Gen 3 Towing Thread

. Good luck with your search. Btw, this thread isn't all about you so chill out.

 

I tow 5000 lbs of boat with my Tacoma. I definitely wouldn't want to tow anymore. Can't believe that MasterCraft is that heavy dry! My trailer has great surge brakes and electric brakes. When I get around to it I'll install a brake controller. Surge are good for now. I only tow short distances. Max was 100 miles round trip so far.

 

I tow around 2ish thousand miles a year and plan to do more. Luckily I’ve still got a 6.7 powerstroke I can borrow to get the job done. It’s a 23ft boat, and she’s heavy! The stereo definitely adds a lot, and so does 65 gallons of fuel. Man I miss summer lol

 

I'm in the same boat (no pun intended). I have a 2500 diesel to use if needed. My normal tow is either 3 miles or 15 miles depending on which body of water I want.

 

we tow a travel trailer with our 2017 tacoma trd offroad.. it weighs 3750 pounds empty.. probably around 4000 loaded.. using a weight dist and anti sway hitch with it.. towed the trailer 700 miles home from grand rapids to south jersey.

truck has plenty of power towing it across PA on rt 80 and those hills.. damn thing was wound up at about 4000 rpm most of the way which i didn't like so much. guess it needs to be up in the RPM's because of the lack of low end TQ it has.. . according to the trucks computer it was only getting 8mpg which kinda sucks especially with such a small gas tank.. needs a 35 gallon tank in it... no sway but is a little bouncy at times...

took it to Lancaster a few weeks ago and it was quite windy out.. still towed nice.. gusts of wind got me a couple times but it towed straight and steady with no issues.. still only got 8 mpg.. truck only has 2000 miles on it though.. not sure if it will improve any with more miles on it..

my question is why a truck with a factory tow package doesn't come with any type of tow mirrors... i had to buy those stupid strap on tow mirrors...

may step up to a tundra down the road..

 

Just an update... after buying the 3rd gen and using it for my landscape business pulling trailers 6 days a week it's done better than I could imagine I recommend no one be timid to tow with these trucks (within reasonable limits) as they perform just as well and in my opinion better than the 1st and 2nd gen in the towing dept. 7k miles of towing in less than 6 months has made all the negative Nancy reviews/gripes from tw and other places all but disapear. While I'm sure they could be some lemons in the group this truck has performed flawlessly as I had hoped.

 

how heavy are the trailers you are towing?

 

I'm about to purchase a Carolina skiff and will be almost the exact same weight. Do I need to get a trailer with brakes?

 

If your trailer has tandem Wheels and brakes on at least one axle and weighs 3000 lb or more it would be a good idea to use a brake controller to assist while braking under a load. Better safe than sorry. Tacoma 66

 

Most states have a legal requirement for trailer brakes over a certain towed weight. Most are in the 2000-3000lb range.

 

Good thought you're right it would be best to check with the requirements for trailer brakes in the state in which you live. If trailer brakes are required it would definitely be an advantage have a brake controller. The weight I was using was from personal experience.
Tacom66

 

My normal setup is a minimum of 2500lbs due to a 1300lbs mower and that's without fuel or oil. Trailer has to be 800 to 1k lbs. If say more like towing 3k daily and honestly can't tell there's something back there. Plenty of power. I pulled this same setup for 6 months with my 2.7l first gen til I got tired of clutch issues (east tn is just hills lol).

 

Any idea what your tongue weight is? I tow a 16ft open car trailer with my racecar on it and I estimate the total weight to be around 4000lbs. I am trying to decide if I should do a weight distribution hitch and some sort of helper spring or just the weight distribution hitch alone.

It looks like your truck is staying nice and level.

 

I tow a 5000 lbs boat. My tongue weight is >250 lbs, which puts me over my 5% min threshold. I do not use a WD hitch, but I've considered it. I don't sag much with that tongue weight.

I learned a lot about tongue weight recently after purchasing this boat. The trailer was setup wrong and had maybe 50 lbs of tongue weight.

As long as you position your car properly and tow level you should be good to go.

 

@iamthewheelman in those pics the trailer is empty so the book says its about 420 pounds. it has a weight distribution/ anti sway hitch on it.. i have no helper springs at all.. though air bags may help bounce some.. like stated though you can control tongue wight with a car trailer by moving the car forward or backwards on the trailer...

 

Thanks for the help. I load the car as far back as I can on the trailer right now, so if the tongue weight is over 450lbs I will have to figure something out as I researched that 10% of total trailer weight is a good number to shoot for. I really should measure my tongue weight as it would be invaluable info to have so I am not just assuming numbers.

Great, thank you! What WD hitch did you go with?

 

Husky Center Line Weight Distribution w/ Sway Control

 

Hey - as per written in the Toyota maintenance schedule book, how many of you towing sorts got a dealer oil change the first 5,000 miles and a driveshaft lube every 5,000 miles? Did the dealer charge extra for the 5,000 mile towing oil change, and the every 5,000 mile driveshaft lubes?

Here's a link to the 2017 manuals, 2018 can get them here too: https://www.toyota.com/owners/resou...addToVehicleList=false&remRecentVehicle=false

 

haven't gotten there yet. only have 3000 miles on my truck..

 

Pulled a loaded 2400lb dry Funfinder X139 quite effortlessly through mountainous British Columbia. Lots of power above 4000 RPM and doesn't feel unsettled in that range. I have no equalizing hitch and it doesn't squat whatsoever even with the box loaded up. It was fairly new with about 1000km on it and I averaged about 18L/100km (13MPG) on that trip. Overall very happy with it!