Towing with a Land Cruiser

I just bought a '95 Land Cruiser with the 4.5L I6 engine. When you see one
of these things out driving, it usually has a hitch installed, but you
rarely see anyone towing anything with one! Anyone here use one to tow a
boat or trailer? How did it do? My guess after driving my LC for a couple
weeks is that the brakes are excellent for trailering but you'd hate to have
to pull anything heavy up over a mountain pass...

-jeff

You are Correct!
We foolishly drove our 1996 LC from Michigan to Yellowstone and the
Tetons in Wyoming during July 2004. Our camper "pop-up" and all of our gear
easily topped 3000lbs...FAR BELOW THE GROSS RATING for our LC. Although our
old LC made it up and over and back, my wife nearly KILLED me during every
hill ascent. We were the vehicle in the far right lane or the right
shoulder if possible. It was typical for our engine to sound like it would
die, the thermostat to climb dangerously high and our hearts to collectively
skip beats. As soon as we pitched camp and dropped the camper trailer off,
we zipped along through the mountains, down the two tracks and along the
highways. Sad to say, our drive home was filled with the same anxiety as
our trip out there. After our trip I asked a number of knowledgeable
Toyota/Lexus mechanics about my story, and they all agreed that my car was
typical for a Land Cruiser. It will probably last another 200K miles (we
currently have 140K miles on the vehicle). Now we're contemplating either
adding the TRD Supercharger for some towing octane, or looking at a 1998+
model LC with the V8 set-up.
I agree that the LC is a hoot to drive, and I hate to see ours go...the
decision on its fate is still up for grabs. our camping trip this summer is
out to the Atlantic coastline. So if we can clear the rolling hills in
Pennsylvania, and clear my wife's murderous threats against the beast, then
the LC might live a long life in our family.
All the best of luck with you Cruiser!
---David (BonnyLT) and family
1996 LC (loaded) at 140K miles and 'cruising'
"Jeff Olsen" <handywired@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:BE48368E.459B%handywired@earthlink.net...
>I just bought a '95 Land Cruiser with the 4.5L I6 engine. When you see
>one
> of these things out driving, it usually has a hitch installed, but you
> rarely see anyone towing anything with one! Anyone here use one to tow a
> boat or trailer? How did it do? My guess after driving my LC for a
> couple
> weeks is that the brakes are excellent for trailering but you'd hate to
> have
> to pull anything heavy up over a mountain pass...
>
> -jeff
>