it when it's unloaded with no AS behind it. I wasn't happy with the ride unladen, though. Just had a set of Bilsteins and a TRD swaybar installed - the difference is stunning! Much smoother ride, much less body roll in curves. Now it just might become a daily driver!

[m.hony]

The Tundra is huge. It is tall. It is wide. It is long. I love those full opening mini-van-sized rear doors. I like the comparison of the back seat room to a Checker Cab. I always compare it to old Cadillacs, Buicks, and Oldsmobiles from the 50's, 60's, and early 70's.


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[Gene]

Gettin', I think all the paved passes are open, though late spring snows slowed opening on Trail Ridge Rd. Cottonwood Pass is paved only on the east side, but I don't know if it is open. All those passes and whether they are open can be found on Colo. DOT website. It is not the easiest to navigate, but the info is there.

Old mining passes may not open 'til June or July or maybe not this year, depending on the pass. We had lots of late season snows in the high country and rain below, so there can be a lot of snow up there and the rivers are high now too (not good for fording). Of course taking a trailer on a mining jeep trails is not a really good idea.

Taking a Tundra isn't either because it is too wide for some trails. Length can be a problem at times and turning around a long truck has its issues as well. I wish I could tow with our FJ Cruiser so we could explore, but, alas, it would strain it too much.

Gene

[GettinAway]

Gene, thanks for the info. I've been across many of the Colo passes. In either a Tacoma or a Landcruiser, or my preferred method, a motorcycle. (Big dirt bike, street legal)
When we come out to Leadville in late August, I'm thinking the only pass I want to try with the Tundra will be Hagerman. From what I've read, it isn't as bad as some of the others near by. (Mosquito, Tin Cup, Tomichi, we've done on the motorcycles)
We will be bringing the kayak, and spending some time on Turquoise Lake.. :-)

[Gene]

The west side of Hagerman can be done in a car if I recall correctly. The east side is a bit more of a challenge, but careful driving with any high center vehicle or a Subaru or even some cars would be ok. TinCup may have a snow plug at the top late into this summer. The one near to it with the long, long shelf road doesn't open some years either, but I've never tried it. I think it is Pearl Pass. Mosquito is pretty popular and probably will open since someone plows it—or did years ago. Tomichi isn't all that high, so it should be ok.

The Tundra can handle any pass except it is big—wide and long make switchbacks sometimes challenging and squeezing by someone on a shelf road is not fun (not fun with any other vehicle either, but less dangerous with a smaller truck).

We did our 4wd mining roads thing decades ago. Even in the '80's, it was getting crowded up there. Some seem to think beer and exploring go together (I did too 40 years ago, but not for a long, long time). We don't bother much anymore, partly because it is too busy, some people are crazy (always true, but there are more of them now) and we moved on. I'm glad we did it, but I don't think we'd enjoy it now.

Gene

[GettinAway]

I've never done any of the passes on weekends, and leave the beer in camp. We just have never run into that many people. Maybe it's also our timing, coming out later in the summer.
For us flat landers, it's pretty fun. We did run into someone going the other way on Imogene (down near Telluride) on a shelf section. I had my wife and three little ones in the Cruiser with me. I waited for the other driver to decide to back up to a wide spot... ;-).
I took my wife across Pearl from Crested Butte to Aspen a few years ago, in the Tacoma.. Never again! We made it, but it took hours, and we had to come back! There was no way I was going to cross Pearl again, so I drove all the way around to Keebler in order to get back to camp.
We mostly fish and hike. (And eat out, and buy T shirts..) but usually, one day, my wife will humor me and let me "explore."
The Tundra is no where near as capable off roading, as a Tacoma or Landcruiser. They are just too long, and much wider than our older cruisers. It may have the same ground clearance, but I'm not taking it across any boulder fields. I'm not modifying (lifting) it, I intend to keep it for a long long time. (Plus at 60, I'm showing signs of developing a small amount of common sense.)

[Gene]

Originally Posted by GettinAway

Plus at 60, I'm showing signs of developing a small amount of common sense.

It does happen even if our parents never thought it would ever.

We did most of our exploring with a 1990 "Base Model" 4 cyl. Nissan pickup. That little guy would go anywhere. We also did some in an '86 Izusu Trooper—ungainly thing, but it also would surprise me and others when they saw it in some remote area. And 4Runners have always been a really good off road truck.

