Towing upgrade - yes or no?

I've got a 2010 V6 crew cab. It has a hitch but not the tow package from Toyota. Can I install all the parts for the tow package? Is it worth it? Trying to upgrade my towing capacity from the 3500 to 6500 lbs.

 

Make sure it’s the stock Toyota class 4 hitch and not a standard class 3 hitch. The class 3 is only rated to 5000lbs. Also yes you can upgrade to the tow package. All you need is the 130 amp alternator, oil cooler and tranny cooler and possibly the trailer wiring harness but seeing as your truck already has a hitch I assume it has a 4 pin if not the factory 7 pin.

Edit: another thing to think about is if you do upgrade and sell your truck later it’s vin will still be linked to the 3500lb limit.

 

This question comes up often. You can do all the mods and additions you want and it will technically increase tow capacity and make towing better and more comfortable. But the manufacturers tow rating does not change. Only the manufacturers can change the official vehicle tow capacity rating. You will probably never have a problem towing over manufacturers tow rating if you do the changes you suggest. Here is the problem, if you tow over manufacturers tow rating and have an accident you may get your ass sued off. If law enforcement spots you are towing over the limit (no matter what mods you do) they will write you a ticket. Most LEO’s are trained to look for this during an accident investigation. If it’s an injury accident you are screwed whether you’re fault or not if towing over manufacturers rating. So keep this in mind if you tow over 3500lbs no matter what mods you do.

 

Possible, but not practical. Even with the tow package these trucks are realistically limited to 4500-5000 lbs even though they may be listed as 6500 from the factory. You'll spend a lot of money for a small gain. The issue is limited payload on these trucks. While the drivetrain will PULL a 6500 lb trailer, a 6500 lb trailer along with the required WDH will eat up almost all of your available payload. And if the driver is over 200 lbs you'll be over loaded with no other passengers or cargo in the truck.

FWIW, this is the case with all trucks, even most 3/4 tons. The max tow ratings they list assume only a skinny driver in the tow vehicle. Start adding any passengers or cargo to the truck and the realistic tow rating goes down. If you really need to pull 6500 lbs you need a truck with a tow rating closer to 9000. And you'd have to choose carefully if buying a 1/2 ton. Most of them aren't rated to tow 9000 lbs.

 

Legally, for insurance purposes, there is nothing you can do to your truck and increase it's factory listed GCVWR which is the number you need to worry about. Max tow ratings are essentially marketing tools/gimmicks for the manufacturers sales department. That number, the 6500 lbs that most people think is the weight it can tow, is for the most part meaningless. To accurately find what you can ACTUALLY tow with your vehicle, you need to calculate TRAILER TONGUE WEIGHT, weight of the passengers and gear inside the tow vehicle and compare it to your GCVWR.

 

Not sure where you're located but I have a factory class 4 receiver in my garage (Reno NV) if you need to upgrade that to get closer to the 6,500lb capacity.

 

Most of this, except what you describe is the number you need to keep under your GVWR, not GCWR, which actually makes it worse. Dunno about a DC, but on my AC it's a little over 5200lb., and I have the factory tow package.

I looked in the manual, and the highest GCWR for a DC without the tow package is a little under 8100lb., so you ain't towing jack over 3500 "legally". That said, I had to look in the manual for the GCWR (it's not on the door sticker) so it ain't like a cop is going to pull you over and just look on there... unless you're doing something blatantly sketchy. That doesn't change the fact that if you were in an accident, you could find yourself super-duper screwed if you exceeded legal limits. Whether or not you do depends on several things, including your state's laws on liability & negligence.

Also, IIRC aren't the parts for the engine oil cooler pretty damn pricey, and a good bit of work for the housing that has the coolant hose connections? I like the idea of oil coolers (although maybe not oil-water, the coolant can remove more heat than air generally, but is going to be 190+ degrees whereas ambient air would be much cooler) but I thought I read something like $600 in parts to add it? For that kinda money I'd add a quality cooler in front of the radiator.

 

No, and I'll tell you why i wouldn't. I have the towing package, and its stated 6500 lb capacity is severely overstated in my book. If i wanted to tow that much weight, i would get a different truck, nevermind "upgrade" one to a supposed 6500 capacity.
Many will disagree, many will agree.

 

I haven't tried it with mine, I've probably only had about 2500 behind it so far... I strongly doubt I'd want to almost triple that. At least not on the regular. More trans cooling for an auto would be a given (it is for me with any truck if all it's got is one in the rad) as well as a 7-pin, brake controller, and competent hitch, but the EOC would be one of the last things I'd be worrying about.

 

Theres no engine oil cooler, its a ttansmission oil cooler and I think its just oil flowing through a core, no coolant in that system.

 

The sticker on my truck under tow package lists transmission cooler and supplemental oil cooler. So whatever there’s something that functions as some kind of oil cooler.

 

Not sure what the supplemental oil cooler is, could be something for the engine, I have not seen it on my truck, but maybe its in there somewhere lol

 

Yep that’s it, not sure how it works though

 

doesn't matter what you do your truck is still rated for 3500 by vin, so if you get pulled over pulling 4k your going to have a bad day.

 

It's an oil to water heat exchanger. Oil flows through passages in that cat food can, under the oil filter, that are surrounded by engine coolant.

 

This is completely false. Yes an attorney may use this but law enforcement outside of DOT does not do this. This may be the case in Commiefornia where everything is illegal and the constitution is meaningless but in the US police will not be the ones who determine your towing capacity unless its a death investigation.

 

I know for a fact that highway patrol when appropriate will look for over weight towing during an accident investigation and will issue a citation and may even attribute overweight as a causal factor for an injury/death accident. They won’t pull you over and site you for overload. But will cite you if found during accident investigation. I do agree with you that commiefornia an alien world.

 

Slightly off track here but couldn't the same argument be made about lifted trucks too??

 

Just keep in mind, they need a warrant to look at your door jam spec decal and no judge will ever sign such a warrant. I did 25 years as an LEO and never once heard of any officer at any department ever looking at or citing for towing weight.