New RP 180!!! - R-pod Owners Forum

Originally posted by OldNeumanntapr

Drove to the coast over highway 46 and pulled the 1,740 six percent grade in almost 100 degree heat. The Tacoma pulled the rPod just fine in fourth gear with the overdrive locked out. I was taching about 3,800 and the truck never felt like it was straining. 55 and 60 mph but that was just fine.

One thing I am very glad I did with my FJ Cruiser is add an auxiliary transmission cooler. Around $50 to $60 and 30 minutes work. Drops the transmission fluid temps about 30°. If your Tacoma is like my FJ it doesn't have a transmission temperature gunge so I added a Scanguage (which has to be tweaked to get the TF temp). Normal is around 180°. The worst of the Smoky Mountains was 250°+ without the cooler.

Toyota won't tell what's too hot for TF but the longer it's hot the more it deteriorates. Oh, yeah. There is a TF light. From what I can tell when it comes on it doesn't mean let things cool down, it means you TF is cooked and needs to be changed.

Fourth gear is good. Going up a long hill, if the tranny is dropping to 3rd you'd do well to shift manually to 3rd too so as to avoid having the auto transmission search for gears. That's what really builds up the heat.

Check out a Tacoma forum and ask about pulling a 3500 lb trailer. I'll bet the biggest response will be to add a transmission cooler.

All that said, if you have the factory tow package you may already have enough transmission cooling, but it's still something to look into and be sure.

TT

2010 176
FJ Cruiser

Now it's time to head up CA198 up to Red Fir, or CA190 up to Quaker Meadow. Big smile

Never leave footprints behind.
Fred & Maria Kearney
Sonoma 167RB
Our Pod 172
2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost

This is awesome!! Camping for the first time with the rPod 180 at the beach. Programming the TV now. Doxies don’t quite know what you to think of all this.

Did the walkthrough today at Pacific Coast RV. The tech explained everything and was very thorough. The dealer gave me $750 in trade for my ‘89 Coleman and also gave me a $350 voucher for the parts dept. I was able to upgrade the battery from the group 24 to a group 27. Also got towing mirrors and a new drop hitch and ball and part of my brake controller was also covered. Had to pay for the installation of the brake controller plus a pigtail for the wiring. They adjusted the trailer brakes and they feel very neutral.

Had to buy some new doggie steps at Petco for the doxies to be able to get up on the bed.

Drove to the coast over highway 46 and pulled the 1,740 six percent grade in almost 100 degree heat. The Tacoma pulled the rPod just fine in fourth gear with the overdrive locked out. I was taching about 3,800 and the truck never felt like it was straining. 55 and 60 mph but that was just fine.

The service dept guys who set up my drop hitch said I did NOT need a WDH and the Tacoma would pull it just fine. They were right! On flat ground I never knew it was there. Hills were slow but no problem. Definitely better than my ‘67 VW bus!!

Camping now at Morro Bay Dunes, private RV Park. Just picked programmer the TV and checked out the cable TV !
Still marveling at how much nicer the rPod is compared to the tent trailer.

I’m getting a set of Hellwig overload springs, model #979, for the back of the Tacoma. They are cheaper than air bags. I’ve used them before when I had my F-150 and they help a lot, especially with body roll and to raise up the back of the truck.

We picked up new rp-180 in Nevada. Very much like it. What I did for the extra tongue weight is to install a pair of air springs. This way you can add or let out air to get the trailer level when it is driven. The tongue weight on the RP180 is more than most of the other rpods. About 335 lbs. The extra weight makes it tow much better. Are you going to be at the get together in Oregon in August?