Gene

[Classic2004]

I have 2015 Tundra, double cab, 4X4, full tow package, 5.7, 4:30 gears and tow a 2004, 28' Airstream Classic without any problems. I run rpms on hill climbs, not miles per hour. Keeping the RPMs between 1800 and 2500 get about 14.5 miles per gallon. Mixture of hilly, flats,eastern and western OR, southern ID mountains. Trips from Spokane WA to Astoria OR and Spokane to Salt Lake.

The biggest problem we came across was the way the dealer set up to Equalizer Hitch. Was way out, once set-up according to Manufactures Spec works great. All the crazy noise it was making is gone.

We tow the Airstream with full fresh water tank. Adds weight but sure improves the tow.

Only down size is the Toyota Tundra factory Tow Mirrors need to extend another 2" to really see around the Classic. With trailer being a wide body the extra extension would be nice.

We noticed on our current trip going though Idaho on I-84 everyone thought 70 to 80 was the right speed...including semi's--

Like I said running rpm's saves on wear and tear and is great for gas mileage. Towing at 70-80 is just crazy. Just beacsue it says you can does not mean you must.

[Moflash]

I run 70mph towing a 28ft International when the roads are in very good condition and weather permits.But my tow vehicle weighs in at 8500 lbs and was built for this application.My Airstream is also set up to run at this speed.My wheel bearings are American made Timkin brand along with synthetic grease.I install and service them myself.Tires are Michelin Ribs mounted on 16' Sendel wheels with pressure set at 70 Psi nitrogen.I have driven on most of the major racetrack in the USA and have been lucky enough to have learned some of the top drivers and stunt men to ever live.
So if you have the right equipment and it is set up properly,road condition is right and you are trained to drive both in avoidance and high speed I see no problem pulling at 70 mph.

Oh I forgot common sense is a big factor.


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[slowmover]

Originally Posted by Classic2004

I have 2015 Tundra,

Only down size is the Toyota Tundra factory Tow Mirrors need to extend another 2" to really see around the Classic. With trailer being a wide body the extra extension would be nice.

.

Milenco Grand Aero or similar. EAGLE One, maybe. No such thing as too much mirror.

[GettinAway]

Originally Posted by Moflash

I run 70mph towing a 28ft International when the roads are in very good condition and weather permits.But my tow vehicle weighs in at 8500 lbs and was built for this application.My Airstream is also set up to run at this speed.My wheel bearings are American made Timkin brand along with synthetic grease.I install and service them myself.Tires are Michelin Ribs mounted on 16' Sendel wheels with pressure set at 70 Psi nitrogen.I have driven on most of the major racetrack in the USA and have been lucky enough to have learned some of the top drivers and stunt men to ever live.
So if you have the right equipment and it is set up properly,road condition is right and you are trained to drive both in avoidance and high speed I see no problem pulling at 70 mph.

Oh I forgot common sense is a big factor.


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Just curious.. Were you headed north on highway 61 towards Hannibal on Thursday? (I think that's the day.) I passed a big Ford F450 pulling a very nice AS. I thought it looked like a nice rig. I didn't catch if it was a Missouri plate or not. I was in my car, not the truck, but I always notice Airstreams.

[Moflash]

Not me I have a 2015 f350 black super crew platinum with a 28ft international.Home base is Springfield Mo.


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[GettinAway]

Ok, come to think of it, I might have seen a 350 instead of a 450. You've got a twin driving around out there.

[KJRitchie]

Just finished my first trip out west towing my 2008 Classic 25fb with my 2010 Tundra DC 2wd using Equalizer hitch 1000lb bars. Towed out from Springfield, MO to North Rim Grand Canyon via I44 to I40 to Flagstaff then up 89 to get to North Rim. Average mpg to Flagstaff was 11.8 trying to average 60mph. Handled the hills OK, having to drop to 3rd gear a few times. Best mpg interval was 13.4mpg and worse was 10.4. Fighting the wind from Sayre, OK to Amarillo, TX. I drove in S with the transmission set to 5 and manually shifted down when approaching hills.

From Flagstaff, AZ to Jacobs Lake, AZ including the climb was 12.6mpg. The Tundra seems to get better mpg at altitude so far.

The only issue I had with my Tundra was the brakes. Probably didn't have the trailer brake controller set high enough for the trailer maybe After leaving North Rim I headed for Zion NP. Just before Hurricane there is an 8% grade down to Hurricane. I manually shifted down from 5 to 4. Too fast then down to 3 still too fast then down to 2 and still not able to maintain 40 for those curves. Started to pump the brakes but had to use steady pressure before a few curves. Suddenly the steering wheel started to shake when applying brakes almost like I had a warped rotor.

