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Air bags are great for towing. They keep the back end balanced and you can lower the GX to separate the tow hitch easier.
I lifted mine and lost the bags and miss them now ( airlift bags are ordered and on their way)
Currently I tow a 14ft 3000lb trailer. It handles well and while slower I've had no problem with steep hills ( 3rd gear is your friend ) also did well off road with trailer in Tahoe national forest ( in the summer)
5000lbs may be tough once loaded with gear water ect it will be closer to max weight.
If you want to do it with the GX you'll want the transmission cooler (might be an option on 20+ off road package ) and secondary brake controller.
I have a 2 place snowmobile trailer that I pull regularly, it's an open deck, but with a big salt shield across the front, and that thing pulls like a parachute!
I'm not surprised to hear your mileage suffered with that much trailer sticking up above the truck.
Thanks for the replies so far. I should have included stopping in my original post, since an equally or more critical part of the equation.
A bit more background....the wife is vehemently opposed to a truck. She in fact hates them with a passion. I love the GX and miss my first gen... great truck, but breathless. should have never gotten the RX in favor of the new GX. Great and reliable vehicle, the RX but mostly useless outside of a grocery getter.
Anyhow, here we are again staring at a GX, but this time as a happy medium to get out with a travel trailer and battle the other millions with the same idea. Anyway, desperately trying to avoid costly mistakes around the undersized trailer or truck. Even most tiny Airstreams are 3500 pounds. I’ve watched a few 4Runner towing videos and the car is screaming it’s head off on every hill. Doesn’t seem the GX will do much better with its V8?
I may have to cancel the whole outdoor thing if the GX proves inadequate. It’s why I’m asking my Lexus brethren the questions here. While the RX is boring, there’s still no point in upgrading a paid off vehicle, if all we are going to do is struggle and ultimately do nothing more that venture out to Costco!
We pulled a 16 foot v-nose enclosed trailer with a 1500 pound car and a handful of parts across the country 18 months ago. Same 8 MPG, really couldn't go faster than 65 the whole way.
The GX is an okay but decidedly not great tow vehicle.
Thanks for the replies so far. I should have included stopping in my original post, since an equally or more critical part of the equation.
A bit more background....the wife is vehemently opposed to a truck. She in fact hates them with a passion. I love the GX and miss my first gen... great truck, but breathless. should have never gotten the RX in favor of the new GX. Great and reliable vehicle, the RX but mostly useless outside of a grocery getter.
Anyhow, here we are again staring at a GX, but this time as a happy medium to get out with a travel trailer and battle the other millions with the same idea. Anyway, desperately trying to avoid costly mistakes around the undersized trailer or truck. Even most tiny Airstreams are 3500 pounds. I’ve watched a few 4Runner towing videos and the car is screaming it’s head off on every hill. Doesn’t seem the GX will do much better with its V8?
I may have to cancel the whole outdoor thing if the GX proves inadequate. It’s why I’m asking my Lexus brethren the questions here. While the RX is boring, there’s still no point in upgrading a paid off vehicle, if all we are going to do is struggle and ultimately do nothing more that venture out to Costco!
I find the braking performance below average on the GX honestly. I don't wanna sound like am trashing the GX because I absolutely love mine so much so that my family now owns another one but the braking is admittedly poor. There was another post on here about someone who had to do an emergency stop (no trailer) and ran out of braking pressure before coming to a full stop. I am kinda sketched out by the brakes on mine as well as I feel like I have to dig really deep to get any bite whatsoever. Lol the two criteria you listed are probably some of the GX's most glaring weak points (for myself at least). If I were buying just to have a comfy highway cruiser or daily driver with some off-roading ability I would take a GX in a heartbeat but honestly, towing wise the GX is poor. It has a pretty sharp lack of power compared to some of the other alternatives for towing and you really feel that especially on inclines (downshifts like mad). I drove with the shifter in the "s" position locked in 5th gear when I was towing and found that to be most optimal. At anything above 65 expect to have to work the engine very hard to maintain speed. This was not a pleasant experience for me. For context the GX does not have that much more power than the 4runner, I just find the drivetrain to be smoother and more refined, plus the V8 feeling and noise helps. In terms of towing It would definitely do better because of the additional torque but likely not better enough to make it a viable choice for a long-distance trip with a heavy fully loaded trailer unless you are happy going 50mph. YMMV just my thoughts. Let us know what you decide to do!
I find the braking performance below average on the GX honestly. I don't wanna sound like am trashing the GX because I absolutely love mine so much so that my family now owns another one but the braking is admittedly poor. There was another post on here about someone who had to do an emergency stop (no trailer) and ran out of braking pressure before coming to a full stop. I am kinda sketched out by the brakes on mine as well as I feel like I have to dig really deep to get any bite whatsoever. Lol the two criteria you listed are probably some of the GX's most glaring weak points (for myself at least). If I were buying just to have a comfy highway cruiser or daily driver with some off-roading ability I would take a GX in a heartbeat but honestly, towing wise the GX is poor. It has a pretty sharp lack of power compared to some of the other alternatives for towing and you really feel that especially on inclines (downshifts like mad). I drove with the shifter in the "s" position locked in 5th gear when I was towing and found that to be most optimal. At anything above 65 expect to have to work the engine very hard to maintain speed. This was not a pleasant experience for me. For context the GX does not have that much more power than the 4runner, I just find the drivetrain to be smoother and more refined, plus the V8 feeling and noise helps. In terms of towing It would definitely do better because of the additional torque but likely not better enough to make it a viable choice for a long-distance trip with a heavy fully loaded trailer unless you are happy going 50mph. YMMV just my thoughts. Let us know what you decide to do!
