well i include the weight of the truck in with its braking power.

as far as the size of the trailer and its waging the dog that has less to do with size then to do with loading and making sure that its ballanced properly.

i towed 5000+ (no trailer brakes) down from washington to denver once with a grand cherokee and once with my 89 toy. first time thing wagged like crazy anytime you got over 70. second time i was hardly ever below 70 most of the trip was spend around 85 never had a problem.

Only differnce was weight arrangement. believe me the Grand cherokee had more torque but and wieghs more then my truck is better balanced has more weight in the back end. so if anything it should have been the other way around. only thing in the back of my truck was my dirt bike.

anyway loved the 3.4 it made it possible to do 60 up the passes that the Heep would only do 35-40 up. 3.4 is way better then the 4.0 in my heep at least.

 

The Toyota diesel I'm putting in my truck puts out 165 hp and 230lb ft stock but with a few upgrades can be over 350 lb ft. It's a 3.0L 4 cyl. It goes in the 4runners overseas with the same torsion bars as the trucks have here so weight is not an issue and it was DESIGNED to go in these trucks to start with. You can even put the dash from the diesel truck right into an 89-95 pickup without changing anything. You need to weld in new motor mounts and possibly tranny crossmember. And then you just get into the wiring. And I should mention that the 230 ft lbs are at 2000 rpm. Much higher and at a better rpm than the 3vze.

 

Yeah the 3.0 I4 would be a great swap....

 

Im inclined to agree honestly. If you want to tow big loads, go find yourself a 7.3L F250 or F350. '03's can be found around 12k used with clean oasis'. If you have more money, then 05 and later 6.0s will astound you with their power.

If I were to get a diesel in my 4runner it'd be for 2 reasons. Better mileage, and just driving POWER!

And ya cant forget the soot!

 

there is a reason big trucks have big, heavy frames. 3/4 ton frame just to tow 12,500 lbs? Yeah, so it can level out and support the weight.

I personally wouldn't tow anymore than 5k-6k lbs with the 4runner, no matter what engine. The frame just isn't built for it. We're not engineers. We can only box the frame so much, but we can't re-engineer it for towing.


just FYI, almost every 7.3L ford powerstroke I've seen has had some sort of major problem around the 170k mark. I think Cummins is about the most reliable diesel out there in a full size truck.

 

From what I have seen the cummins are the most reliable, and always seem to have been.. Besides why do you think almost every big diesel on the road, semi's, is an I-6???

 

Another great swap would be to get one of the first Tundras and swap in a Land Cruiser I6 Turbo Diesel. They put them in the 1.5 tons over in Autralia. Go to http://www.toyota.com.au/toyota/vehi...6_1612,00.html and look at those Land Cruisers. I know it says 4.5L V8 diesel but that must be a brand new diesel as the last time I looked on there it was a 4.2L I6 Turbo Diesel. I think that through a 6 speed in a Tundra would make for the ultimate full size. Just another option but for this one you will need deep pockets as I'm sure these things are not cheap. Anyways I wont be replying for a day or two as I'm heading out of town but I'll catch up when I get back. My 82 has one more highway run left in it .

 

Thanks for all the responses I think I am just going to hang up the idea and buy a tow rig, but it was fun thinking about it at least and I found out a lot that I did not know was out there.

 

Never said it wasnt, however you are going to pay for that cummins, even used. However there are lots of 7.3s over that mark with minimal issues www.powerstroke.org

 

Yep and the 7.3 stroke has always been a good motor... but you would then run into weight and size issues of a V8 vs I4....


You will be better of to buy a tow rig.. the swap would be cool, but for a HD tow rig.

 

The problem is that the 7.3 is a big block v8 a small block would fit better...
The new all alum. 6.? powerstroke in the '08s would probably fit but I have no idea about reliability...
You could almost definitely get a Hino diesel that would fit...

 

The new 6.4 is still all cast.... I wouldnt ever touch an alum diesel.... I dont even like the alum heads on the duracrap...

 

I thought it was supposed to be one of those all new "wonder metal" aluminium blend thingys... my bad

 

Squeeze an N-14 in there!

 

dude its a diesel, its going to throw black smoke, thats what they do.

 

my main concern would be smog crap... i wonder how the DMV would be come registration time and you have a diesel engine in a gas vehicle. ive thought about droppin a diesel in mine from time to time, just havent made up my mind.

 

Not if they're tuned properly.......

4bt would be a good motor to swap in, but it's still huge and heavy.

the 6.4L ford diesel, well, I'm not too sure about it's reliability. the 7.3 is said to be more reliable than the 6.0 was...

duramax's are pretty good, have good transmissions too......but again, it's a large motor, and heavy.

 

dude, not to be rude or anything, but diesels smoke straight from the factory! i test drove a diesel F350 and a diesel chevy 3500 and they both smoked. now if they smoke a LOT, like, you cant even see the truck cuz its so smokey and it makes a new atmosphere around the truck, then yeah id have it looked at.

 

My old man's bone stock 06 cummins doesn't smoke. Diesels now are made with particulate filters and proper tuning so you don't see the trademark black smoke.

My in-law's TDI beetle doesn't smoke, either. Though it's got a nice soot mark near the muffler because they never wash it LOL.

 

haha, got to love vdubs