Could I tow long distance with a Toyota Tacoma?

[TOXIC]

A 21 foot Ranger with 52 gallons of fuel and enough gear to outfit a small tackle shop makes a lot of difference in mpg.?Yes I can tell it’s back there.  Enough so that my best mileage not towing is 22.8.  I hit that once and have never since.  My best mileage towing is 16.  I use Tow/Haul mode because I found there is about a 20 degree temperature difference in my transmission when it is not engaged.  

[gim]

10 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

It’s not the heavy it’s the wind resistance. Parachutes stop drag cars 

But a heavier item being towed requires more energy, therefore the engine should require more power, which should require more gasoline, which would reduce mileage, no?

[TnRiver46]

8 minutes ago, gimruis said:

But a heavier item being towed requires more energy, therefore the engine should require more power, which should require more gasoline, which would reduce mileage, no?

Yes. Heavier things require more power and reduce mileage. Does your boat weigh more or less than 0 lbs ? If you attach literally anything to your vehicle, miles per gallon decreases. Even a grocery bag 

17 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

A 21 foot Ranger with 52 gallons of fuel and enough gear to outfit a small tackle shop makes a lot of difference in mpg.?Yes I can tell it’s back there.  Enough so that my best mileage not towing is 22.8.  I hit that once and have never since.  My best mileage towing is 16.  I use Tow/Haul mode because I found there is about a 20 degree temperature difference in my transmission when it is not engaged.  

My best was 17 mpg without boAt, get about 12-13 with boat. Both my boats are lightweight aluminum, one of them way lighter than the other

 

we had friends take two rooftop kayaks to the beach, mpg dropped from 33 to 19. From 2 kayaks on J racks! 

[Way2slow]

What you are going to tow, within reason, and what you want to tow it with is not as important as how you want to tow it and the terrain/conditions you want to do it in.

When I was in high school, I bought my first new boat, a 14' Glassmaster runabout with a 65hp Mercury.  I towed it for two years with a 62 VW Carman Ghia.  Because of the steep ramp, I replaced the clutch a couple of times but other than that never had a problem.  Now, it was five miles from the house to the boat ramp and was fairly flat other than the ramp.  I didn't want to put a trailer hitch on the 55 Ford hot rod I had. 

Now, if you think you are going to tow at interstate speeds, up and down hills and stop safely in wet or sudden situations, you had better think long and hard about what you want to tow and what it will take to do what you want.

Towing is pure H**l on transmissions, and the faster you try to tow, the worse it is.  If the transmission does not have a temp gauge, install one.  If the transmission doesn't have an auxiliary cooler, install one, if it does, might need to install a larger one.  That's not just automatics, most manual five speed and six speed/etc transmission tell you not to tow in the over drive gears, 5th, 6th exc.

As for how you actually tow, it's your vehicle, and no one can tell you how you should drive it.

[Deephaven]

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

It’s not the heavy it’s the wind resistance. Parachutes stop drag cars 

Yes.  My empty aluminum enclosed snowmobile trailer takes my truck from 22 to 15 and is super light.  My 23' Malibu which is just under 7000lbs doesn't effect it as much.

[Teal]

I think I'm the guy that you want to answer this question.... because I have a 2018 tacoma, and i haul a 19ft 10in Javelin.  I have said it over and over again, if i had to drive further than I do, I would have at minimum a half ton truck.   My closest lake is 2 mins a away.  The next is 15 mins and the 3rd is 35 mins.   There are some ramps, I don't use because they are too steep, and as strong as the Taco is, it can't beat gravity.. and I don't even want to try it.  You have figure out exactly what you are going be doing.  Just some things to think about.   

[gim]

16 minutes ago, Deephaven said:

My empty aluminum enclosed snowmobile trailer takes my truck from 22 to 15 and is super light.  My 23' Malibu which is just under 7000lbs doesn't effect it as much.

That’s the point I was trying to make. Towing my boat minimally affects the mileage.

