Hey guys, just returned from a trip to Ky pulling my motorcycle on a 5x8 trailer that is very light.. My problem/question is this. My truck seemed so underpowered. It would drop alot of speed going up long, but small incline hills on the interstate. I would have to acclecterate to get the trans to drop to a lower gear. The winds were bad also and this did not help.. Is the 3.4L really tha underpowered or is something wrong with the truck? My truck has 22455 on it.. Also does it hurt the truck while pulling, to press accelerator down and cause Rpms to jump into the mid-3,000 range..this seems the only way to keep speed up..Thanks

Flat bed or covered/enclosed trailer?
How's the mileage?

sounds odd, last summer I pulled an 18' skiboat and a truck load of stuff over the cascades and then up and down some other mountains in the heat of summer (eastern Washington is desert) I did 70+ and quitw often 85 the whole way I did it with some frinds who were hauling boats as well (one bigger one smaller) they both had big superduty desiels. I kept up just fine and when it came time to fill up ya their gas milage hadnt changed to much and mine was nearly half of normal but we all had about the same milage 10-12mpg not bad considering gas was 30 cents cheaper.
look at your red line its up at nearly 6 grand your engine is fine at 3 even 4 grand (its a toyota!) in fact you'll find there is quite abit of power hiding up there. just be sure to use the right grade oil and toyota recommends castrol for some important reason I cant recall why just now though
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He is absolutely right. All you real horsepower is found at the higher RPM ranges, especially at highway speeds. When I was towing my travel trailer around (about 5000K LBS fully loaded) I would often stay in 4th at around 3200-3500 RPM to keep up speed on hills and windy days. Be diligent about your maintinance and your truck will be just fine. I just turned over 100K on my 2000 and it purrrs like a kitten. One thing to try is octane boost for those towing trips. Sometimes the Tacomas can trow a lean code when towing or WOT. A little more octane can help prevent this leaning by allowing your timing to stay where its needs to be. Guys, correct me if I am wrong, but that has always been my understanding. Like he said it's a Toyota, they can more than handle your abuse. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

i think you only need to worry about leaning out with the SC other than that good gas (no ethenol) reg or mid should be fine, clean air filters are important too, a mecanic friend of mine said if you are filtering out something measured in microns and you cant see it, then what does that tell you about the dirt you can see?

First,
Thanks guys for all the feed back. My trailer im pulling is a flat bed and weighs nothing really.. I can had pull it around the yard easliy. The next thing is, i don't really put my foot in the toy. I really hate for it to drop down and throw the rpms up. I have read that also about more power out of the Tacomas at the higher rpms. I was running a little over 2000rpms and it would kick down to about 3200 and pull better. This is my first Toyota and im pleased besides my trip, but if you guys don't think it will hurt to put a little more foot into her, i might let those rpms run up a bit more. Once again thanks for the information..Also i have not transcooler will the higher rpms hurt the truck..Thanks

you should get a trans cooler if your going to pull/haul a lot or just for peace of mind. its kinda deceptive with the rpms it sounds like the engine working hard but really you are just unleashing it, it would take some pretty serious sustained abuse to make one of these engine go gutless, I havent seen one without decent power yet. my 95.5 had 120 130k on it and it went like mad
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yeah man, increase those RPM's. I had a three wheeler on my truck, plus I was pulling a little crapy "bed"...it was like a datsun bed complete with its axle, and chasis, and yes, it weights alot, more than the bikes alone! I couldnt pick it up or move it myself. And on top of that I had another three wheeler. Plus all the other little good stuff, not to mention me my "oversized" passenger. Going up hills I had her in 4th gear hitting 4K rpm, she was running just great. Stuck it in 3rd a few times and kept her up at 60mph. It was a lot of weight, but it was able to handle it easily at the higher rpms. Hit the ECT button and it'll shift at higher rpms, then you'll see the speed and power appear. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Just over 2k rpms? Wow that's low for a 3.4L at highway speeds, these things dont' perk up until almost 3k rpms. With the stick it's really easy to tell; just idle in 2nd or 3rd gear then hold it on the floor. About 2800rpm it starts to wake up. So far it's had plenty of torque for me at the boat ramp at the lower RPMs, but for towing at highway speeds you should probably let it spin faster.

What kind of gate is on your trailer? A buddy has a flat metal mesh trailer that is light, but it's got a 6' tall tail gate made of metal mesh and that thing is like a parachute at highway speeds. If you've got a big gate like that then that will definitely affect your towing. Don't forget that at highway speeds, the weight is no where near as much a drag as the wind resistance. I tow my 2000# boat at 65 in 5th gear and get about 16mpg, so weight wise you should have no problem at all with an open motorcycle trailer. But wind resistance can be an issue depending on the design of your trailer.

This is funny in a way, because when I first bought my '94 3.0L V6 I was hesitant to rev it. However, these Toyota engines work best when they are revved, it sounds like the 3.4L V6 is no exception. I actually had my best power and mpg in my 3.0 when I kept it around 3200 rpm.

The 4-cyl I have now seems best over 2800rpm. Below that, it goes ok, but not great.

We have been so accustomed to American V8's (and even some 6's) and their low cruising rpms that we think this should apply to our Japanese engines. It doesn't apply, so let er rev.

(My wife's CRV's 4-cyl just absolutely sings and pulls very well over 3000 rpms - not applicable here, but it seems to be the M.O. in Japenese engines.)