[Vino]

I am fairly new to the forum, in this is a few highlights, stories, complaints, and if I can a few pictures. Tips at the end are highly appreciated.

As you all know I bought the 07 FJ with 141,xxx miles on it 6 weeks ago and my wife an I decided to tow our travel trailer to visit our kids in Colorado. (we live in California( I know, we will leave as fast as we can)). I have always had full size diesel pick up trucks before that my wife hated, but I never ever cared about tow capabilities. I hooked the trailer to the FJ, filled up the tank and we were off. Sort of, the trailer weighed 3800#s dry and we loaded it up, so when I say we were off I meant we crawled to Colorado Springs. We use a travel app called Harvest Host (big shout out to this company, look it up if you have a camper) and we made it from Sacramento to Barstow (yes it is a real place) in less than 10 hours. It is normally a 6 hour drive so I was happy(???) We set up in a place called Slash X Ranch that was having a trail event for off road vehicles, I so desperately wanted to unhitch and go with but the wife suggested that I spend time doing something completely more fun like scrabble. So we did that. We woke up and drove 60MPH (barely) at 4000 rpm (gas mileage sucks) to Grants NM and stayed at Uranium winery where it was 18 degrees at night. The heater worked in the camper and I brought a heated blanket so that was a plus. It was on Route 66 and served a pretty good pasta dinner. But the toilet in the camper was leaking fresh water so it made it a bit difficult. I tried to fix it on the fly and it made it worse. The FJ was not doing super well with the trailer and we hit a few windy spots that made my ___ pucker. We made it through, but probably should not have. We got to Colorado Springs in three days. The FJ got terrible fuel mileage. The wind was peeling the side of the trailer off, I had to stop and take a few screws out of the door jam and screw the siding back on. No, its cool, I did not look to much like a hillbilly. (NOTE-NO OFFENSE TO HILLBILLIES INTENDED).
My daughter belongs to a "ladies of toyota" four wheel drive group and she took me on a trail that was amazing. The stock FJ did better than the driver. I have never been 4 wheeling before and I really need a plan to get the rig up to par, Next time I don't want to get pulled out of a rut by my 26 year daughter (its not really embarrassing if you stop to think about it, dang, that is not true, I just lied) But really any tips on what to do, and it what order will be met with gracious thanks. I had a blast, it was one of the coolest things I have done in a long time, the FJ was fantastic. And A track saved my bacon ( and my ___).
Because we had such an issue towing the heavy trailer, we gave that Jayco to my daughter and we bought a Braxton Creek Free Solo that weighs 2300#s and was easier to pull. The FJ really does not like towing, We drove back to California (don't ask why, I don't know). and we still struggled with the trip, We did improve gas mileage to 7.5mpg with the lighter trailer and the southern route, but every molehill required 4-5000 rpms. The National Petrified Forest is amazing if you get the chance to see it (Petrified Forest National Park (U.S. National Park Service)). So I say all that to ask this,
The FJ is a daily driver and ride quality is very important. I want to use for two purposes.
1) I want to do so minor off road adventures
2) I want to tow a 2300 pound camper.

What are the upgrades that guys usually do to help with this? I tried to ask google, now all I get are ads for ED.

Cheers,

Vino

 

[Datajockeys]

Welcome to the cult of FJ. I highly suggest you look into the transmission and power steering cooling kits mentioned in the forum. Since you are hauling trailers, it is a must.

Please read the forum thoroughly before making any mods. Make a plan for your rig. It will save a bunch of money on re-doo’s. There is a wealth of information in here.

Enjoy the ride!

 

[Sanderhawk]

My Fjs mpg sucks when I pull my little harbor freight trailer. It is a great offroader though. I never bought it for the mpg. I tell everyone I bought it because it has 3 wiper blades

 

[Vino]

The wiper blade thing is pretty cool.
I am pretty budget aware and plans help me be successful. I love learning from other peoples experience. I have started looking at the tranny coolers, but power steering coolers are a new thought, thanks

 

[Iconic_]

Transmission coolers are a very common addition to FJ's that pull loads. It will keep your FJ's transmission much happier and last longer. Here is a kit that I sell to make it as plug and play as possible.

