Gen 3 Towing Thread

That is what I thought, the guy at the Toyota dealer said the same thing. He said if I was towing from the east coast to the west it would probably be best to get a Tundra, but for short trips and with proper equipment, I would be more than fine. It shocked me that they didn't try to up sale, but being genuine honest car sales men. Also seems like a lot of the 2nd gen owners are bashing the 3rd gen's and I am not really sure why.

 

Posted this in anther thread but here it is again. Towing about 4K loaded up with full bed of wood. No problems with the new weight distribution hitch. Averaged 13mpg over about 6 hours total drive time. Bodega Bay, Northern California.

 

You can get them with turn signals and heat but loose the blind spot function. They work on the gen 3 trucks.

 

What automatic gear position are you guys using when towing? Leave it in D or use S and manually shift?

The owners manual doesn't say much about it. On my recent trip I used the ECT PWR button and the D position. If the cruise made it downshift and rev like crazy I turned off the cruise and accelerated more gently.

 

S and shift. You'll likely spend a lot of time in 3rd gear.

 

I'm always willing to learn. Are you taking exception to their claim that weight behind the axle contributes to "tongue weight" or ?

Thanks!

 

The Tacomas tend to squat a fair amount. I think a $250 set of airbags would be well worth the cost.

 

So my thoughts about towing with my 16 BCLD are as followed,

When properly set up, the tacoma is capable of towing 6500 lbs and In my opinion does a great job.

**A WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION HITCH IS A MUST OVER 3,000 LBS**

My example below is a 16x7 horse trailer, The trailer gvwr is 7,000 lbs, which puts the cgvwr over the legal limit so that could cause some legal issues.

-The trailer is #3800 empty
-loaded with 2 horses, #6200

living in the foothills of the application mt, i do encounter hills. Truck does like to search for gears if not in the manual mode. Never did i feel unsafe about lack of power or breaking. You can defiantly feel the trailer, but thats expected for a set up like this.
These trucks have come along way in the past few years, and are defiantly capable of pulling there own weight. Don't let the haters talk you out of a tacoma.

cheers

 

Which weight distribution hitch did you go with? Just wondering because your truck looks like it's sagging quite a bit. Also did you use the ECT button while towing?

Thanks for your towing writeup.

 

Nice set up.

 

Truck is 3680 lbs
Trailer is 1297 lbs

Tacoma pulls is like a champ. I do have a manual transmission with the lower gear ratio differentials though. 5th gear will hold speed within 2mph on grade. So I'm happy with it.

For the trolls out there.
The picture was before I tied the truck down on the trailer (cross chained with 17000 psi chain and ratchet binders), I have a brake control (Reese Pilot 3 axle), I did not feel like hooking up my weight distribution hitch (Blue Ox Sway-Pro) just for a test tow of about 30 miles. Oh and yes the front wheels on the Tacoma are chocked.

 

technically speaking, if you are over your "combined" weight rating you could be in trouble with the insurance company. If they find out you were towing a trailer rated for more then your allow, they will laugh at your clame all day.

Weight rating are all based off max rating for both trucks and trailers and not the actual weight, stupid, i know

 

the wd hitch is from the factory. All horse trailers are front heavy because thats the only place to store stuff, so it does tend to sag a bit

 

A set of $250 air bags might be beneficial in your case. Tacomas tend to sag more than other brands but overall your truck seemed to not sag too much. Good to know as I will be towing a 3,000 lb trailer.

 

Towed this little guy up to Payson over the weekend. Didn't even feel it back there, 3,600lbs
Sorry the only picture I took of it them together! haha

 

While this post is not strictly about towing, it might be interesting to those considering air bags or helper springs. I put in SumoSpring helpers (

$280 SSR-610-40 | SumoSprings Rear for Toyota Tundra, Toyota Tacoma, Nissan Frontier, Nissan Titan

http://www.amazon.com/SuperSprings-SSR-610-40-SumoSprings-Solo-Upgrade/dp/B00O4GD38M ) for towing. Today I picked up about 800 lbs of dirt to fill a garden bed. I measured the height from the ground to the bottom lip of the rear fender before loading (36 1/2") and with the load (35 1/2"). I plan to tow with around 550 lbs of tongue weight so these SumoSprings seem to really do the job. Easy to install ( about 30 minutes) and no hassles with airing up bags. Smooth ride either with or without the load. That's my 2 cents.

 

These Sumo Springs look like a solid alternative to air bags (which seem like a hassle to me). Thanks for sharing.

 

Wow , I think there has been a run on these sumos since about a week ago because of TW. I went to Amazon to buy them after a thread on TW that day . Ecustomhitch had 5 sets of them on Amazon for $193 with shipping,(I bought 1 set) . By the next morning they were all sold out and the next two lowest sellers were sold out also . Now they are $244 ! Mine are on the pile of goodies waiting for my DCOR LB . It is supposed to be at the dealer this week . Now if only someone would make a good set of Towing mirrors .

 

That was quick! When I ordered through Amazon ==> eCustomhitch it was 180.



Earlier this year when I towed a 24' trailer I bought these mirrors. They worked well for me - no scratches on the truck mirrors and I was able to just barely see around the trailer.

http://www.amazon.com/Fit-System-38...&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

 

How wide was the trailer ? I may have to get these until someone makes non clipon ones .$180 is what I paid also with 12.95 Shipping for the sumos