Towing with a New Land Cruiser, Truly Irritating

We're Metals said:
@wings&wheels Hows the LC treating you?
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Great so far except for the towing irritation, and that's just pretty much setting all of the correct buttons and menu selections and remembering to not shut off the vehicle until you are done.

I will say that the LC and Michelin Defender LTX m/S2's are a great combo w/ the snow we've had.
 
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2strokeNorthstar said:
Probably why you see old Landcruisers with 250k miles for $20k
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My daily beater LC now with 364K…2001…have maybe $11K invested

Engineered and built to last 25 years in a third world country

Runs like a top & fully maintained..pics

My newer ‘03 LX 470 only has 220K 😉

IMG_8182.webp


IMG_8194.webp
 
wings&wheels said:
Great so far except for the towing irritation, and that's just pretty much setting all of the correct buttons and menu selections and remembering to not shut off the vehicle until you are done.

I will say that the LC and Michelin Defender LTX m/S2's are a great combo w/ the snow we've had.
Click to expand...
Toying (ha - pun was not intended) with an LC purchase later this year and those would be my preferred tire set over any ATs!

Other vehicles could be a Taco OffRoad w/ the hybrid, or potentially a Ranger - we like the hybrid Toyotas with the 2400w inverter output as that could be used to power our trailer's AC in a pinch - we avoid camping in hot places and plan to never use hookups, but that as a backup sounds nice.

We like the thought of the LC as a comfy highway tow vehicle - need to do some test drives, but I assume it rides a good bit comfier than the truck options and might be worth the premium for us. (speaking of which, no Taco gets memory seats; points for the Ranger)

Our trailer is light (currently towed by our Sienna hybrid - main reason to upgrade is for ground clearance and off-road ability) - any other towing / highway thoughts you have on your LC w/ LTXs would be appreciated! (mpg?)

Cheers
 
surfstar said:
Toying (ha - pun was not intended) with an LC purchase later this year and those would be my preferred tire set over any ATs!

Other vehicles could be a Taco OffRoad w/ the hybrid, or potentially a Ranger - we like the hybrid Toyotas with the 2400w inverter output as that could be used to power our trailer's AC in a pinch - we avoid camping in hot places and plan to never use hookups, but that as a backup sounds nice.

We like the thought of the LC as a comfy highway tow vehicle - need to do some test drives, but I assume it rides a good bit comfier than the truck options and might be worth the premium for us. (speaking of which, no Taco gets memory seats; points for the Ranger)

Our trailer is light (currently towed by our Sienna hybrid - main reason to upgrade is for ground clearance and off-road ability) - any other towing / highway thoughts you have on your LC w/ LTXs would be appreciated! (mpg?)

Cheers
Click to expand...
@surfstar - I own a 24 taco hybrid so I can share a few things.

Drives awesome. Man it really does. I realllly like the hybrid, especially that it will run the hvac off the traction battery for up to 20-25 minutes. Note the hybrid battery is only about 2kwh, which is a decent size, but doesn’t go nearly as far as the 1.6kwh goes in a rav4.

I’ve put skids, roof rack / ned rack and a heavier rear bumper on mine. The extra weight is needed to dull the impact feels over any kind of terrain. Regular driving is about as smooth (not exaggerating) as an F350. It’s not a smooth vehicle.

When you get enough weight on it that it rides better, the suspension on the smaller truck sags. Fortunately, aftermarket parts love the Tacoma, and small spacers for restoring oem ride height are DIY-installable. I have a 1/2 compensating spacer on the front and 1” compensating spacer on the rear. Yeah, I know, I should probably be on the verge of looking at aftermarket springs, but then we open a new can of worms with shock tuning and all that. So while the engine is a Rube Goldberg machine, the chassis is truck-true.

Mine is at 18k miles. The engine runs better when I add one quart of a 30 weight oil into it. It’s noticeable. I have 3,000 miles on this oil. Just checked it and found it to be 1 quart over high. Yes, a full quart. Smells like gas. It didn’t do this in earlier oil changes. It’s “making its own oil” either by regular fuel dilution (what I suspect) or it’s got an injector problem. At this point I’m finding near the same types of problems with this truck as I did my f150. I know I now have to potentially change the oil every 3,000 miles to combat fuel dilution. Note, it does lots of it’s beautiful, and I mean beautiful work, below 2,000 rpm. This engine is tuned as a torque monster and is fun to drive. Fabulous driver, plenty of power available on demand without shifting. But it probably contributes - always running under pressure. Had I known all of this, I’m not sure I would have bought this truck. While it is still an excellent vehicle, I paid Toyota prices expecting reputed Toyota quality, which I just don’t think is in this 2024.

