Modifying the dd to haul

[Guest]

I have decided to keep my Tacoma and drive it in the ground instead of making a car payment for a year. (I want to be able to afford an outbuilding to set up a shop in a year or two)

So I am going to modify my Toyota Tacoma to haul my Jeep for a couple of years.

1. Tacoma frames are notoriously known for being weak, especially under the bed where the frame transitions from fully boxed to C channel.

So I have already fish plated the rear of the frame with .250"

2. I have fairly nice springs that have about 10" travel in the rear. They flex nice, BUT don't tolerate torque well.

I will need an anti torque bar. I bought a Ballistic joint from Ballistic engineering.



Bought some DOM tubing, and bushings and material to make a shackle and some brackets.



Starting on a bracket for a shackle and and the Ballistic joint.



3. The next project will be an additional trans cooler.

4. Supercharger and tuning.

Thus far I have $20 in steel for fishplates, $240 parts for the anti torque bar, I will have about $100 in a nice auxilerary trans cooler, and about $4300 in a supercharger, 7th injector, fuel management system and proffessional tuning.

Wally

[Guest]

There ya go. I like any sentence that involves super charger.

[Missourian]

"Thus far I have $20 in steel for fishplates, $240 parts for the anti torque bar, I will have about $100 in a nice auxilerary trans cooler, and about $4300 in a supercharger, 7th injector, fuel management system and proffessional tuning".


You could have had an older used purpose built American made truck for that kind of money, Wally.

[Guest]

This thread is worthless without pic of the Tacoma.

[Guest]

"Thus far I have $20 in steel for fishplates, $240 parts for the anti torque bar, I will have about $100 in a nice auxilerary trans cooler, and about $4300 in a supercharger, 7th injector, fuel management system and proffessional tuning".


You could have had an older used purpose built American made truck for that kind of money, Wally.

I priced 4 door F150s, Chevies for 6 months before coming to the decision that I came too. The best price I saw for a 50-60K F150 or Chevy was 18K, but most were running in the 22-25K range. I can buy a new one for 32K the way I want it set up.

My Tacoma has some dents and dings, I think the sale value might be 11-12K (fair price) the trade in would be 9K or so. It has 72K on it. Mechanically it is in great shape, well maintained.

If I went with 18K as the best price I saw on Craigslist, and subtracted 12K from that, I see a 6K difference.

As I see it, worst case scenerio I am going to break even, but I don't have to take a risk of buying somebody elses junk that may or may not be as well maintained as my own.

Wally

[Guest]

This thread is worthless without pic of the Tacoma.

Jeep loaded and ready to head out for wheeling.



Wally

[Guest]

The specs for my tow set up are as follows:

Truck 2004 Toyota Tacoma Double Cab

12" 2003 Tundra brake rotors and calipers in the front.
7 pin trailer connector
Tekonsha Prodigy brake controller
4.10 gears in 8.5" rear end that is semi full floated, 3rd member design.
Load leveling hitch
Very healthy CVs, carrier bearings.
(Still need said modifcations)

Truck weighs 4500lb fully loaded kids, tools, vacation junk, full tank of gas, winch on the front. I made most of the modifications to the truck when I was wheeling it all the time.

Trailer

12' long, 1200sh lbs
Tandem 3500lb axles
Electric brakes on both axles

Jeep weighs 3750 with hardtop, doors, full tank of gas without the driver.

9500sh total

As far as the 4 trips I have pulled with it thus far other than being a little underpowered it has pulled great. Obviously I am watching the trans temp guage like a hawk, the coolent temp guage closely as well, and thus far zero problems. I can do 70mph on the flat and 60-65mph up the hills all the way to SMORR.

[jagular7]

Wally, I've got this eye-sore (for some people) that would be perfect for towing a CJ on a trailer, if that Toyota toter doesn't work out. (And I'm cheaper than the F150s!!!)



Needs a little work, but I've got everything to put on the back.

[spunebil]

if you can do 35 mph on the steeper hills you have plenty of power!

I drove over the road (lower 48 ) for years and I could cruise at 65 mph (speed limit was 55 back then) but in the mountains I would some times only be going as slow as 15mph (11 % grades) when fully loaded with 50,000 lbs of frieght! (80,000 lbs gross!) :twisted:

this was with a 310 hp cummings or a 315 hp cat, depending on if I was driving a Pete or KW at the time! :twisted:


so you don't need to go fast up hill to have a good tow vehicle.

[Guest]

But you do need to go uphill fast to have a better tow vehicle.

[lagnaf]

I have a question for you.
What is your GVW towing capacity?
From what I've heard in the past, if you were to get in a wreck. And heaven forbid someone gets hurt. If you are over weight, you would be liable....

Just something to think about..

also, if your hitch is over capacity, tongue weight, or trailer....

just want to make sure nobody gets hurt.

Dan

[Guest]

My understanding is that its somewhere between 9-10K is the GVW. There are conflicting sources. I have a 12k license.

I have a class 4 reciever hitch rated for 6K, 700lb tongue weight limit.

I use a bathroom scale, a block of wood and a 2x6. I put the trailer jack in the middle of the 2x6 and ease forward with the Jeep till I see 250lbs on the scale. 250lbs X2 is 500 which is about the weight of the trailer and Jeep. I have a mark on the rail of the trailer now, so that I know exactly how far to pull forward.

I use a jack to push the load leveling hitch springs up till the truck sits about 1-2" lower than normal ride height.

Safety is very much a concern, which is why I have approached this the way I have, knowing that I am right at the limit of the recomended GVW. :?

