clueless on towing heavier items

There is no reason to guess.

Lots of people never open their owner's manual. Towing is a good reason to do so. Toyota has provided a methodology for determining maximum capacity for safe operation. The maximum weight of the towed load is reduced as the load in the truck itself approaches the maximum. There is a step-by-step method for determining load limits in the owner's manual.

The 2010 owner's manual explicitly states that

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The combination of the gross trailer weight added to the total weight of the vehicle, occupants and vehicle cargo must not exceed a total of the following:

2WD models except PreRunner - 7500 lb.

4WD model and PreRunner

2.7L 4-cylinder (2TR-FE) engine: 8000 lb.

4.0L V6 (1GR-FE) engine:​

without towing package 8100 lb.
with towing package 11000 lb.​

-------------------------------------------------------

Using my 2010 4x4 V6 DCSB, without towing package, as an example:

GVWR 5450
GAWR FRT 2755
GAWR RR 3110
GCWR 8100

2755 + 3110 = 5865

The GVWR is less than the sum of GAWR FRT + GAWR RR. This allows less than perfect load distribution at the maximum load.

The maximum trailer weight is affected by the loaded truck weight

Without the V6 towing package, 8100 - 5450 = 2650 maximum towed load, less than the 3500 lb. tow rating.

If I had the V6 towing package, 11000 - 5450 = 5550, which is less than the 6500 lb. tow rating.

There is additional guidance on trailer brakes and sway control.

Every person who carries heavy loads in their truck and/or tows anything at all needs to understand how this works.

Your life, the lives of your passengers, and everyone else on the road depend on it.

Way more than my 2 cents,

Mike

 

Excellent post. Before I towed my load any distance, I studied the manual, measured my tongue weight, repacked the trailer, got the tongue weight where it should be, drove to a weigh scale, and got an axle by axle weight, front, rear, and trailer, and the total. Then confirmed all of those were within the limits, or in my case, I was at the limit of gcwr. I may have been 70 lbs over, I didn't have the dog in the truck when I went to the scale. oops.

 

Good post, that was exactly my point. Just because the books says maximum tow rating = 6500, does not automatically mean I can tow any trailer that is 6500 or less.

And I am staying on the low side with the Taco because I love it and I have had to replace at least three transmissions before on other vehicles and I know that two of them were due to mistakenly overtowing enough to shorten the life of the tranny.

It also say's right in the manual, towing will affect the life of your vehicle.

 

You might look into one of these.
http://www.pullrite.com/pullrite.htm


Here is a video about how it works.
http://www.pullrite.com/pullrite_video.htm

 

I did look into them. They are for full-size trucks only. The Tacoma is not on their fit chart, and a phone call confirmed that they are not adding any new vehicles to the list. Their sales department says that there is very little demand for them, and they are not developing them for any additional vehicles. It is an interesting idea, but looks excessively complex.

Mike

 

I recently had occasion to recover my car on a trailer using the Taco as the tow vehicle. The all up weight of the combination was 9960 lbs. The trailer was equiped with surge brakes. The route was 200 miles through the mountains. The Tacoma handled it just fine, but I wouldn't want to do that every day. If I needed to tow that much weight every month I would get a bigger truck, for once or twice a year, it's fine.

 

I wouldn't want to be anywhere near you towing close to 10k lbs with a Tacoma. That's just plain irresponsible.

 

Do you think he means that the combined weight of truck and towed load was 9960? That's well within the limit for a 4x4 V6 with tow package.

Mike

 

Ah, if that's the case, nevermind. I thought he meant the car trailer and car weighed almost 10k lbs, my bad.

 

I did the same thing (except mine was a fox body Mustang) and 100 miles of the 600 mile trip was through the Ozarks. I took my time and drove cautiously, as anyone towing anything should. The truck did fine.

As others have said, if I were going to do this sort of towing often I would consider a bigger truck. However, at 5200 lbs all in with the set up you have I'd say you will be just fine. Even when adjusting the max tow number for total vehicle weight you are still in the safe range.

Knowing a few corporate lawyers, I am certain that if Toyota rates this truck to tow 6500# you can bet they safely towed at least 2000 #s more than that when they designed and tested the truck. If you spend any amount of time here on TW you will discover that there are some members who believe they know better than the folks who design and build these trucks, but that's just how the internet works.

 

Those same lawyers will probably also say that if you are operating in excess of the stated limits and somebody is injured or killed, your liability in an accident may be far more than your insurance policy will cover, and that the lawyers arguing for the surviving family members will seek to take everything that you own and much of what you may earn for the rest of your life. Not fun.

Mike

 

I towed over the limits when I moved from Ohio to Virginia. I towed a 6'x12' Uhaul box trailer. Going over 60mph caused the trailer to sway. 65mph made it almost uncontrollable. I kept it under 55 for the rest of the trip. It was slow on hills, got pushed around bad by wind, and sucked hard on the gas pump.
I have towed with full size trucks, hay wagons, hay trailers, 2-6 horse trailers, and smaller. I have done it in all weather conditions available in Ohio, and was comfortable doing so.
I would not be comfortable hauling that large of a wind catcher/trailer with a Tacoma. I don't care what the weight limits are, physical dimensions also come into play.
If you do plan on towing it anyway... make damn sure you load it properly, and have trailer brakes. You will not always have the luxury of stopping in a nice controlled manner.

 

Nothin' I love better than guessing how much extra margin I've got until things go to hell in a handbasket!

 

That would be nuts! Cars rarely weight more than 3000lbs, that would be 7000lbs of flatbed trailer!

 

OP: Read through this recent thread if you haven't yet. Seems like it has lots of relevant information to your situation. He ended up getting a full size.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/towing/279977-grey-wolf-21rr-toy-hauler-2013-limited-4-0l-taco-extras.html

 

Thanks for the information. I have a friend that has one on his Ford and he says it is like day and night to other hitches. Not complex at all. He got it so when his wife drives and it has calmed her nerves he says. Too bad they are not making them for the Tacoma.

 

Yes the combination weighed in at 9960, 2200 lbs car, heavy trailer, and a few hundred pounds of work stuff, off-road stuff and tools in the truck.

 

I think you guys misunderstood my comment. I am in no way suggesting that he, or anyone else, should tow over the tow rating of the truck. I was pointing out that if the truck is rated at 6500#s, then it has been determined that it can safely tow that amount of weight. Manufacturers, when testing, don't determine that the truck fails at 6501#s and then rate it at 6500. They have a margin of error built in to the rating.

The OP's stated load of 5200#s is 20% below Toyota's stated tow capacity of 6500#s. Based on that, it seems to me that he has enough remaining capacity to safely tow this trailer.

 

There were some good posts in this thread though stating that there is a lot more to GCVWR than just the weight of the trailer. You can't look at just the weight of the trailer and say 'yep, you're good', you have to look at the setup as a whole. There is also a big difference between towing a flat bed, low, heavy load that weights 6,000 lbs vs. a 6,000 lb travel trailer that catches a lot of wind. I understand what you're saying about the factors of safety that are built in to a vehicle's stated capacities but there is also a lot of gray area around how they got to that stated capacity in the first place vs. what it can realistically safely tow/haul. It's the result of marketing people twisting numbers to show a high claimed tow rating when in actuality, once the truck is loaded, you'd have to be left with a 6,500# trailer with a 150# tongue weight in order to get to the max GCVWR.