Towing. I’ve towed up to 3600 pounds with it, and it didn’t miss a beat. The hybrid is porky at 5300lbs curb weight, more than my aluminum f150 was. The 3600lb load, which did not have trailer brakes, was not even batting an eye for the taco. Tows very well - brakes, engine, trans, and stability.
 
meep said:
@surfstar - I own a 24 taco hybrid so I can share a few things.

Drives awesome. Man it really does. I realllly like the hybrid, especially that it will run the hvac off the traction battery for up to 20-25 minutes. Note the hybrid battery is only about 2kwh, which is a decent size, but doesn’t go nearly as far as the 1.6kwh goes in a rav4.

I’ve put skids, roof rack / ned rack and a heavier rear bumper on mine. The extra weight is needed to dull the impact feels over any kind of terrain. Regular driving is about as smooth (not exaggerating) as an F350. It’s not a smooth vehicle.

When you get enough weight on it that it rides better, the suspension on the smaller truck sags. Fortunately, aftermarket parts love the Tacoma, and small spacers for restoring oem ride height are DIY-installable. I have a 1/2 compensating spacer on the front and 1” compensating spacer on the rear. Yeah, I know, I should probably be on the verge of looking at aftermarket springs, but then we open a new can of worms with shock tuning and all that. So while the engine is a Rube Goldberg machine, the chassis is truck-true.

Mine is at 18k miles. The engine runs better when I add one quart of a 30 weight oil into it. It’s noticeable. I have 3,000 miles on this oil. Just checked it and found it to be 1 quart over high. Yes, a full quart. Smells like gas. It didn’t do this in earlier oil changes. It’s “making its own oil” either by regular fuel dilution (what I suspect) or it’s got an injector problem. At this point I’m finding near the same types of problems with this truck as I did my f150. I know I now have to potentially change the oil every 3,000 miles to combat fuel dilution. Note, it does lots of it’s beautiful, and I mean beautiful work, below 2,000 rpm. This engine is tuned as a torque monster and is fun to drive. Fabulous driver, plenty of power available on demand without shifting. But it probably contributes - always running under pressure. Had I known all of this, I’m not sure I would have bought this truck. While it is still an excellent vehicle, I paid Toyota prices expecting reputed Toyota quality, which I just don’t think is in this 2024.

Towing. I’ve towed up to 3600 pounds with it, and it didn’t miss a beat. The hybrid is porky at 5300lbs curb weight, more than my aluminum f150 was. The 3600lb load, which did not have trailer brakes, was not even batting an eye for the taco. Tows very well - brakes, engine, transmission, and stability.
Click to expand...
Did you get the dumb brake lines inside the wheel ID? Apparently there's a recall.


This type of thing is very common for locals here:
Post in thread 'What are you working on today?' https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/what-are-you-working-on-today.331303/post-6454845
 
D60 said:
Did you get the dumb brake lines inside the wheel ID? Apparently there's a recall.


This type of thing is very common for locals here:
Post in thread 'What are you working on today?' https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/what-are-you-working-on-today.331303/post-6454845
Click to expand...

Mine came oem with 18” wheels, and I think that recall only applies to ones sold with 17”. I had considered downsizing to 17s, but knew about the recall and doubted they would do it for me since it wasn’t how the vehicle was built.
 
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Bought a new RV less than a year ago - hooked it to our ‘22 Tahoe and it towed great - nothing to set up …
Now, if I need to backup another 3” with the ball - get that seatbelt on - or not moving 😵‍💫
 
4wd said:
Bought a new RV less than a year ago - hooked it to our ‘22 Tahoe and it towed great - nothing to set up …
Now, if I need to backup another 3” with the ball - get that seatbelt on - or not moving 😵‍💫
Click to expand...
Yeah. Might buckle the belt and sit on top until you get everything hooked up and unhooked too.
 
4wd said:
Bought a new RV less than a year ago - hooked it to our ‘22 Tahoe and it towed great - nothing to set up …
Now, if I need to backup another 3” with the ball - get that seatbelt on - or not moving 😵‍💫
Click to expand...
The little extenders are great for this, or you can buy dummy clips, too.

I'm actually still trying to work out which resistor I can wire into my JL to do away with AutoPark.
 
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