Toyota 4Runner

[RockyMtnRay]

Originally Posted by sandy eggo

Feeling nervous yet about that tractor-pull we keep talking about, Ray?

ROTFL. Heck no

I want to thank everyone that responded to the original question, and maybe take it a little further and to get more insight with a practical example. Almost every manufacturer now has a "small" truck that is almost a big truck, a towing small Suv, A towing big Suv, and a full size truck (example in order for Toyota- Tacoma, 4Runner, Sequoia, and Tundra).In each of these, you can get 4 doors and seating for 5 people. Yes, the big ones cost more, but if you can do without bells and whistles, they can be bought for close to the same thing (10% difference?). What size maximum Trailmanor would you pull comfortably including to the Rockies with each type vehicle? If you had the choice of buying one of the 4 types from your favorite manufacturer, which type would you buy and why?

Any Ford Superduty deisel because it would pull not only any TM but 80% of all other trailers as well. In other words it would allow room to grow in.

[RockyMtnRay]

Originally Posted by Hondo

I want to thank everyone that responded to the original question, and maybe take it a little further and to get more insight with a practical example. Almost every manufacturer now has a "small" truck that is almost a big truck, a towing small Suv, A towing big Suv, and a full size truck (example in order for Toyota- Tacoma, 4Runner, Sequoia, and Tundra).In each of these, you can get 4 doors and seating for 5 people. Yes, the big ones cost more, but if you can do without bells and whistles, they can be bought for close to the same thing (10% difference?). What size maximum Trailmanor would you pull comfortably including to the Rockies with each type vehicle? If you had the choice of buying one of the 4 types from your favorite manufacturer, which type would you buy and why?

With the possible consideration that backing a long trailer into a tight camping site (or driveway) with a long wheelbase tow vehicle can be a bit challenging , going with a longer wheelbase and more powerful vehicle is always the better approach for towing. However that presumes that money (and garage space) is not a consideration. But since up front cost and room to park and garage a big truck/SUV is a consideration for most folks...not to mention fuel and insurance costs, then we get into just how big and powerful a tow vehicle does a given person actually need.

You mention towing into Rockies. I'm guessing that "Rockies" is an all inclusive term for those who live on the coasts, the southeast, or midwest. But from a towing perspective, it makes a heckuva difference if you are thinking about towing in the Rockies of Montana or Wyoming (where the elevations of most mountain passes are only in the 5000 to 8000 ft range) versus in the Rockies of Colorado (where nearly every pass is over 11,000 feet).

Using Colorado as the worst case, most challenging environment, we also have to look at "one time trip" or "repeated trips over the mountains". The reason that has to be looked at is nearly any tow vehicle with an engine that puts out at least 250 ft-lbs of torque or so (i.e. nearly any V6 or V8 on the market today) would be sufficiently powerful to be tolerable on a one time tow of even a loaded TM3326 (weighing ~5000 lbs) across the Colorado high country. By "tolerable", I mean it could actually get the trailer across the pass(es) without excessive overheating or high likelihood of engine/transmission failure. You might be down to 25 mph for well over an hour and the engine would be howling at 4500 RPM the entire time , but the rig would probably eventually make it and the tow vehicle wouldn't be hugely damaged by the experience. But you also have to consider that listening to an engine literally screaming its heart out nonstop for an hour is as hard on the emotional state and nerves of everyone in the tow vehicle as it is on the engine/transmission itself. So though it's possibly tolerable on a one time trip, this sure as heck is not the kind of abuse that most people want to inflict multiple times on their vehicle....or themselves.

But if multiple, no trauma mountain crossings are the goal...specifically blissful, fairly quiet, easy, low stress experiences for both tow vehicle and passengers on many crossings, then you not only need the biggest, most powerful vehicle you can get from a given manufacturer but you also may have to spend a lot of money (as I have) to even further improve the performance. Within the next six weeks or so I will learn whether all the performance modifications I've made to my Toyota Tundra (collectively about a 25% performance increase over stock) will be enough to have a blissfully quiet crossing of the the Colorado high country every time with just a TM 2720SL. I suspect that if I wanted to have blissful, no stress crossings of the Colorado mountains with a 1000 lb heavier TM 3326, I'd probably still have to trade up to some form of turbo-diesel 3/4 ton truck from GM, Dodge, or Ford. Or wait a couple more years until Toyota finally makes a heavier duty, turbo-diesel powered truck.

The bottom line is that even the low-end tow vehicle of given manufacturer will probably suffice (other than maybe for wheelbase considerations) for low altitude, flat land towing. And the mid range/mid size models will probably suffice for one time trips across the Rockies, particularly across the lower elevation mountains in Montana and Wyoming (e.g. for a visit to Yellowstone NP). But if you want to repeatedly tow over the highest and steepest highways of Colorado...and easily keep up with traffic without traumatizing the drivetrain (or the passengers), then you need the most powerful truck you can get from any manufacturer.