I think in many states, the legal limit is lower than the stated limit when towing. https://www.doityourselfrv.com/state-towing-speeds. Also, going slower (55mph) helps solve both power and braking issues with the GX.
Maybe look at a Durango - I think that can pull 8k or something.
I have a stock 2014 GX 460 Lux with airbags. It is fully adequate at towing our InTech Sol Horizon Rover (~3300 lbs, 19 feet). While not an airstream the Intech has a great design worth considering. Quality is great. We are a family of 3 (2 adults, 1 small child) plus a 40 lb dog. Does great in Colorado. A little slow up the mountain passes but not too bad. May lift it in the next year but will be looking for away to maintain some sort of airbag function in the rear.
Towed a 3500 pound trailer all over Colorado in my GX - can it be done , yes , but I would never do more than that. Brakes were a constant issue on long descents , sluggish shifting on ascents , some gear hunting. Love my GX but there are far more capable vehicles for towing out there if you are going to be doing it more than a couple times a year.
I have a stock 2014 GX 460 Lux with airbags. It is fully adequate at towing our InTech Sol Horizon Rover (~3300 lbs, 19 feet). While not an airstream the Intech has a great design worth considering. Quality is great. We are a family of 3 (2 adults, 1 small child) plus a 40 lb dog. Does great in Colorado. A little slow up the mountain passes but not too bad. May lift it in the next year but will be looking for away to maintain some sort of airbag function in the rear.
Towed a 3500 pound trailer all over Colorado in my GX - can it be done , yes , but I would never do more than that. Brakes were a constant issue on long descents , sluggish shifting on ascents , some gear hunting. Love my GX but there are far more Iapable vehicles for towing out there if you are going to be doing it more than a couple times a year.
Is 3500 total gross weight of the trailer or dry weight.. Thank you
I have towed my 4200 lb dry, 5500 lb GVWR trailer around Utah a little bit and the GX did fine. The trailer is 24' total length. I pulled it from the Park City area to the Ashley National Forest near the Colorado boarder which involved going over the 9300' Wolf Creek pass and then a climb from ~5300' in Vernal UT to 10000' where our camp site was.
Stability: I run a Equalizer weight distribution hitch. Wolf Creek Pass is a winding 2 lane road that climbs 3000' and then descends at least that far. The GX handled great, and I actually thought it did better than my Supercrew Long bed F150 in the twisties. After that it was a lot of towing in the wide open country at 65-70mph and I had to fight some side winds. Not bad, but probably 15+ mph and the GX was stable. No white knuckling whatsoever while running at 65mph.
Power: Power is ok. It's not going to win any races but it pulled the trailer along at 65mph without much issue and will get up any hill at 60mph if you want it to. Also, remember, I am at elevation. My living room is at 6500' so I am down 20% on power and torque vs someone at sea level and power was still adequate to keep the trailer moving along. If you are at sea level, I bet it would be solid. Also, an Airstream should help in this regard. The overwhelming consumer of power when towing a travel trailer is the aero drag and a Airstream should be a lot better.
Cooling: My coolant temps literally never broke 200 on a 70+ degree day. The transmission was a different story. It hit 245 at one point so I got home and immediately added a Hayden cooler with my own bracket that I fabbed up. I haven't towed again since adding the cooler but suspect it will stay in the low 200's.
My GX does NOT have factory air bags. it has the coils and I did add some AirLift bags in the coils. This was less for towing and more for supporting weight I put in the truck while towing, like the dogs and other crap. The problem with using air bags is that it makes setting up a weight distribution hitch difficult. The hitch depends on the suspension sagging a little to tension the spring bars which helps keep your front axle loaded. You want the suspension to be in a little compression with the WDH hooked up. If you were to hook the trailer up, engage the WDH, then level the back with the air bags, you would be unloading the WDH springs and stopping them from fucntioning
So it is my personal opinion that I would rather not have factory air suspension for towing. Supplemental air bags, used only to provide leveling before hooking up the trailer, are ok.
Where I would be less excited about towing with the GX is if I was heading out into Wyoming, Idaho, or South/West Utah where you have wide open landscapes with LOTS of wind and very high freeway speeds. The towing speed limits in Utah and Wyoming are the posted speed limits so its not weird to have 18 wheelers doing 75+ mph. You need to be able to keep up with traffic to not be dangerous so I wouldnt wanna run any less than 60mph and preferable 65mph. If you get caught out there on a day with a 30 mph headwind the GX won't have enough horsepower to keep up. You would be WOT just to maintain 65mph on flat ground. This is where my F150 comes in because the Ecoboost is making 120-140 more hp than the GX at elevation.
First post and first time towing considerable weight behind my '12 GX 460. My wife and I are purchasing a toy hauler @ 22ft, 426lb hitch weight, 4999lb gross weight. Other mid-size pickups can tow more weight (the jeep gladiator) but test horribly and are borderline unsafe. Now I'm worried that a) need to replace my GX, and b) safety.
Thank you for your help. FYI we are getting a Wolf Pup 18RJB
03-21-21, 11:30 PM
Toy Hauler Towing Performance