Thanks for the suggestion
Thank you for the suggestion, Bill. As I read through RockyMtnRay's posts, I find that his discussions of variation in engine performance by vehicle, transmission, engine model, altitude, torque, and so on offer pretty clear guidance by way of inference as to what my vehicle will handle--probably not as much as I would hope. Here's what I get so far:
At sea level, my Toyota 4.3L V6 5VZ-FE engine will probably manage just fine with an actual combined vehicle weight of around 9200 lb, which is what I'd estimate I'll end up with a 3124 KS, the actual weight of my vehicle, anticipated passenger weights (more than I would care to admit, sadly), accessories, and all the various other things I anticipate will add to the demand. Climbing at a fairly steep, steady grade out of my sea-level environment to something less than 4000 ft, which is what a trip out of Southeast Alaska entails as a minimum "cost of doing business," probably also will work reasonably well assuming I don't have any wish to fly up the passes, though a transmission cooler probably wouldn't be a bad idea. No problem here. Nobody drives fast anyway. The air itself is all too cool and therefore plenty dense, so I'd not expect much decrement in performance. For many purposes, traveling in the Pacific Northwest, performance will be adequate. Pushing into the Colorado Plateau and other truly high-altitude areas of the west, however, will likely tax the performance and perhaps even safety of the vehicle. The 5VZ-FE engine is I believe used across a number of vehicles contemporaneous to my 03 Tundra, generates about 220 lb/ft of torque @ 3600 RPM, and by all reports performs reliably up to specs given inevitable variation for conditions such as altitude. I inquired of our nearest dealer (95 air miles away, more by ferry), who indicated adding an aftermarket supercharger, which TRD manufactures and markets, would be very unwise. That would seem to address the altitude problem to which RockyMtnRay alludes to some degree; on the other hand, when the dealer tells me he's seen catastrophic engine failures with the supercharger I sit up and take notice. The remainder of the design of the 03 Tundra SR5 w/ 3.4L V6 and 4WD seems adequate to the task, the engine marginal at best. So I will need to think very carefully about whether it makes sense to start looking for a different tow vehicle. Meanwhile, RockyMtnRay, if you happen to read this post, thanks very much for your clear and systematic explanations--they make it easy to extrapolate.
Ted Chance
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