Adding rear leaf paks/travel trailer

I've got a 3rd Gen DCLB OR with tow package. I'm looking at a TT in the 4kish dry weight. Who here has found that additional leaf paks were needed when towing their TT. Of course, I will have a WDH but I was just curious. I've read some are using Sumo springs or airbags. I'm not really interested in these since I still plan on some off-road adventures.

Thanks....

 

Howdy, I towed a 4kish TT back with my 2011 Tacoma, but it was 2WD so I airbagged it. Still, even with that, it was a pretty hairy ordeal due to 4k dry = usually 5k to 5.5k loaded and ready to roll. Main issue was crosswinds on bridges and headwinds, but we got it done.

I imagine with a WD hitch and maybe an AAL it might help, but if your offroading is mild, airbags are still probably fine. If you haven't offroaded much, it will likely not seem mild, but will be mild. If you're gonna offroad pretty good and want better quality leaf packs, I suggest looking into the Dakar packs from Headstrong Off Road. I bought a light pack and it's great, even with a heavy bassboat and occasional TT tow. The leaf packs vs an AAL are costlier, but the ride unloaded is still nice.

 

Thanks. I understand I will be taking a small risk with crosswinds towing a TT wet at 5kish pounds. The WDH should help. I was thinking more in terms of the HS 3 leaf or the light pak vs a single AAL. If I do that might as well go with OME 885's and new shocks too Thanks for your input.

 

I went with OME 887s, LR UCAs with OME Nitrocharger Soft ride up front, and OME Nitrocharger shocks with Dakar Light Duty rear leaf pack, and that gave me about a 2" lift all around and less body roll and still a good ride, with better payload handling (less squat for sure).

885's up front on a 3rd Gen might only give 1" of lift, where the light duty packs should yeild approx 2.25" to 2.5". Therefore it would increase your rake 1.25" to 1.5" over what you have, and likely make it lean forward until you put it under a load.

I don't know what WD hitch you have in mind but honestly, do your homework before you just buy the ones you see at the TT dealership. They love to sell the normal ones, and while those are fine, there are MUCH better options for only a little.

Research Reese Dual Cam WD Hitch with Sway control, Equalizer, and Hensley Arrow. Those are better than you normal "chain" based WD Hitches.

For brake controllers, I prefer Prodigy P3 from Tekonsha and also a Redarc controller.

 

Good point on the 885 and the light-duty leaf paks in regards to rake. Figuring out what needs might be when wanting to tow seems to be a little tricky. Another thing is I'm not really not wanting to go up in tire size from 265/70/17 so finding the right look, rake, and ability for towing creates challenges.

I'm seriously looking at the Husky Centerline TS for WDH and will look at the others you advised in as well. Already made my decision on the P3.

Thanks.

 

Talk to Marie @HeadStrong Off-Road about what you need, how much lift you want. She dialed me in and I plug her when I can because I am still super happy about how everything turned out. She deals with hundreds of lifts a year and has been doing it for years so she's probably had more than a few people trying to do exactly what you are doing and has some idea of how to get it right.

I also have a P3 and it's been great for 7 years.

P.S. She has the best prices on LR UCAs (comparable to group buy prices IMO), and if you lift more than 1", I'd spring for it for the upgraded durability and ease of getting alignments right. I'm probably about to buy them for my 4Runner too.

 

I have spoken with Marie a few times but that was before I started in the idea of getting a camper. That girl loves to talk lifts. Very well educated company!

 

Thank you for the recommendation @fajitas21

@Blktre I love to talk in general

 

Second gen here but after a summer of towing the TT I decided the stock spring is just not up to the task, even with a WD hitch, so I went with Dakar leaf pack with the 3rd leaf removed (you want their new HD pack). The ride is much better and the wheel travel when off-roading is significantly improved over the stock pack. This is paired with extended travel Fox 2.5s up front and Fox 2.0 remote reservoir shocks in the back and I've been running 265/75/16s.

 

I tow 3600 dry and usually a generator and some water along with every-camp stuff packed away. I have a WDH and Sway bar. I went with Sumo Springs because they don't limit travel much. I don't do much crawling but I do drive a lot of off road but it doesn't feel much stiffer. Most of the feeling is when the front end bobs instead of the back end on the highway without the trailer