[Deephaven]

If you are smart, don't have tons of hills, and aren't doing big miles regularly there is zero reason to have something more capable than the Tacoma.  I wouldn't be scared to use my wives Jeep GC to my 20' glass boat anywhere in MN.  Will be quite often this summer in fact.  

[Teal]

1 hour ago, Deephaven said:

If you are smart, don't have tons of hills, and aren't doing big miles regularly there is zero reason to have something more capable than the Tacoma.  I wouldn't be scared to use my wives Jeep GC to my 20' glass boat anywhere in MN.  Will be quite often this summer in fact.  

I did it with a v6 Explorer before the Tacoma.  

[Deephaven]

I used to tow my 521 Ranger with a 1968 Ford Galaxie XL.  Traction couldn't be hairy on certain launches, but it had zero issues otherwise.

[Dirtyeggroll]

I pull my 17’ fiberglass Ranger r70 300-400 miles with my 4 door 2005 5cyl Colorado without any issue. 

[Russ E]

I pull a fiberglass Z175 ranger with a 2016 chevy colorado. it has the towing package and puts out around 310 horsepower, with a 7000 lb towing capacity.

 My boat on the trailer, fully loaded, weighs 2400 lbs. (I actually took it to a truck stop scale to weigh it}. 

The trailer also has surge brakes.

After around 50,000 miles of towing I have never had any troubles.. the only drawback is it averages 12-14 mpg when towing.

If I were to get a bigger boat or planned on towing in mountains, I would move up to a Silverado.

not many mountains in eastern Kansas.

[TnRiver46]

4 hours ago, gimruis said:

That’s the point I was trying to make. Towing my boat minimally affects the mileage.

Minimally, that I might believe . It started as zero affects which to me is physically impossible, but I'm not a physicist 

[Deephaven]

Pulled up an old picture.  This vehicle is at nearly it's towing capacity.  While owning it I also had a Chevy Silverado.  The ML was WAY, WAY better at towing, stopping, and handling the trailer.

In fact, the Silverado (2002) was downright dangerous in comparison.  The brakes were complete crap, the 5.3 super anemic and it was way easy to have the trailer control the rig vs the way it is supposed to be.  Obviously a longer wheel base would provide more stability, but it worked SUPER well.  All of the "must use a 1/2 ton" truck bias is crazy.  I have no experience with the Tacoma, but my half ton sucked compared to this wimpy little truck.  My wives now Jeep rides on the same platform that the ML63 was on.  It also does really well with the Ranger behind it.

 

Brakes, curb weight, wheelbase length, and HP are physical factors, how you use your brain however the most important.  

[gim]

14 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Minimally, that I might believe . It started as zero affects which to me is physically impossible, but I'm not a physicist 

That’s fair. I did say no effect in my first post. My apologies.

[TnRiver46]

2 hours ago, gimruis said:

That’s fair. I did say no effect in my first post. My apologies.

We thought you knew some kind of magic trick!!! @A-Jay has been trying to hold his mouth different all week while driving to menderchuck 

[MickD]

The distance towed is the least important consideration.  If you can tow 20 miles you can tow 200 miles.  The other issues, especially braking, are the important ones.  But if the manufacturer of the vehicle says it can tow 6800 pounds, or whatever, you can be sure they know that it can-there will be no cooling issues, no durability issues, no stability issues.  But braking is special, and if you're towing anything over about 3000, in my opinion, you should have trailer braking regardless of the vehicle.  I am a retired automotive engineer with a lot of power train experience, including towing, including engine cooling, including transmission cooling.  If you get the towing package it will have the cooling equipment to handle towing in very hot weather, grades, etc.

[A-Jay]

46 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

We thought you knew some kind of magic trick!!! @A-Jay has been trying to hold his mouth different all week while driving to menderchuck 

And I even got a cramp, a really bad one too.

?

A-Jay

 

[huZZah]

51 minutes ago, MickD said:

But if the manufacturer of the vehicle says it can tow 6800 pounds, or whatever, you can be sure they know that it can-there will be no cooling issues, no durability issues, no stability issues.  But braking is special, and if you're towing anything over about 3000, in my opinion, you should have trailer braking regardless of the vehicle.

