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Old 11-02-2014, 03:04 PM   #21
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Welcome Bobbito to our Escape world. As far as the tow vehicle, they are called 1/2 ton trucks for a reason, 1000 lbs of carrying capacity, give or take. With your boat and motors and gear and tongue weight, you may well be exceeding your capacity.
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Old 11-02-2014, 03:21 PM   #22
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The reasons we haven't upgraded to a newer Tundra...
Golly, and I'm still driving around a 1993 Ford 150 XLT with 75K miles on it and not even thinking about getting a new truck...
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Old 11-02-2014, 03:26 PM   #23
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I guess I'd better keep quiet about towing a 17 with my RAV4!
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Old 11-02-2014, 03:35 PM   #24
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Or the TRD supercharger option.
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Old 11-02-2014, 03:35 PM   #25
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Welcome Bobbito to our Escape world. As far as the tow vehicle, they are called 1/2 ton trucks for a reason, 1000 lbs of carrying capacity, give or take. With your boat and motors and gear and tongue weight, you may well be exceeding your capacity.
Jim most trucks today (1500 series, F150 etc.) have a payload of around 1800lbs or more I believe. The old half ton designation was from the old F100 era.

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Old 11-02-2014, 05:35 PM   #26
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Jim most trucks today (1500 series, F150 etc.) have a payload of around 1800lbs or more I believe. The old half ton designation was from the old F100 era.

Doug
True. They just kept the names because they had been used so long that they became part of the culture. Same with "three quarter ton" and "one ton" -- their capacities are usually higher.
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Old 11-02-2014, 05:43 PM   #27
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Cargo/towing capacity

Doug is right on about the ½ ton truck cargo capacity. In our 2005 Tundra’s manual it lists the following capacities:
Standard cab 4.7L 2WD, Auto Trans: 2005 lbs
Access cab 4.7L 4WD, SR5, Auto Trans: 1355 lbs (our truck)

Subtract from the 1355 lbs the canopy & boat rack (about 250 lb), and passenger weight (about 350 lb) and you don’t have a lot of carrying capacity left for a boat, plus fishing/camping gear.

As I said earlier, with our Nash stick trailer we were very close to the towing limit of our TV and our rear axle was at the maximum weight(checked on a highway truck scale). Towing capacity (trailer and cargo weight): 7000 lbs

So a 5.7 L Tundra with 100 hp more than our 2005 model have no trouble towing even our load up steep inclines at high elevation.

I wish I had known some of this stuff about cargo/towing capacities when I got my first truck (1996 Ford F150, 205 hp). I was sadly undergunned back then.
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Old 11-02-2014, 06:16 PM   #28
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(I've posted queries on this topic before, but now have a specific destination and TV in mind, and would appreciate further input. Thanks for your help and patience).

We're planning an extended trip to the high country of Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico, and would like advice regarding tow vehicles from Escape owners who have towed in those mountainous areas.

Our initial four-week voyage towing our Escape 21 (4300 pounds ready to camp) with our Toyota 4Runner V6 Trail Edition (tow capacity 5000 pounds) took us over several mountain roads in BC and Montana, with the maximum elevation being about 5500 feet, with grades of 6% or less.

Most of the time, the 'Runner's power (270 hp @ 5600 rpm) and torque (278 lb/ft @ 4400 rpm) enabled us to maintain an acceptable speed. But at higher elevations, on steeper grades, and when facing headwinds, the V6 was unable to sustain a speed that was adequate for my sense of safety, driving etiquette, and enjoyment.

Some definitions:
Safety and Driving Etiquette: On steep two-lane roads, I want to be able to sustain 75% of the speed limit or better. In my pre-towing days I followed dangerously underpowered RVs and trailers enough to never want to be the driver causing frustration, wasted time, and risky passing attempts among my fellow motorists.
Enjoyment: Towing in the mountains with the 4Runner meant constantly monitoring the tachometer to gauge shift points, and upshifting and downshifting the AT manually, always wondering what temperature the transmission fluid had reached, and being acutely aware at all times of the two tons of ETI artistry on our hitch. This is a fun challenge for a while, but on a long trip it's not the most relaxing driving, and allows the driver only the occasional glimpse at the scenery.

Specifically, we are thinking of taking the hit in fuel economy and switching to a Toyota Tundra Crewmax with a 5.7 l. V8 (381 hp @ 5600 rpm, 401 lb/ft @ 3600 rpm, about 10,000 pounds tow capacity). This truck also has a Tow/Haul feature, a big AT fluid cooler, and a 6-speed AT. If I find the right used Tundra, the price difference will be minimal.

According to Mountain Directory West, we will face sustained grades, up and down, of 6% to 10% in the mountains of the Southwest, at elevations of up to 10,000 feet, a much stiffer and more sustained challenge than we faced on our first trip with the 4Runner.