From a legal standpoint, the license ie 6K, 12K, 24K within reason is what the law is. I had this confirmed with an MoDot LEO, because I wasn't sure what the law was, and had heard similar things. I was afraid that my only option was purchasing a larger truck.

An insurence company would have to prove ie pick up all the pieces of the wreckage and take them to a weigh station to speculate what things weighed. I have official verified reciepts for what all of my junk weighs as I paid $27 and had each part of the equation individually weighed on certified Black Cat scales.

Wally

I have a question for you.
What is your GVW towing capacity?
From what I've heard in the past, if you were to get in a wreck. And heaven forbid someone gets hurt. If you are over weight, you would be liable....

Just something to think about..

also, if your hitch is over capacity, tongue weight, or trailer....

just want to make sure nobody gets hurt.

Dan

[Missourian]

Wally,

When I read your post I was thinking Tundra while I was reading Tacoma. Ummm, my brother-in-law had one of these to pull his camper, not a big one (17') nor did it have any slide-outs. His REALLY struggled on the highway pulling that camper. The camper was lighter than a trailer with Jeep. I think all he could tow was 4300 lbs.

I know your talking supercharging or turbo... (same outcome) are you certain this is going to be enough? Is your rear axle and springs up to the challenge? I'm not talking about gearing as you are saying it has 4.11's. I do hope that you have brakes on the trailer. :?

[Guest]

I answered most of these questions already.


1. Does it feel bogged down with 5K? Yes, a little. I have driven it to Tuttle Creek twice, Potowatomin once, Kansas Rocks twice, and one trip to SMORR. I turn the over drive off, so that the tranmission isn't always shifting. Shifting and hunting with an automatic transmission wears them out via heat. I can drive 70mph at 3100 rpm with narry a shift on the flat. I let it slow down to about 60-65mph on big hills to reduce shifting. I do not believe that it will have adequate power at higher elevations, at least not enough to maintain high way speeds without the motor being rapped out.

Even with a supercharger, its not gonna compete with a 300hp and 600+ft lbs of torque of a diesel 1 ton in hauling capacity. I have a friend that has a heated Dodge that pulls 12ton regurarly and pulls loads up over mountains at 80mph on his 5th wheel. I am never going to compete with that. BUT if I can hold 55-60mph up through the Eisenhower tunnel out in Colorado, then I think the supercharger will have met the drivability requirements reasonably well.

I believe that realistically I should be able to produce about 80 reliable extra horses and about 100 more foot pounds of torque with a roots type supercharger. Thats with the appropriate fuel management, premium gasoline and tuning the fuel maps. I believe that with forced induction, altitude changes will blunt performance changes quite a bit. I should be able to drive over Colorado passes with reasonable drive ability.

2. Will the axle and springs hold the weight, tow the weight? With the load leveling hitch, the springs will ABSOLUTLY tolerate the tongue weight. I don't have air bags or anything, and with the load leveling hitch it sits about 1-2" lower in the back after the trailer is loaded. The load leveling hitch transfers a significant amount of the weight. Torque is the main issue with the springs. Even though the springs can tolerate the weight with the load leveling hitch, I need to fabricate an antitorque bar to keep the springs from wanting to become "S" shaped when I take off. I know that the torque is going to get worse when I add the supercharger.

I believe if I try to stay within the recomended tow rating, don't spend 10,000+ miles towing 5 K year, the axle should hold up fine. The same axle was under the earlier model Tundras that had 6500 and 7000lb tow ratings. I would assume that it will tolerate 5K.

3. Brakes. Yes I have brakes on BOTH axles, and a Tekonsha Prodigy brake controller. I wouldn't do it any other way because I don't want to be a danger to myself or anybody else. When driving out in Colorado, with mountain passes the likes, I don't think its possible to have "enough" brake. I am also aware that by having brakes on both axles, if the rear end were to start wagging, I can flip the brake switch on the brake controller and straighten things right out. Further I also have a break away system on the trailer, in the event that the trailer were to become disconnected from the tow vehicle, the brakes lock up on the trailer.

If I don't get it finished by time I head out to Moab, then I will rent a 1 ton for the week. :) If I can get 3-4 more years out of my Tacoma, 10-12,000 miles of towing, it will have served its purpose.

I will happily accept a gifted 1 ton of your choice if its in decent shape, I will promise to maintain it, and I will tell everyone I know about the generous gift. :lol:

Wally

Wally,

When I read your post I was thinking Tundra while I was reading Tacoma. Ummm, my brother-in-law had one of these to pull his camper, not a big one (17') nor did it have any slide-outs. His REALLY struggled on the highway pulling that camper. The camper was lighter than a trailer with Jeep. I think all he could tow was 4300 lbs.

I know your talking supercharging or turbo... (same outcome) are you certain this is going to be enough? Is your rear axle and springs up to the challenge? I'm not talking about gearing as you are saying it has 4.11's. I do hope that you have brakes on the trailer. :?

[Guest]

I like it, Wally. I would probably skip the supercharger and just live with the lower power for the few times that you'll actually NEED it. That way you save the $4,300 for Jeep parts or the next vehicle.

I used to tow with an F150 with the 4.6L v8 and it barely had more power than your Taco. I'm pretty sure the power to weight ratio was in the Taco's favor too. I drove just like you plan and it did fine. I didn't keep it long though because it was my DD and I hated it. With the small engine and 2wd I was getting 14 mpg around town while the 5.4L 4x4 guys were getting the same.

Now I tow (can, but don't really anymore) with my wife's 5.9L Durango R/T. It's like nothing is back there, but it gets 9 mpg doing it. :lol:

Anyway, good plan. I like it.