I have a 99 4runner 3.4 5 spd. and will be towing a car from Texas to Wyoming. Normally I just push straight through for 19 hours and five gas stops but was wondering if I need to make more frequent stops or anything differently because of towing approx 4500 lbs. with trailer. My truck has 117000 miles but is in top shape. I want to avoid destroying my transmission or engine because I already need a new engine for the talon that I am towing. Any suggestions or insight would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike

 

USE TRAILER BRAKES, properly balance the trailer, being sure its level or tongue high, run max psi on all your tires. Towing 5000 is ok if you only do it once a year and go slow. Fuel mileage will drop to 15 or 16.

Regardless of what the owner's manual states, the 4Runner's suspension is just too wussy for towing above 3000 lbs safely. You will find the rear sagging horribly, just about to the point where the headlights aim up, and your steering and braking suck since the front is so light. Moving the load back on the trailer far enough to regain steering causes the tongue to be too light and the trailer sways.

My towing setup includes trailer brakes, air bags inside the rear coils, Bilstien shocks, and a cushioned hitch. Works ok with 4600lbs.

 

You'll be ok...just follow unhappy99's advice. 5sp can tow a lot better than 5sp IMO.

Good luck,

Nam

 

I drove from NJ to Texas with a 3500lb trailer. We drove for 32 hours straight non-stop. As long as you dont go over 65 youll be fine, otherwise the trailer starts to shake and wobble and then you have to slowly press on the brake. Just dont go over 65!

 

I suspect the issue is not so much the speed as the balance on the trailer. We towed some timbers home on a trailer behind a car one time a while back and it was fine so long as we stayed under about 45 mph. Over that speed, it would start to wobble and swing back and forth. That was a little scary as the back end of the car would start to sashay back and forth too. I think the problem was that the load was too far back and there was not enough weight on the tongue. Balance is important but it needs to be a bit tongue heavy.

 

I pulled a trailer with my '96 5-speed from Maryland to California this past August - did it over a 3 day period, only stopping to sleep. Before the trip even started, my throwout bearing had been chirping loudly, but I didn't want to tow on a clutch that hadn't been broken in, and the clutch wasn't actually slipping, so I took it anyway. We were pulling a U-Haul trailer and the total load was about 3800 lb.

U-Haul says not to tow with a speed in excess of 45mph, but c'mon - we were travelling 2700 miles! so we ended up doing most of the trip at 65-70. A little crazy, probably, but there was no vibration or shaking. Some of the big hills in New Mexico and California gave us a little bit of a problem - had to downshift into 4th to maintain speed - but other than that it was all pretty smooth.

As with most things, your mileage may vary - as you get up to speed watch the trailer, pay attention to how both the truck and trailer are behaving - if one or the other (or both) are wobbling, shaking, or vibrating at low speed, stop and check to see what the problem is. If it's vibrating at higher speeds, just slow down. Also, as has been mentioned, make sure there is enough weight on the tongue! more of the load on the trailer should be in front of the axle to put weight on the hitch - but don't go over 500 lbs tongue weight - too much weight on the tongue is a very bad thing.

Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to stop or change lanes. If something is in your path on the road, strongly consider running it over rather than trying to dodge it. The problem being that if you try to make a sudden swerve, the trailer has a decent chance of wanting to flip. (This statement applies to things like animals, road debris, etc - not someone who is doing 30 in front of you!)

Know what your driving abilities are, and don't exceed them.

~Bill

 

excellent advice .I have booster coils on my rear since I occasionaly tow my race car .air bags are a good buy I would get them .Also check you trailer and cargo often for problems or to see if it shifted. A good spare tire and bearing for the trailer would not hurt.
M

 

Yeah, forgot that one - it's vital. We checked the trailer the first time after we had gone about 1/4 mile (after we had gotten up to about 40 mph - it was our first gas station stop), then again after we had gone about 10-12 miles, and finally we checked it at each and every gas station. We checked everything - physical connections, tongue weight, chains, electrical connections, and operation of the lights on the trailer. We never had any problems with any of the above, but we still checked it every time we stopped. Which, when you're towing in a 4Runner, is wwwwaaayyy too often (gas mileage really blows when you're towing - as mentioned earlier, be prepared: we went from 20 mpg to 12-14)

~Bill

 

Mike,

I have the exact same '99 5 speed 4Runner you have and found towing a 4800 lb load of car, trailer, race tires and track tools to be pretty easy with the truck. Like many here, I have airbags in my rear coils, the Airlift bags, specifically, and find that they keep the truck fairly level. I've only towed relatively short distances of 400 miles a few times a year.

My biggest gripe with the truck is having to stay in 4th on the highway or sometimes even third on only moderately steep hills. My trailer is light, weighing only 900 lbs, but I have an overhead tire rack filled with eight wide tires, so the aerodynamic penalty is quite high. If you can, use a trailer with electric brakes; this will give you more control on the road and make it easier to back up than surge brakes. Downside is that you'll have to have a brake controller installed in your truck. Get the Tekonsha Prodigy. Try a Google for a vendor.

 

Thanks for all the advice. Hopefully everything will go smoothly. I will be using a u-haul flatbed trailer which I don't think has trailer brakes unfortunately, but I will be avoiding Dallas and Denver like the plague to avoid any major traffic situations. Now if I can avoid a blizzard from southern Colorado to Wyoming (unlike my last trip) I think everything should work out. Thanks again,

Mike