Based on your own experience towing in the Southwest's high mountain passes, what would you advise about switching from the 4Runner to the Tundra, and why? Thanks for your thoughts on this.
Did you try using the Downhill Assist on your 4Runner?
What was your loaded weight and tongue weight?
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Old 11-02-2014, 06:25 PM   #29
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I looked up Downhill Assist in my RAV4 manual the other day. It's for crawling down steep terrain, not for highway speed.
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Old 11-02-2014, 06:28 PM   #30
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Down Hill Assist

The 2005 Tundra does not have this feature for highway driving, but it has a bull low that allows you to walk it down a creek bed at a crawl without using the brakes at all and to climb it just as slowly.

Regarding our Utah trip, on the occasional steep grade I shifted into a lower range and as a result didn't use my brakes nearly as much as I anticipated in exploring Utah's canyons (Our route was Vancouver to Salt Lake City, then Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Zion and back home to BC).

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Old 11-02-2014, 06:35 PM   #31
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Salt Lake City, then Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Zion
The place I was born and raised in, and all the places we went to when I was a kid. Nice trip.

I miss the scenery of Utah sometimes, but I don't miss the winters.
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Old 11-02-2014, 06:41 PM   #32
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Went to all those places last September and I still have red dirt in my truck.
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Old 11-02-2014, 06:43 PM   #33
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That trip to Utah was our way of celebrating my wife joining me in retirement. We have plans of going back for another look at the red rock country, but exploring further into the southwest. This is why we have ordered AC on our trailer, thinking it will be necessary in the heat of the southwest US.
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Old 11-02-2014, 07:09 PM   #34
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I looked up Downhill Assist in my RAV4 manual the other day. It's for crawling down steep terrain, not for highway speed.
I read someone's comments who used it and says it works best on long steep smooth downhills, not on rough slippery surfaces.
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Old 11-02-2014, 07:40 PM   #35
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Downhill Assist Control

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Did you try using the Downhill Assist on your 4Runner?
What was your loaded weight and tongue weight?
Good questions, Floating Cloud. The 4Runner's Downhill Assist Control System (DAC) helps in maintaining control on steep downhills in 4WD low range while offroading, and isn't for use at highway speeds in high range. I've always just used S-mode to downshift to the right gear when descending mountain passes, with or without the trailer.

I didn't get a chance to weigh the trailer, since we picked it up at ETI and took off on our trip right away. Reace and the 21' owners I asked all said ~4300 pounds with the tanks drained. The tongue weight would be about 10% of that, and I constantly checked that the 4Runner didn't sag at the rear or steer erratically when the trailer was hitched up.
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Old 11-02-2014, 07:43 PM   #36
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Tundra vs. Sequoia Smackdown

Everyone's input to this thread has moved us much closer to clarity about what tow vehicle we need. Thanks for your excellent advice.

We're going to the Big Smoke (Vancouver) next weekend and will check out recent, preowned Tundras and the Sequoias. We won't be towing again until late March, so aren't under pressure to make a quick purchase. It sure helps to have the list of contenders reduced to two.

Surprisingly, my wife just told me she would prefer the Tundra, because we will be able to pick up the soil, fish compost, and fertilizer she needs for the garden, and haul away prunings and stuff to the dump, so there's probably no avoiding buying a pickup truck now.

It looks like Costco, the only store in our town that knows how wide parking spaces need to be in the real world, will get most of our business once we're driving the bigger vehicle.
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Old 11-02-2014, 07:47 PM   #37
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If you don't mind, could you drop by my place with your new truck? I've got a whole bunch of junk that needs to go to the dump.
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Old 11-02-2014, 07:54 PM   #38
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Cheryl and I will be glad to help you out, Glenn. Got beer?
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Old 11-02-2014, 07:55 PM   #39
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Of course.
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Old 11-02-2014, 10:20 PM   #40
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Quote:
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Good questions, Floating Cloud. The 4Runner's Downhill Assist Control System (DAC) helps in maintaining control on steep downhills in 4WD low range while offroading, and isn't for use at highway speeds in high range. I've always just used S-mode to downshift to the right gear when descending mountain passes, with or without the trailer.

I didn't get a chance to weigh the trailer, since we picked it up at ETI and took off on our trip right away. Reace and the 21' owners I asked all said ~4300 pounds with the tanks drained. The tongue weight would be about 10% of that, and I constantly checked that the 4Runner didn't sag at the rear or steer erratically when the trailer was hitched up.

Someone is apparently saying that he used DAC on the road, not off-road, and it worked well. I would think it would be too slow for most places but if I were high up on a steep road, I would give it a try based on what he said.

4300 lbs. is a common loaded weight when you have put several hundred pounds of stuff in, which not many people can manage on pick-up. The only way to know tongue weight is to weigh it. I hear that BC scales are even free maybe. We have to pay down here.

The Sequoia gets bad gas mileage, much as I might like one, so don't know about that. It is possible to put garden stuff in big bags that look as if made with tarps. I have had those for rock and such.
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