As you can tell from this blog, we’ve been towing around the Western United States for two years. Our Tacoma, “Toby”, has been pulling our 20ft travel trailer, “Howie”, reliably. I have had concerns about steep inclines and our Tacoma does struggle a bit after a few thousand feet. Especially if the incline is greater than 5% for much of the climb. The transmission temperature has reach 220° and even 222°, which reduces the life of the fluid according to specs.

How do I handle the Tacoma’s towing ‘shortcomings’ compared to larger trucks? I pick routes that are flatter or with more gradual inclines whenever possible. When route planning I use:

• InRoute App – smartphone navigation app which can help you pick the flattest or less curvy route
• Flattest Route website: free route planning site https://www.flattestroute.com/

I monitor the transmission temperature and if reaches 220° for more than a few minutes or goes higher, I pull over and let it cool. So far the only time I’ve had to do that was towing from Bass Lake to Yosemite National Park on Highway 49 with summer temperatures at 104°. Unfortunately, Highway 41 was closed due to the Washburn Wildfires July 2022.
I tow at ~60mph on level ground and ~45mph on the inclines. I get about 11.5mpg towing at ~60mpg; on drives with inclines ~10mpg. This is towing at S4 with ECT on. I’ve tried S4 with ECT off and did not get any better gas mileage or notice more shifting so I just tow with it on.
I initially avoided cruise-control when towing but on the long flat runs, I’ve started using it. The adaptive cruise control works well even when towing but I avoid it in traffic.

The other concern is the Tacoma’s payload. We tow with our travel trailer tanks relatively empty – a couple gallons in our black tank with treatment is all. But the cargo in the travel trailer does not affect the truck’s payload significantly with a weight-distribution hitch. Still the Tacoma is limited to ~ 1000lbs so with people, dog, fuel, tonneau cover, & hitch-weight. We only have about 120lbs of additional cargo the truck can carry.
But since the Tacoma is my everyday driver, we have not wanted to buy a bigger truck. It would be nice to have the piece-of-mind a larger truck brings. But driving it when we are not towing would less enjoyable. I have enough trouble steering the Tacoma into tight parking spots as it is.

So I have installed black Sumo Springs which has helped with tail sag. The tow angle is about 1.5inches higher so more level. But the ride is noticeably stiffer, rougher which we’ve become accustom. That’s the only upgrade so far although I’ve considered:

• re-gearing or
• re-tuning as some members of the Towing with Tacoma Facebook user-group suggests.
• an additional transmission cooler, a bit bigger to help with the fluid temperature.
• pinning the transmission