Advise on towing

we are looking to purchase a trailer that is almost 26 feet long and 4800pounds... We have a 2013 v6 with towing package so it can tow 6500... But I can't find any info about a max length??

 

Read and completely understand the towing bible thread at the top of the forum. Tongue weight, loaded trailer weight are VERY important when it comes to towing. Loaded tongue weight must be under 640lbs, with batteries, propane, tires, loaded trailer. None of these weights are included in the manufacturer tongue weight number; it should be measured (but can be estimated). Weight distribution hitches are wonderful, but don't reduce tongue weight. And there is a general rule of thumb for stress free towing. For the trailer (especially if you are going to tow up grades to mountain camps), trailer weight loaded and ready to roll should be under 80% of the max truck towing capacity. For the Tacoma, the loaded trailer should be under 5120 lbs., which in your case leaves 300lbs for batteries, fresh water, toys, food, camp gear,etc. The Tacoma CAN tow heavier, people do it all the time, but is it fun to tow? You will get various opinions about that.

Max length means nothing.

 

What kind of trailer? A 26' flatbed with 1300 lbs of useable load isn't very useful to me. A camper with that weight will be under weight, but length doesn't mean nothing isnt correct if you drive anywhere with wind. Surface area is king when you're concerned with being blown onto your side in the interstate. A longer trailer with questionable brakes will more easily control a tow vehicle at or beyond its tow rating than a shorter trailer, its leverage this time. Jacknifing during a hard stop can be entertaining, but not in a fun way.

Figure 110" of wheelbase gets you about 20' of trailer.

Many moons ago i towed a light but long boat with my jeep.wrangler. not fun. Bought a beat to hell chevy 1/2 ton and trips were so much better.

 

It's a shadow cruise 227dbs. It's actually 4515lbs not 4800 like I thought. We do not take water with us as we go to campgrounds with water hook ups (we have 2 small kids so we don't go into the back country) we live in Canada (Alberta) and don't go far but we do go to bc and fully understand it's gonna cost much more on gas and be a tough pull though the mountains. We pull a kodiac 3200lbs dry weight right now, 18 foot.
Our hitch is rated for over 14000 pounds so that's no issue there. How do I find the tongue weight of this trailer? We don't own the trailer and it's at the dealer which is 45 minutes away from me... I have the brochure, but doesn't say tongue weight. It has hitch weight? Is that the same thing? We are new to towing.

 

Mostly good advice with the exception of the last sentence. Max length does matter. The longer the wheel base, the longer the trailer that can be towed.

The main thing you want to pay attention to trying to tow with a Taco is PAYLOAD!!! You will likely run out of payload capacity long before you exceed any other limit.

In my opinion, consider a smaller trailer or get a bigger truck.

 

https://www.etrailer.com/faq-how-to-determine-trailer-tongue-weight.aspx

 

We don't have the trailer tho... It's at the dealer. Will they know the trailer tongue weight?

 

This ^^^^
And in most cases getting the bigger truck it typically the better option instead of worrying about pushing it with the Tacoma with a smaller trailer.

 

Ya not sure if buying a new truck is an option lol. We live in Canada and our camping season is like May-sept haha. Not really worth upgrading a truck for the short camping seasons

 

Just got an email back from the dealer and he said the tongue weight is 545

 

Yea, I agree- I was a bit hasty with that last remark. I know that with longer trailers, wind/sway can become an issue (tail-wagging-the-dog situation), finding campsites in state forest campgrounds that will fit can be problematic, etc. I think I just wanted to emphasize that length should only be considered after the total towing weight is determined to be OK. Didn't achieve that- I stand corrected!

 

Well, if that is correct, look at the tire load sticker in the driver door jam to see what your trucks payload rating is. Subtract 545 from that figure and that is how much people, dogs, cats, coolers, & crap you can add to the truck after hitching up. Doesn't leave a lot of room for payload.

 

Yep, I just bought a 37' toy hauler. Cool camper, but now I can't fit in any campgrounds.

 

Curious why you have a class 4/5 hitch on a taco.

tongue weight is variable, the more you load up front the higher it is. Load enough in back and you can go negative.

What you're describing is imo a lot of trailer for not a lot of truck.

 

We always wondered that too... It was the dealer with our current trailer that sold us it... It's only a 3100lbs 18 foot. We are trailer newbies, we only bought our current one last year in August

 

I would really consider a smaller trailer. I bought a Rockwood 2306 which is a 3700# dry 4700# max trailer and it was too much for the Taco in the mountains. It would have been ok if I lived somewhere flat, but the transmission was not liking pulling it up hills. The trailer you are looking at is 4500-4800 DRY and empty. Just with normal camping gear (no water) you will easily be over 5000#. Don't do what I, and many others have done, which is buy a trailer on the edge of the truck capacity only to realize that you went too big. I just sold the Taco and went full-size since I knew pulling that trailer with the Tacoma would only lead to transmission issues over time. I think the 6400# tow rating on the Taco is way too generous if you are talking about a 8'x10' frontal surface area TT. Good luck and happy camping!

 

We recently purchased a shadow cruiser 185 FBS. It weighs like 3500# dry. I would say stay under 4000# dry to comfortably tow with the Taco. Also depends on how far you are planning to go. I would have bought something bigger if I was only going a couple hours away. Even still you are probably going to want a weight distribution hitch, towing mirrors, a good brake controller, and rear air bags.