I am sure few of you guys have towed boats and stuff before, much like I do. My question is, do I have to turn the fourth (overdrive) gear off when I tow, or it is ok to have it on?
My truck is 2003 4Runner V6 and my boat is ~3500Lb.
My Runner came with no extra transmission cooler on the front, just the one built into the radiator. Maybe I need an extra one installed like on the V8 version.

 

The general consensus is that overdrive (4th) should not be used for towing.

HTH,
Mr. Thompson

 

Mish,

I cant help you much here, but I tow a Jet Ski and launch from the beach occasioanlly. 2,000 lbs about it. It is really hot here and I have no xtra tow items, tranny cooler, etc and have no problems.

You should be good back in O-Hi-O. I'm originally from Akron. How bout you??

HIGHEST County in the state we used to say! Summit!!

 

Thank you.
I am from Frankin County (Columbus).
My boat is a white trash special, 19' Bayliner with 302 V8 in it. Looks cheap, but runs like a wind

What are you doing in Japan?

 

Depends on the road. I tow a 3200lb Bayliner, and on basically flat road, at higher speeds (over 45mph), I'll leave OD on. When going through the hills, I'll turn OD off when I drop below 40mph. I leave ETC engaged until I hit 60mph. And FWIW... I installed an external tranny cooler, just to be safe. Cheap and easy to install makes for good insurance in my book.

 

Lemme just add my 2 cents....

I think if you're towing a trailer about 1500 pounds or less (without much cargo/passengers in the vehicle), you can get away with O/D, no tranny cooler, etc. Basically you're towing at the vehicles GVWR so I would think that the stock setup could handle it. If you went much over that, I would first lock out O/D, then consider a tranny cooler. In your case, 3500 pounds is quite a bit (and if you factor in your passengers, other gear), you'll be moving something like 8500 pounds worth of stuff with your motor/tranny. I'd seriously consider a tranny cooler and leaving the O/D off. I wonder though, if you have a good enough tranny cooler, can you just leave it in O/D?

Regards,
Ben(Miami)
'02 Limited 4X2

 

I believe O/D has to be off not because of the disk overheat, but die to the design of it. Cooler will cool down fluid, but will not reduce stress on the bearings and other O/D parts, therefore O/D is not an option