towing in 5th gear

I was advised by the RAC that it was inadvisable to tow in Overdrive 5th in these types of Boxes. Nissan Toyota etc.

Nissan told me it was OK to tow in 5th and the box stripped the spline on Top Gear at about 45,000. Friend with a toyota and a lot heavier van than yours had his box rebuilt three times because he refused to tow in 4th because Toyota said it was fine to tow in 5th.

So who knows, I know a lot of people with Toyotas and Nissans who have towed in 5th with no problems. I now tow in 4th and the difference in fuel economy is closer than a bee's whisker.

alot depends on the speed and weight of what you are towing. A 750kg rated trailer 5th gear will be ok, a caravan or boat, generally you are only travelling around 80 - 100 kph, not really fast enough for 5th gear, too low speed = too much work to drive 5th gear and 5th gear is the weakest gear in almost any manual gearbox.

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Do you know if you have a cast iron case gearbox or the alloy case gearbox. If not sure where is your low range (do you pull the short stick straight down (alloy) or down than across> (cast). If you have a cast iron box fifth gear sits on the back of the counter shaft and is not supported by a bearing, towing in fifth gear is very hard on this gear. With the alloy boxes fifth gear is supported on both ends and can deal with more load but is still hard work for fifth gear. I have an alloy box in my Toy and tow a Kimberly camper trailer and only use fifth gear on down hill runs and flat running, in the hills I only tow in the first 4 gears

hope this may help

Lee

Running a Mazda Tribute, 4 speed Auto with a Challenge C/T.

We got close to killing the gearbox in our car recently. It was on day 2 of a Red Centre trip. Found tranmission fluid sprayed from the front of car to the back and onto the front section of the C/T.

Fixed in Broken Hill at the BP. They installed a second cooling unit and replaced the (very black and burnt) transmission fluid.

For the rest of the trip and in subsequent trips with the C/T, we always drive with the O/D off and no cruise control!!

With towing the C/T, at the slightest whiff of an incline, the car is going back to 3rd pretty consistently. Less of an issue in the outback but heading out of Sydney over the Range and through the towns out west, the gearbox is doing a lot of work.


Cheers.

Hi Dennis,

If you still have your owners manual have a look in it.
Toyota don't recommend towing in fifth gear (manual trans.) or overdrive (auto trans.)
In saying that I will use 5th if I am towing a light load only, and 4th for everything else.

hope this helps.

Cheers
Henry.

Hi All

When we tow the Van, I disengage the Overdrive,and push the
Power Button on, which is written in the Manual, no problems at
all, might use a bit more diesel which is insignificant in the whole
scheme of things.

Cheers
Daza

Hi Dennis

I am pleased to see that most are advocating not towing over a tonne in overdrive of fifth. Usually this question gets replies from a few who say they always do and haven't come to grief (YET). It may cost you a bit more in fuel, but not only are gear boxes expensive to repair/replace in Cruisers, but the cost could be extreme if you break down in a remote area.

Motherhen

I know this problem only seems to affect Toyo's and Nissans..( I drive a CRDI Terracan.....gearbox probs unheard of ?? )

But what if you like to drive at 110K's ?? Mine would be doing approx 3500rpm and thats a bit high for my liking ??

3 new gearboxes in the ol bitsamissing triton 4x4 2.5TD eventually convinced me!

I don't think any of them were under $3K

If you look inside the gearbox and see where the O/drive lay shaft is out tio the side and the tiny needle roller bearings that support it - then you woiuld understand and never tow in 5th.

One of the supposed 'fixes' for that particular box back in the day was to have the alloy box housing mounted up in a lathe and the bearing races for the OD lay shaft at each end turned out to take a larger bearing race with ball bearings rather than pins...

450,000km's and the last repaired box is still going strong - a new owner has it now - hopefully it won't et him down!

Cheers

Fella's, might be a silly question, but with a six speed manual (Nissan Navara D40 diesel) is it OK to tow in 5th?
Cheers
Gary

Agree with all those against towing in OD. Apparently it's not only the transmission/gearbox which will suffer, but also the motor.
A free revving motor will last a lot longer than one which is straining in lower revs. Particularly for petrol motors.
Fuel consumption is much the same and it's a much more pleasant trip if you are not constantly having to worry about changing up and down at every hill or head wind. Just turn the radio up a bit if you don't like the higher revving sound of the motor. Better for the motor/transmission and the wallet.

Ken D
Bris

My previous vehicle was a Nissan Terrano 2 - 2.7 TDI, just on 400,000kms, many of which were towing an 1100kg camper trailer using 5th gear as much as possible.

dz

we tow a 11.5" 1500 kg off road (sort off) caravan, and I tow in 4th gear. The Toyota operators hand book say to tow in 4th because of the greater braking effect, it says nothing about the load that the 5 th gear may take. We have a Troopy and the gearing is such that you don't have to change into 5 th untill 100 km/hr so seeing how the speed limet in Wa is 100 km/hr when towing over 750 kg we have no problems.

cheers

and hope this is of some help

Richard

Only just got a chance to get time to get back on. Thanks to all that replied to my original thread, Re towing in 5th. I think I will stick to my present practice of towing in 4th. The last time I towed a van was back in the 70s with a three speed nissan patrol.

thanks again, dz.