Nervous about towing my trailer.. should I?

I have an 05 Prerunner, no towing package. But I do have a good receiver hitch installed, electronic brake controller. and the B&M transmission cooler is on the way.

I recently ran in a deal on a trailer that simply could not be passed up.. an used twice 08 Skyline Layton 247 LTD bumper pull.

27'8' 3900 pounds.

I pulled it from where I bought it to the storage (about 10 miles) and the truck seemed to have no issues pulling or stopping it.. But Im still nervous.

any thoughts? comments? warnings?

 

no problem, I pulled about 5500 lbs worth of trailer about a 100 miles once last year, I felt confident the whole time.

 

if you have electronic brakes i would not worry at all. that is the biggest problem with these trucks is stopping the weight that you are pulling. I pull a 20' Arrow Glass boat (3800#) alot without trailer brakes and it still does fine.

 

went 170 miles round trip. 4500 pounds or so total with the kayaks, ice chests, fishing gear and other items.

No problems, truck wont stay in OD past 65mph but no biggie.

Probably going to get some air bags to help level her out a bit, but other than that I think Im good to go.

 

you should not be towing in over drive anyways, It's too hard on your tranny IMO, just put err in drive & go, shitty fuel mileage is to be expected.

 

I thought what was damaging was hunting (truck jumping out of OD to 4th constantly) I didnt think just cruising in OD at say 60mph was bad..

what exactly makes it any harder on the trans than any other gear?

im not sure what you mean by just put it in Drive I have 1-2-3-4 and D .. it I put it in D that will allow overdrive yes? so I should just leave it in 4?

 

I leave mine in 4th when towing anything heavy, mainly to prevent it from jumping from 4th to 5th, but od is just a weak gear. Hopefully someone else will jump in here & agree / disagree with me. I need to check my owner manual.

 

I do believe it's the gear hunting that's bad. Gear hunting = heat = bad for the auto. I'd leave it in 4th at all times if I were you.

 

Yeah..The hunting under load is the issue. If the truck wants to use the OD gear and stay there it's not any more weak than anything else. There was a disucssion a while back about not towing in 5th ot 6th on the manuals...but if the engine can provide the RPMs for it...Who cares what gear you are in...Just don't let it hunt or strain or lug.

 

I have pulled a lot of stuff with my taco. 18 ft bass boat, a 95 4-runner 4x4 and various other big loads. Not a problem with any of it. Taco handled it with ease.

 

I always leave my truck in 4th gear when towing. I believe that is what the manual says to do.