Towing with the 2.8l Diesel

[cuda Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close cuda]

Just come back from towing the Jayco Expanda down south. What can I say, the 2.8l Prado pulls the Panda really well. Used 14l/100km for the whole trip which I am very happy with considering we sat on 100km/h and the V6 was using 23l/100 on the equivalent trip. There was 2 hills where the Prado would not go faster than 90km/h but they were pretty steep and required trucks use low gear when coming down. I added a transmission cooler with Tins bracket and Davies Craig 678 cooler which was a good idea as the temp did not go over 92 deg while in S mode 5th gear which seemed to be a far better gear than recommended 4th by the Toyota manual. The torque converter temp did not go above 107deg and would drop rapidly once the converter relocked. Overall very happy with the new purchase.

Thanks
Doug

[Usernamewill Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Usernamewill]

Hey Doug, are you using a scan gauge to measure both of the trans oil temps?


Cheers, Will.

[cuda Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close cuda]

Yes I used a scangauge II. Was pretty worried pre trans cooler install given I was getting over 100deg without towing around town. If I was approaching a hill I would shift it back to 4th but pretty much left it in 5th. 6th gear wasn't even possible unless I went down a hill which was pointless anyway as I wasn't on the throttle at all so no fuel used.

Hey Doug, are you using a scan gauge to measure both of the trans oil temps?


Cheers, Will.

[barajak Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close barajak]

Hi cuda Good to hear the 2.8 goes well as a tow vehicle. Getting great fuel economy for cruising at 100kmh as well. What sort of RPM are you cruising at in 5th? Have you fitted or have you considered fitting and exhaust temp gauge? Most if not all the piston meltdown Prados were towing in top gear (5 speed) usually a camper trailer and they thought the motor was doing it easy until it popped. I would be very interested in the temps the motor reaches when towing in 5th with the six speed.

[cuda Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close cuda]

Hi cuda Good to hear the 2.8 goes well as a tow vehicle. Getting great fuel economy for cruising at 100kmh as well. What sort of RPM are you cruising at in 5th? Have you fitted or have you considered fitting and exhaust temp gauge? Most if not all the piston meltdown Prados were towing in top gear (5 speed) usually a camper trailer and they thought the motor was doing it easy until it popped. I would be very interested in the temps the motor reaches when towing in 5th with the six speed.

I had the scangauge setup to monitor exhaust temps also. Maximum I saw was 580deg and this was going up the steep hill foot to the floor. Ran around low 400's when cruising.
The rpm at 5th gear was I think 1900rpm with converter unlocked and 1700rpm locked from memory.

[Wil Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Wil]

Hi cuda. Interesting fuel figures. What expanda do you have? I am thinking about gettimg one soon and keen on getting towing info. Also interesting reading regarding temps. Did you need to add more transmission oil when adding the additional cooler due to increasing the volume of the system?

[cuda Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close cuda]

Hi cuda. Interesting fuel figures. What expanda do you have? I am thinking about gettimg one soon and keen on getting towing info. Also interesting reading regarding temps. Did you need to add more transmission oil when adding the additional cooler due to increasing the volume of the system?

I tow the 16.49-3 with the water tanks empty. Yes when I added the Craig Davies cooler I had to completely fill the new cooler plus the hose to get it all right. I haven't actually checked the levels via the fill / check caps because I am unsure where they are located and figured if I fill the new pipe work and cooler it should be similar to what was already there.

Does anyone know where they are located (pics)?

Thanks
Doug

[InnerCityBoy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close InnerCityBoy]

Hi cuda - I'm looking to tow an Expanda 16.49-1 over the school holidays with my Prado 2.8.

My biggest concern is that I have unmodified factory suspension, am I likely to have issues with this? Should I look to pack the back of the van to ease off the tow ball weight, or not worry about it?

I usually tow a camper trailer (~800kgs) and to be honest haven't given any thought to what I'd need to do different when towing a caravan, so any advice is appreciated. When I tow the camper I stick to 4th (5th on the flat) and otherwise drive normally. I haven't got transmission coolers or exhaust gauges, is there anything in particular I should be keeping an eye out for?

Cheers

[cuda Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close cuda]

Hi cuda - I'm looking to tow an Expanda 16.49-1 over the school holidays with my Prado 2.8.

My biggest concern is that I have unmodified factory suspension, am I likely to have issues with this? Should I look to pack the back of the van to ease off the tow ball weight, or not worry about it?

I usually tow a camper trailer (~800kgs) and to be honest haven't given any thought to what I'd need to do different when towing a caravan, so any advice is appreciated. When I tow the camper I stick to 4th (5th on the flat) and otherwise drive normally. I haven't got transmission coolers or exhaust gauges, is there anything in particular I should be keeping an eye out for?

Cheers

The suspension is quiet soft as standard and I noted it sagged substantially with only 120kg on the ball. 2 ways that I would recommend to fix the issue are adding a Bilstein/king springs suspension upgrade with 100 - 300kg min weight rear springs. The other far cheaper option is to get a LDH (load distribution hitch). The LDH method distributes the weight equally across the front and rear axles of the vehicle. The great point about this is you dont need to be as concerned how your caravan is loaded as long as its with in the ATM rating. Toyota sell a genuine LDH part number PZQ6260160 and you might get lucky and get one for $375 through Toyota as they were selling them cheap a few months ago on ebay. I highly recommend the LDH as it makes your setup the safest way to tow.

If you tow in 4th gear you don't need to worry about transmission temps at all as it won't go over 80 deg on average. Don't rely on the over temp light for the gearbox to tell you when your pushing it too hard as its set at +150deg which is far too hot and you gearbox is likely already started to get damaged and you ATF needs replacement.

Hope I could help.

Doug

[InnerCityBoy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close InnerCityBoy]

Thanks, that does help. Others have suggested airbags as a good option too.

I recently towed a Jayco Swan which has a similar ball weight to an expanda and I noticed the back dropped quite a bit, this was with a fridge and boxes of food in the back of the Prado so i was hoping I could get away with just keeping the back of the Prado loaded really lightly. Might need to rethink and consult the minister of finance.

Cheers