FJ Cruiser Transmission Cooler Bracket Kit

Ready to ship! These CNC pressbroke .120" thick 5052 aluminum brackets are designed to make transmission cooler installs a breeze for all FJ Cruisers. These fit the Hayden 678, Hayden 698, and Derale 13613 transmission coolers. The Hayden coolers are identical in size but the 698 is equipped...

iconic-fabrication.myshopify.com

 

[debFJVT]

X2 on the trans cooler and Iconic designs/products are top shelf 👍

 

[Dustin Harrington]

I just bought a tent trailer (1600lbs) and pulling up grades at 70mph was interesting to say the least. I have a 07 6MT lifted running 295/70/17. 5th gear at 3200 rpm to hold 70. Couldn’t imagine anything heavier.

 

[FJtest]

Vino -
It sounds like you're trying to achieve towing performance from your FJ similar to what you are used to getting with full-size, large-displacement turbodiesel V8 pickups, but that's forcing you to run a medium-displacement, normally-aspirated V6 engine at 4,500 - 5,000 RPM at wide-open throttle for extended periods of time. That's like running an engine continuously on a dyno, day after day.

In my opinion, that's really thrashing the driveline, and not likely to yield long-term engine and transmission reliability.

For comparison, the FJ's V6 generates ~270 ft-lbs of torque, while a Ford 6.7 PowerStroke diesel generates over 900 ft-lbs. You're not going to fly over Eisenhower Pass at 70 MPH in the FJ with a 4,800 lb. trailer.

I think a much better strategy while climbing grades would is to manually select whatever gear allows you to limit engine speed to about 3,500 - 3,700 RPM while you consciously maintain a maximum throttle opening of about 65%. Vehicle speed will be whatever the engine and load conditions allow at that engine RPM and throttle opening ... and for sure that speed will be far less than you could achieve with a big V8 turbodiesel. Worst-case, 6% grades at high elevations means you'll be crawling along at 35 MPH.

This is especially problematic with a normally aspirated engine at altitude. A non-turbo engine will lose about 3% of its sea-level HP with every 1,000 foot gain in elevation. This becomes very evident at high elevation, like you'll see running the high passes in Colorado. Your '07, when new, at absolute WFO cranked out 236HP at sea level. With nearly 150K miles on the odometer, current output undoubtedly is a bit less ... let's assume that it now makes ~220 HP at sea level.

At 10K feet, that 220 HP has dropped to only 154 HP. At 12K feet, that's further declined to ~141 HP, WFO.

Your large-displacement turbodiesel V8's were able to maintain a much higher percentage of their sea-level HP when at altitude.

In truth, the short-wheelbase FJ is a very capable off-road and overlanding vehicle, but barely adequate as a heavily-loaded tow vehicle. Toyota never intended it to be used as such, as it was never offered with a true factory 'towing package' (engine oil-cooler, an auxiliary transmission cooler, high-output alternator, etc.) that Toyota offers on the Tacoma, Tundra and Sequoia models intended to be used as tow vehicles.

 

[NVDojo]

Welcome from Vancouver, Canada!

 

[Mistermike87]

How about ditch the hitch and size down to an over landing style setup with rooftop tent? Take the towing out of the equation, add a small 2.5inch lift to level it all out (Bilstein 5100’s), upgrade tire size to 33 inch AT’s (wild peaks, ko2’s, open countries), throw in a bumper/winch to impress the daughter and pull HER out. Plenty of build threads on here to get ideas from but sounds like the trailer is holding you back.

 

[Kinseybugs]

I had an Airsteam Basecamp, towed with a 2019 Tacoma. Not ideal.

This is a local company that I’d seen from the Highway a few times, stopped in, looked and eventually purchased.

I think fully loaded, clothes, food, Jackery, two bicycles and various other needs about 1800-2000 LBs. The FJ knows it’s there, mileage is about 12-13 and speed is around 70ish on the highway and a bit less than speed limit on two lane highways.

Love mine, don’t use it enough, don’t miss dumping black water, but lack of the bathroom isn’t an issue for me.

I’d suspect a large part of the problem isn’t the FJ, but the frontage area of the trailer exposed above the roof of the FJ. So much drag.

 

[Kinseybugs]

Whoops, unintentional post

 

[Alpine_FJ]

I would be very conservative in regard to off-road mods if you plan to tow a trailer. Most off-road mods, like a lift or bumpers, will add weight and/or increase aerodynamic profile. both of which will rob you of power and increase fuel consumption. As far as not getting stuck in holes or mud, tires can make all the difference. You might consider tires with a more aggressive lug pattern. As Carol Shelby once stated: "There is never too much horsepower, just not enough traction".

