Towing Toughness

[Tacomotion]

I am presently looking to purchase a travel trailer and found a 20' unit but the weight isn't readily available. What size trailers are some of you hauling without powering out?

[lsocoee]

You should really find out the weight of the trailer before you buy it. What is the model of the trailer? Maybe someone here has a way to locate that info.

Maverick should stop by soon, he is the resident towing expert.

[Tacomotion]

It's a 1988 20' Travelaire with tadem axel

[TheMaster]

Its not necessarily the size of the trailer. I pull a car hauler (see picture gallery). Its ultimately what you load on it that matters. My heavy duty 20 footer weighs about 1800 pounds and I still load 6000 to 7000 pounds and pull with little difficulty on hilly terrain. I'm no expert so chat with Maverick.

[TheMaster]

Originally Posted by Tacomotion

It's a 1988 20' Travelaire with tadem axel

Oh, that kind of trailer. I have a 39 foot 1988 house trailer Elite (tandem wheel). It weighs 7000 pounds, dry weight. With furniture, fridge etc it adds up. Too much for the Taco and I've never pulled it with my Taco and wont even try it. Your 20', I dont see a problem.

[lsocoee]

Originally Posted by TheMaster

Oh, that kind of trailer. I have a 39 foot 1988 house trailer Elite (tandem wheel). It weighs 7000 pounds, dry weight. With furniture, fridge etc it adds up. Too much for the Taco and I've never pulled it with my Taco and wont even try it. Your 20', I dont see a problem.

what do you tow it with?

[JDB]

I pull a 2004 22' travel trailer with mine. Fully loaded it weighs around 5000-5500 pounds. I pull it any where I want, but I am by no means the fastest. Flat freeway I can cruise at 65-70 but as soon as I hit any sort of hill it poops out pretty good. I pull it quite often and have never seen any sort of rise in temp or any other problems.
It helps a ton if you get a trailer that has an angled front end. Not a flat wind stop front.
Oh and your milage hits around 8-10 mpg!

[tdm156]

Check out this guys set up
http://www.tacomaworld.com/gallery/s.../1/ppuser/5594

[maverick491]

Originally Posted by Tacomotion

I am presently looking to purchase a travel trailer and found a 20' unit but the weight isn't readily available. What size trailers are some of you hauling without powering out?

Sorry was on vacation.

I pull a 2006 Jayco 197 19' 7" weighing in at 3750 wet and loaded, and can cruise all day at 65 mph in 6th gear for all but the big grades, and unless we are towing in the mountains I really never have to drop below fifth.

However, this is an 88 you are looking at so lightweight technology then was not what it is now, so I suspect that with a tandem axle (assuming that they are dexter 3500# axles) then your GVWR will likely be between 6000 and 7000 pounds. With your CCC (cargo carying capacity) being likely 400-600 lbs.

So in theory that should make the wet but un-loaded weight of this trailer in the 5400-6600 pound range. But a quick internet search did not give up any more concrete numbers than that.

Have the prosepctive seller take it to a weigh station for you. (any truck-stop, recycling yard, or bulk rock center should help you out for a small fee to use their scale)

If you determine that the trailer is within the 6500 pound tow rating of the Tacoma, then follow the steps in the towing bible and she'll pull it like a champ.

Regards,

[TheMaster]

Originally Posted by lsocoee

what do you tow it with?

I get a RV mover. The guy has a Ford dualy. The last time I had it moved from a construction site, they had to use 2 dualy's to pull it up hill.