TOWING IN FIFTH GEAR

[jurasic]

Hey there, does any one have any idea if it is safe to tow a van/boat using the fifth gear? I have been towing my Jayco poptop (1.8 tonnes) in fifth and it doesnt seem to be a problem. There is nothing in the owners manual about towing only in 4th gear. What happens if it buggers up, will they still repair it?
A few people I know said they wouldnt use the fifth gear for towing
Any thoughts on this one. My tow vehicle is a 4x2 V6 Hilux 5 speed. :evil:

[jamiecracker]

i cant see why you cant tow in 5th
maybe the gears arent up to it
sounds strange

[Doug67]

There's been a lot of cars before hand includind Toyota's that have had issues towing in 5th, I for one try to avoid putting load when towing in 5th, so down hillI use 5th to level. ask ten people you'll get ten different opinions.

[shane308]

i try not to tow my work trailer in 5th if i can help it, like doug on the down hills when there not load on and not on roughish type roads where it could send a bit of shock through the truck

[4Hilux]

Main reason is 5th gear is a small size, & they don't like having big torque loadings being put through them. (Due to the smaller contact pressure point on the driving gear itself, etc etc.........).

[TOMUCH]

I personally would not tow in fifth... well anything heavier than a garden trailer... not loaded with rocks...lol... seriously, Jap 5 speeds dont like it.. 4hilux is right, the gear is so high, and the torque applied is pretty big, when towing, they can go pop....it happened to my old lux, and I would not risk it on my new one.. Having said that, if you on a nice flat, and only doing 80khp, then maybe not an issue, but get it up to 100+ then come to a hill, and put your foot down, well.......... Towing requires you to change your driving habits, so if you were careful , you might get away with it...Maybe if you went to the dealer, and stated that you are towing a van (under the towing limit of your car) and want to know if you can tow in fifth... all in all.. uo hills or rising ground... definately out.. Cheers TOMUCH

[jurasic]

Thanks for the info guys, am going away for two weeks with the van so I think I will stick with the 4th gear .. just in case.. cheers

[4Hilux]

Have safe travels - you'll probably find that there also won't be a big penalty in fuel useage, through not using 5th gear with the van, as the motor won't 'work' / be lugging in 4th. Not the the V6 will notice the van much anyway......

Cheers.

[Drew]

This also comes from the days when 5th was just an overdrive. And like the other guys said now its a small gear and adjust your driving habbits on the slopes

[mischief]

I constantly tow the race & car spares, sitting on 120 in 5th. No drama's so far (fingers crossed)
car weighs 1200, spares & trailer itslef, dunno..

[oskarandri]

4th gear should be better suited for towing when it comes to caring for you vehicle becaus it is a 1.00:1 ratio while 5th is 0.838:1. Also a mechanig once told me that 4th gear usually goes straight through the transmission while the 5th gear is to the side of the transimission... dont know what its worth and maybe this not a problem any more.... but on my old Hilux I always avoided using 5th while going up hill or when driving in low range.

[SambOz]

Any further ideas on this issue gents, is towing say 1tonne+ in 5th. going to damage the gear box ??

[Carlewy]

It's a legacy thing. In the old days 4th was 1:1 (before diff/final drive ratio) and fifth was an overdrive. I remember seeing ratios on here somewhere that still has fifth below 1:1 on the manuals. (just saw oskarandri's post above too).

The old rules used to be tow in fourth/1:1 but if there's nothing in the owners manual then I'd be sticking it to Toyota if you have a problem towing in fifth.

All the more reason to get an auto

Sand driving is easy as in me auto!

Incidentally, does anyone know if the Hilux has a locking torque converter for highway driving? I haven't noticed it locking up but it's really good for fuel consumption....

That's twice in one day I've posted off topic! Sorry mods....

[tonymtber]

4th gear should be better suited for towing when it comes to caring for you vehicle becaus it is a 1.00:1 ratio while 5th is 0.838:1. Also a mechanig once told me that 4th gear usually goes straight through the transmission while the 5th gear is to the side of the transimission... dont know what its worth and maybe this not a problem any more.... but on my old Hilux I always avoided using 5th while going up hill or when driving in low range.

Yes this is correct. The 4th gear is on the main shaft which runs directly through the gear box, where as the 5th gear in most boxes runs on a idler shaft, so the load is effectively diverted to this shaft where the smaller 5th gear is located. The bearings on this shaft are generally much smaller than the main shaft.

With the high torque that modern engines develop these days there are big problems with towing in 5th. Sure the engine can pull the extra ton or more in the trailer, but all this extra load puts serious strain the gearbox in 5th gear.

Really I don't see why people have the need to be in 5th when towing. At 4th the engine is not over revving at 110kph & it will pull much better with a heavy load on behind. By towing in 5th you may only gain a marginal bit of extra fuel consumption & have the very real risk of an expensive gearbox rebuild.

Stay in 4th & you'll never have any problems.

[Noidea]

Wish i had of come across this thread two days ago.................. Why I hear you asking?
Welllllllllllllllllllll, was coming home from the barrington tops on sunday night and was just cruising at about 100 or so towing my parents little jayco pop up caravan (around 1500kg's im guessing) and most hills i came to i could power up without having to down change due to the chip and my re gearing with my 33's. At no stage was i being silly or smashing the gears etc but at one point i had to down change to 4th for a hill and it didnt want to come out of 5th I first thought the clutch was on its way out and not disengaging properly and hense the load on the gear still and it not wanting to come out.
So i applied a bit more pressure and 'pop' out it came into neutral. I double shuffled and it slid perfectly into 4th, up into 3rd and back again, 4th then into 5th fine. Cant be the clutch i thought as it wouldnt discriminate between the gears.

So...... Has anyone else actually had this problem? If so what was it and was it expensive? Because the way its looking now with reading this seeing how much smaller 5th gear is and how its driven by a smaller drive shaft (is this actually the case with the new hilux's??) im wishing i had of known this before heading off.

Any help/advice would be appreciated.

Cheers, Josh

[danmcccc]

im pretty sure if you read thru the handbook itll say to leave in 4th for towing...and with the autos to not leave it in "D"

[Noidea]

No one had this problem? If im the only one i might try and hit up a warranty job. My trucks 8 months out of warranty but still under the 100K mark. Do you think ide have any luck?

[amitch888]

Can only try. Does it do it everytime your pulling out of 5th or just that one time?

[kyle300exc]

faaaark this is interesting stuff, I just got back from Mildura where I towed a 2000kg boat/trailer 1000 ks. I was cruising on 120 -130ks in 5th across the Hay plains and have never heard of only towing in 5th. You live and learn.
Thanks for the tip

[Noidea]

All the time Mitch, going to start pulling the box out tomorrow so ill let you know wat the outcome is