I once pulled a nearly 5000 lb gross weighted 15' Wells Cargo trailer from Kenai, Alaska to Missoula, Montana with my 2002 SR5 2.7L 4x4... yeah I had to downshift to third for some hills, but it more than handled it.
I have a 2007 Tacoma, 2.7L 4x4 5 speed. And I’m pulling an 6x12 uhaul weighing around 4,000 Lbs gross from Denver to anchorage. How do you think she’ll do with the weight over that long of distance?
I remember sitting in a brand new 2000 Tacoma 3.4L manual. I was waiting for my salesman to appear and got distracted by this curiosity. I had never even dreamed of a truck before. I was at the dealer to purchase a new Celica - 1st year of re-design. PTLOG! Today I am driving a 2020 TRD Off Road and love it! That 1st impression is still fresh decades past. Ultimately, I traded the Celica after only 2 years.
I’d like to see you do some simple compression tests on each cylinder. That would give an idea about how much power is left in the engine compared to new.
I had a 2004 Tacoma, 2wd, 2.4 engine(smaller than this truck), 5 speed. It would tow, but man was it gutless. Towed a 2 axle u-haul trailer full of furniture a couple times, 3000-3500lbs maybe. It did great in terms of being stable, tail not wagging the dog, brakes were up to the task. Just man going uphill on the interstate, it was shift to 4th/floor it before you hit the hill, get it up to 80-85, then you're doing 60 or so at the top lol. Going up that big hill in northern KY outside Cincinnati, ended up having to shift down to 3rd and maybe kept 50-55 the whole time.
Even though most of the audience is very familiar with the information (engines, tests, etc), I'm glad TFL re-explains it in every video when relavent for when people are new and don't want to watch other videos to understand. Lots of RU-vidrs who don't do that and instead say "watch X video" instead of explaining it.
I have a 02 Tacoma Prerunner 2.7L . It tows a three bike trailer with gear, SUP boards or camping gear without a problem. It's a small work horse not a race horse. Added an external trans cooler with the Scanguage 2 and Energy Suspension Master bushing kit. Great truck for small family. Learned lots from the TTORA forum.
I’ve got a 2004, same engine with a proper 5-speed manual transmission, and I live about 40 miles from TFL World Headquarters, if you want to compare towing abilities. Great video.
Lc engineering makes turbo and supercharger kit, KO do turbo charger kits , there is ton of race parts for this engine,and many over 1400hp running 6 sec 1/4 mile,i tuned 1 years ago to a friend for sand drag with 1000hp
I love it. I say this every time I see an old Toyota pickup but I'm still kicking myself for selling my 1994 Toyota Pickup (Pre-Tacoma) with a 3.0L V6, 5-speed manual transmission 4x4 Xtra Cab. I sold it 12 years ago with nearly 300,000 miles and I've been kicking myself ever since.
I have a pickup truck exactly like this. And I hauled an enclosed snowmobile trailer with two snowmobiles in it. It's not a towing beast but it was able to tow them fairly well for being a 4-cylinder. I was definitely very impressed
i use my 87 jeep xj to tow edison work trucks (typically an f350 or 450) out of mud and ice pits. sometimes as much as 12000 lbs. just cause its old doesnt mean its wore out.
I look forward to the Yak ranch videos with David. This was a good one Andre. Maybe you guys should install some of those airbags that you inflate and regulate yourself. They are not that expensive. Especially since your putting a structure in the bed. That should help you keep the truck level and safe. Just a thought.
Last Feb I helped a family friend move from Durango to Boulder and I hooked up a 6x12 uhaul trailer to my 09 taco. With the TRD supercharger on the V6, I had no problem climbing wolf creek pass.
Great little truck. Honda wishes they had a truck that held up as well as this Tacoma after 18 years. Actually TFL should compare this truck to a Ridgeline with 185,000 miles on the clock
I've been towing a lot of lawn tractors and other small equipment this past year with my 01 Focus wagon. I'd love to do the Baby Ike if I didn't live over in Wisconsin!
As I write this I’ve already seen the “valve job” and suspension videos. So...The truck towed ~max weight with ~3.66 cylinders (from the numbers on the vid) and the old suspension...I like it a LOT.
Nice to see some old school mini trucks. I had a 91 nissan hard body std cab 5 speed manual everything fun truck to drive and they just keep going and going .. would like to see a nissan hard body from that era 4wl drive those where tough trucks ..
My grandfather had a 84 sunrader motor home made of this truck... u have to drive it like a Diesel .. or u will be 25 mph up a hill in seconds .. but it lasted for decades ..
I had a 2004 extended cab, V6, manual trans, TRD. I put over 200K miles on that truck and took it places people wouldn't believe. I always wished I had the money for the supercharger kit. Damn I miss that rig.
I had a 1985 Toyota 4X4 pickup that I purchased new. First year of EFI for this truck, so it had the 22RE with 5 speed, 116 HP, and a tow rating of 3500#. With 175,000 miles on it, I front wheel dolly towed a Chrysler LeBaron wagon (curb weight around 3,100#) up the eye5 Castaic grade, which I believe is a 6% grade. About 1/3 into the climb, I had to pull over and lock the hubs so that I could use low range grunt to finish the climb. Once in low range, I went right up the grade, although quite slowly. Sold that truck to a buddy shortly after, who put another 175,000 miles on it before it was stolen. Was never recovered, so our best guess was that it ended up in Mexico.
Doing a shorter ike test makes no real - world sense. It's not like people go half way up a hill and then say "ok, I got half way up, that's good enough." Just do the whole test and if it fails, it fails.
I had this same truck with a 5 speed and a 4.10 gearing. It’s underpowered compared to the v6 but it’ll tow pretty much anything but just be ready to leave it in 4th on the highway.
I suggest using the scangauge to also monitor transmission temperature. You have to enter the X-Gauge code manually, but you should monitor temps if at all possible. Please consider an auxiliary transmission cooler as well. The Aisin A340F transmission that little truck is running does NOT like to tow. If the transmission temperature warning light on the cluster illuminates, you may have already cooked it.
In Ontario our CDL allows for one strap over a skid provided it is against the headache rack or the first set of skids that are double strapped...rules are weird.
I have this exact same truck I’m the second owner of it she has 270000 miles we load it down with quads and everything when we go to the dunes it has never complained it’s a stick shift 2 we have also put at lest 1000 pounds in the bed and drove long distance
Hey can you guys do this other classics I think it would a cool thing to do like can you do it with your 1992 Chevy pickup truck project I think be cool just to see the evolution of trucks and how well these trucks have aged
I saw a single cab 90's toyota truck with the bed loaded down, flat towing ANOTHER 90's toyota truck with it's bed also fully loaded down, up a steep grade on i20 going about 70mph. Both trucks had a lift and tires on them as well. There is no limit to that old 4 cylinder
Being that you guys have nicknamed this truck "Baby Yoda", if you're gonna go with a Star Wars theme, I think you should make this truck the "Baby Yoda" TFL PRO 2.0! That'd be cool to see!
Would love to see the comparison with a same or similar model year Frontier, Ranger, Dakota, S10, or any other manufacturer with a 4 cylinder. Also how many of these are still on the road in comparison to other manufactures?
I have a 2003 Tacoma pre-runner 2WD automatic And I’m still learning about hauling camper trailers. My question is if you’re hauling a 3000lbs camper trailer, should you use the Low gear in an automatic transmission? I’ve been looking all over the Internet to get the right answer but people say you should just use Drive. If anyone knows the answer, I would love to hear from y’all. Sidenote: I see he’s using using the extended power button which is recommended for hauling a trailer over 3000LBS.
