Tow haul/beast mode question

Recently got a Tundra and love it! Just had a question about tow haul and beast mode. Do they have any long-term impacts on reliability? I’ve heard people always turning tow haul on, would that cause issues down the road?
- Alex

 

Other than a constant smile, I can't think of any ill effects

 

There are no reliability impacts that come from using Tow Haul mode on a regular basis.

 

Can’t imagine they would put it on there and tune it for it if caused a problem. It’s freaken amazing taking off from a stop light against some kid with his version of a nice truck. It hasn’t let me down yet.

 

Does the tow/haul button affect 0-60 time? How do websites such as 0-60 collect their data? Do they use the tow/haul button on their tests? Just curious.

 

If you own a tundra; try it with and without. It’s pretty crazy. I love it.

 

It's awesome. Definitely wakes up the truck. I have not recorded my own 0-60 times.

 

I started to use tow haul all the time because I like how it holds gears longer but its just to jerky from a stop, I like to take off smooth and slow especially if i have something in back but when in tow haul you really need to feather it so it doesnt lurch forward from a stop.

 

When used for actual towing or hauling, exactly the opposite will be true. Having Tow/Haul and using it when towing or hauling will likely improve the prospect of long-term reliabilty. Tow/Haul was designed by Toyota to help the truck respond more appropriately to the additional load and type of load being applied. They have given the driver a binary choice (Towing/Hauling? Or Not?) in order to simplify design for optimum performance.

Beast Mode? Not in the Owner Manual. I would expect the same affect on long-reliability reliability as from any owner testing of machinery performance and mechanical limits. Frequency and degree of testing will determine the timing and magnitude of the impact.

 

When my daughter was a little girl, she used to roll her eyes when Daddy would give her long explanations in response to a simple question.

 

I would suggest getting a Pedal Commander then. You can tune (lack of a better word) the throttle response in 4 different modes with 8 submodes on each setting.

 

LOL. At least you admit some simple questions may require more explanation than desired.

If he had asked what he was really asking, "If I beat the hell out of my Tundra using 'Beast Mode', will it affect my long-term reliability?", then the answer is simply one word...YES.

 

Yeah you definitely have to have a dainty touch off the line.

 

Beast mode is likely how this truck would have performed "stock" back before all the safety crapolla stuff they've added in the past decade or two.

 

My wife does this now. She's learned not to ask me questions.

 

Helps a little to push the tow/haul button a half-second or so AFTER you launch. Same benefits with a slightly easier pedal off the line.

 

Which is better, tow/haul mode or manually shifting?

 

The S mode doesn't actually manually shift. It just puts a limit on the highest gear the truck will go into. For examply, put it in S Mode and set it to 5, and the truck will drive like normal, shifting up and down as needed, but it won't ever go any higher than 5th gear. You can try to run all the gears manually with it, but it's not actually giving you control of the gears. If you tell it to shift up before the designated shift point, it will ignore you until it reaches the proper RPM to go up a gear. It will listen if you tell it to go to a lower gear, though, so be careful to to drop gears at high speed and damage your truck.

 

Good question, but I use the tow/haul mode when pulling my trailer and it does a pretty good job of staying in the gear needed to deliver. Takes some more human effort out of the game.

 

I would think using tow/haul mode all the time would improve reliability even though it would probably be negligible over the life of the truck. It decreases the slipping of the torque converter inherent in the normal mode.

 

Actually you'll hear a beep and it'll ignore your down shift until proper rpms are achieved. At least mine does going from 2nd to 1st, not sure about the higher gears though.

 

Good to know. I've never really tried it. I just assumed you'd wanna avoid it. Still not gonna try it!

 

It also makes the truck hold gears longer, so you are running at a higher RPM than would be needed for most tasks. So you'd spare the torque converter at the cost of increase wear everywhere else, wouldn't you? I'm not a mechanic at all, and it's the tale end of a 12 hour shift, so this is just where my potentially broken logic points me.

 

I don't think this is exactly what OP was asking but when you're towing, the manual says to use both tow/haul and S4.

 

Not for towing.. for hauling asss

 

this isn't true, if you're going too fast for the gear you're trying to go into it won't let you. if you're doing 70MPH and try to go into 2nd, it'll beep and refuse to do it. it'll go to 3rd though and give you some nice engine braking. I do it all the time to save the brakes, especially down mountain passes. It even cuts fuel if it can.

 

Mine did the same thing, but now she appreciates that I gave her real answers.

 

Can you elaborate. I believe that's just for when you are using for braking assistance on hills not normal driving

 

Not sure what you're asking. The owner's manual says WHEN YOU'RE TOWING, put it in S4 and use tow/haul mode.

 

I read as when using the engine to control to put in s4 . Can you reference the page you are referring to?