 

[rotorhed1]

Bottom picture....

Flagstaff?

 

[bigfloppa]

4000 RPM? I don't know how towing in an auto FJ is, but in my 6 speed I can rock 3000 rpm and under no matter what the grade or trailer. Even at 8000'. 4,000 RPM is like, stupidly loud from the old 4.0

 

[Virtual-Chris]

Interesting... I just bought a travel trailer to tow behind the FJ last year, and was conscious of the weight so I went with a 17' Jayco Jayflight that weighs 2500Lbs. That sounds similar to your new trailer. I got an Andersen Weight Distribution hitch and couldn't be happier with the setup (see pic below). I towed it home from where I purchased over one of the highest mountain passes, and while I wasn't setting any speed or MPG records, it handled the job perfectly. I think I got about 12MPG.

For those suggesting Overlanding... my truck came with a Roof Top Tent from the previous owner, and my wife took one look at that and said, "there's no way I'm camping in that!" I can't really disagree with her. Climbing up and down a ladder, no heat, no AC, no bathroom... it's just not where we are at in life. Maybe when we were 20-something a RTT would have been awesome, but not now.

OP, as for mods to get your rig capable of off-roading, probably the most important thing you can do is get better tires, and a bit more clearance. So a small lift using Bilstein 5100s (considered the entry level setup - but very capable), a body mount chop job to clear larger tires, and then some decent 33" (285/70R17) mud terrain tires would be the best way to make your rig instantly more off-road capable.

 

[Hannibal]

$10K, 3K lbs, ~10 MPG. Sold it. I'd love a Tear Drop now but they've priced themselves out of reality.

The Escapod TOPO Drop that we wanted, they stopped making. Came out with a new version, TOPO 2, and increased the price to over $42K.

 

[Mistermike87]

View attachment 1227976 $10K, 3K lbs, ~10 MPG. Sold it. I'd love a Tear Drop now but they've priced themselves out of reality.

The Escapod TOPO Drop that we wanted, they stopped making. Came out with a new version, TOPO 2, and increased the price to over $42K.

View attachment 1227978 View attachment 1227979

42K????

rob·ber·y
/ˈräb(ə)rē/
https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf...2ahUKEwjGo8DC0vL9AhXKKEQIHeKeCcYQ3eEDegQIFhAK
noun

1. the action of taking property or money unlawfully from a person or place by force or threat of force.
2. SELLING TOPO 2 TEAR DROP TRAILER FOR 42 THOUSAND DOLLARS

 

[FJtest]

(big snip)
For those suggesting Overlanding... my truck came with a Roof Top Tent from the previous owner, and my wife took one look at that and said, "there's no way I'm camping in that!" I can't really disagree with her. Climbing up and down a ladder, no heat, no AC, no bathroom... it's just not where we are at in life. Maybe when we were 20-something a RTT would have been awesome, but not now.

Well, I guess its just depends on what kind of experience you want when your desire is to 'get away from it all'.
Like Hannibal says, "If you need music on the beach, you’re missing the point."

I think my hard-shell RTT is by far the best modification I've made to my truck, and I'm nearly 10 years past retirement age. GF is younger, but she loves the RTT too. When I load up the FJ and want to 'get away', I want to get as friggin' far away from civilization as possible, and the combination of the FJ's off-road capability and the RTT's comfort and practicality make that feasible.

Did your wife ever have an opportunity to spend a few nights in the RTT before you got rid of it?

 

[Virtual-Chris]

Well, I guess its just depends on what kind of experience you want when your desire is to 'get away from it all'.
Like Hannibal says, "If you need music on the beach, you’re missing the point."

I think my hard-shell RTT is by far the best modification I've made to my truck, and I'm nearly 10 years past retirement age. GF is younger, but she loves the RTT too. When I load up the FJ and want to 'get away', I want to get as friggin' far away from civilization as possible, and the combination of the FJ's off-road capability and the RTT's comfort and practicality make that feasible.

Did your wife ever have an opportunity to spend a few nights in the RTT before you got rid of it?

Yeah, everyone's different of course. Our preference is to use the trailer as a base camp and explore in the 4x4 and on-foot hiking rather than take our camp site with us everywhere. We will sleep in a tent if we're backpacking overnight, but that's very rare nowadays. Having a capable 4x4 and a travel trailer we can park at the campsite is the perfect setup for us.

Oh, and as for your last question... I wasn't making up what she said about it.