Got down into Hurricane and stopped and performed a visual check. Rotors and pads looked OK. Not much braking to Zion and the braking felt normal, no vibration.

No issues from Zion to Bryce going north on I15 then over to Panguitch on Ut 20.

However coming back home on I70 down from the Ike tunnel into Denver the problem came back. Trying to maintain the speed limit I'd come onto a truck descending at 25 mph and I couldn't get into the next lane due to heavy traffic. I had to apply brakes steady while in 2nd gear. Started to get the shimmy again. I70 was not fun coming into Denver, the combination of heavy traffic, slow trucks, rough road surface and winding downhill grades. But once out of the mountains and into Denver the brakes felt normal. Checked all discs and they and the pads look OK.

Another issue I had was I felt uneasy with some of the curves down these passes. Most of the time I went the speed limit or maybe 5mph slower. I never felt I was about to loose it over the curve but I got that uneasy feeling in my stomach. I never squealed the tires around any curves but it felt like the trailer wanted to continue straight while the Tundra was trying to turn. I'm thinking I need to adjust Equalizer to add more load to the steering axle. The Tundra is riding level as well as the trailer.

So my confidence in my Tundra's performance on the downhills is a little shaken. I'll be looking into getting new brake pads soon anyway and tires.

MPGs got worse as I drove through eastern Colorado and Kansas. I guess the wind, lower elevations took its affect.

I had one Tundra towing a longer trailer pass me on I70 east of Green River. I was 60mph and he must have been going 70 mph. He must of been in 4 gear and shifting to 3 a lot to maintain that speed. Probably getting 7mpg vs my 12.5mpg I got between Richfield, UT and Grand Junction, CO.

[Moflash]

The trailer was pushing the Tundra,you were probably feeling the abs system coming into play due to to loss of adhesion.


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[n2916s]

Upgrade your front rotors with slotted/dimpled units. I did that to my Titan 100000 miles ago and it solved all -- no overheating, no fade. Pretty easy DIY if you have basic skills.

Mike

[GettinAway]

I'll be taking mine over a few Colorado passes later this summer. Thanks for the heads up. I've driven that stretch on I70 coming into Denver from the west several times. Traffic there can make it pretty challenging.

[Gene]

We had developed vibration in the brakes around 70,000 miles and I had the rotors replaced. They immediately vibrated again. They had them turned and for the next 30,000 miles they were ok. On our last two trips we had a few times when we pressed hard on the brakes where there was vibration again. That's the only time it has happened. It did not feel like ABS engaging.

When I had the rotors replaced, I told them to use best rotors (within reason). These (as were the OEM ones) are vented. I figured I'd get another 70,000 miles out of them and by then it would be someone else's truck.

We always downshift on hills and rarely have to use the brakes a lot. Usually 3rd is good for steep grades on interstates, though we do go down to 2nd on very steep roads. Rarely need 1st. I don't ride the brakes descending, just pump them slowly and not too hard to keep temps from building up too high—it is the high temps that warp rotors. I'm not sure what to think about the latest vibration. Pads are fine and the OEM pads should last 100,000 miles or more. I had the pads replaced at 70,000 because the brakes were being repaired and pads are cheap, so why not?

The trip downhill through Mt. Vernon Canyon on I-70 coming to Denver between the Chief Hosa and Morrison exits is very busy, very fast and steep. State cops used to hide at the bottom. Usually the center lane is a bit slower (but hardly "slow") and you don't get stuck behind big trucks in the right lane. People go 70-75 in the left lane (speed limit is 65 I think), 60-70 in the center lane. I have driven that section of road thousands of times and never enjoyed that stretch with or without a trailer. If you think that was fun, try it in winter during a bad storm. Every one in Denver with bad tires tries to go up the highway and then they have to abandon their cars in the middle of the road. That's when we'd take a back road to get home and we'd wait until after rush hour to even try. That Canyon seems to funnel the heaviest snow in the area onto I-70 and snowfall can be 3" or more per hour in the foothills west of Denver.

Gene

[dougandlori]

Classic2004
Good to read your post since I just changed from a 95 25 foot Excella to a 04 28 foot Classic. My Tundra is an 08 Crew Cab with a Hensley hitch. My Tundra pulled the 25 like it was not there, just a little concerned about the additional length, width and weight. Your post made me feel more confident. We are leaving tomorrow across the California Tioga Pass (9943 feet). After this event I should have no concerns about travel anywhere.
Happy travels
Doug