Dear Scotty,  if you r still in RI, I would like to bring my SR5 to you because of a very weird sound that comes out of it when I have is heavily loaded and try to drive up even a modest hill.  The sound is just like that made when you put a baseball card on the spoke of a bicycle wheel.

I have taken it to the largest transmission shop in the area.  They cause new damage.  And I took it to the local Toyota dealer.   One of their service managers came for a test drive with me, heard the sound, and told me that is normal.  Right.

This noise and inability to climb moderate slopes all started after i pulled a 25 ft boat out of the water at a ramp.  Pulling out took lots more power than ever before.  When I finally did get the boat out I found the resistance problem was a flat tire on one side of the tandem trailer.  And there was alot of water in the bilge that flooded into the boat right over the stern engine cutout as I was trying to pull the boat out.

I am a short ride from Rhode Island.  So unless you have already headed south, maybe you can help me out.

Thank you,

Steven - <personal info remove for your protection -mod>