Not positive but I think you are “required” to have weight distribution and brakes if over 5k lbs. Something along those lines. 
 

If not required you’re very smart to do it anyway. Makes towing much more desirable. 

[WRB]

A friend of mine has a Toyota V6 TRD 4 x4 “rice burner” as he calls it as tows a 19’ Ranger dual axle w/brakes trailer all over the state. The vehicle can easily haul your boat, launch and recover it. 

If Gary can tow over the I5 Ridge route 900 miles to lake Shasta with his Tacoma you can.

The Ram and Fords are like luxury vehicles, pricy but very comfortable. It comes down to budget.

Tom

 

 

[DaubsNU1]

I've owned 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton GM's for 30+ years. Great trucks, as are the Fords, Dodge/Ram, Toyota, hell, maybe even Nissan (never owned one). 

 

My 1/2 ton's towed just fine...then I rented a bobcat on a double axle trailer for a weekend...eye opening. I'd rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.  

 

In the immortal words of Colonel Hannibal Smith, "Overkill is underrated!" 

 

So back in 2004 I opted for a 3/4 ton 2500HD with the 8.1/496cid/Allison. Crew cab, LT, leather, loaded.  Loved that truck...my daughters loved the DVD player. Got 10MPG city, sometimes close to 12 MPG highway. But there was never anything I was afraid to tow, long distance or short. 

 

Sold that truck after 16 years and went diesel...It tows my tiny boat and ATV trailer just fine...about 3,000 lbs. 

 

 

Wife growled and asked why I needed that much truck...a year later she gets the bright idea to get an RV...so I'm now pulling this : ) 

 

Glad I opted for more power...

 

 

Long winded way of saying, get as much truck as you can afford now...don't want to have a case of the "I wish I would have"s.

 

 

 

[Quarry Man]

I regularly tow my 19' triton in my 2007 fj cruiser for long distances around 3 hours. It has no trouble towing at high speeds. The only two issues that make me nervous are stopping fast and speeding up to merge onto the highway. With that being said, I am a very alert driver. I have yet to have any major issues. When I drive over 4 hours, I use an F-150.

 

also, When I moved to school this year (4 hour drive), I had my boat and all my stuff, gear, dressers, bed, etc and I had no overheating issues when I arrived.

Edit: Want to add that fj cruisers and tacoma have the same engine.

[Junk Fisherman]

I have a 2008 Tacoma with the 4.0 L and I have towed my X-190 for the last 5 years all over the midwest.  The X-190 is a 19' glass, deep V which Tuffy said weighed 1500 lbs which I now question.  I think it weighs more than that.  On flat roads, my Tacoma tows my boat fine but on hilly terrain it struggles.  I just took a 600-mile round trip a couple weeks ago and it was fine on the flat roads of northern and central Illinois but it labored in the hills of southern Illinois.  I've never had an issue getting out of a launch.  My next truck is going to be the newly redesigned Tundra.  If it was out today, I would buy one.

 

Before my Tuffy X-190, I had a 17.5' semi-deep V Lowe.  The Tacoma towed that boat very well so I have no doubt that it would tow any tin bass boat in the 17' to 18' range.  I definitely would not hesitate to get have a Tacoma and a RT188.  The approximate boat weight is 1240 lbs.  The RT178 is only 30 lbs less.  But if you were getting an 18' glass boat, I'd recommend getting a full size pickup.  Good luck.  

[J Francho]

1500 sounds about right for the hull dry weight.  Add batteries, gas, an outboard, rigging, etc. plus all your gear and it's probably more like 2500.  You'd have to figure on the trailer as well.

[Shimano_1]

I tow my aluminum rig with a ram. The hemi is nice and has pulled other 21ft glass boats easily.  I personally have 2 buddies that tow a 21 ft bullet and a 20ft ranger with Tacomas all over the state and outta state several times a year. Both guys are older, one is retired and one close and both aren't hurting financially so they do it by choice. Both boats are 2020 models they bought new last year. I personally would feel better in a tundra but they've shown me the Tacomas are more than capable of towing basically any bass boat