Towing a Trailer

Around here, (and most of the United States and Canada) it is illegal to sell a single axle 3,500 lb trailer without brakes.

Ontario
Trailer or semi-trailer - Every trailer or semi-trailer having a gross weight of 1,360 kilograms (3,000 Ibs) or more shall be equipped with brakes adequate to stop and to hold the vehicle.

https://www.rvda.ca/ProvBrakeReqts.asp

 

Well would you look at that... I guess I’m an outlaw.

 

As are all those manufactures selling illegal trailers and risking million dollar liability lawsuits.

Might be worth it to purchase one and then have "an accident"... you could clean up big time.

Or, maybe you just made a mistake in your claim ;-)

 

I’m not too worried about it. I’ve been trailering many years. I’ve pulled gravity bin wagons filled with fertilizer that weigh 20,000 lbs and they have no brakes.

 

That's a lot of crap!

<rimshot>

I'll be here all week...try the veal ;-)

 

Speaking of which, is upgrading a Taco's front brakes recommended for towing?

 

My one towing experience with about 4000lb and a good brake controller and trailer brakes indicates it’s not necessary. But, that’s n=1 so wait for some more input.

 

No

 

Friend of mine with a 2016 v6 taco tows a enclosed trailer with a couple yamaha apex snowmobiles...first trip to canada with no trailer brakes he came back with warped rotors. Changed them to ebc slotted and drilled rotors, and ceramic brake pads. No longer had the warpage issue but emergency stopping was impossible. Still had to convert the trailer to electric brakes with the controller in the truck.

 

Stay in the capacity of the truck and there is no need to upgrade brakes.

I have a travel trailer that is 3750 empty. Lil over 5000 loaded. My 17 off-road towed it decent. WDH and trailer brakes ofcourse. Truck never felt unsafe. Towed it 10 hours Michigan to nj then from NJ to Maine and back (roughly 10 hours each way) and like I said never felt unsafe, no uncontrollable sway and stopped very well. Only issue is the truck had to work it's ass off. 4000-4500 rpm most if the trip and higher up good size inclines. To me the truck is under geared for those weights. So needing more passenger room anyway I traded it in for a Max tow 6.2L GMC half ton and my God the Difference is amazing. It doesn't even break a sweat with that trailer on it. I know my Tacoma claimed 6400 pound towing and it did do 5000 safely it sure wasn't happy doing it. With a V6 Tacoma I probably wouldn't want to go over 2500-3000 pounds loaded in reality. They are nice trucks but they are not enough truck in the towing Dept in my opinion.

So that's my experience with a V6 Tacoma. Not sure id put more Then 1000 pounds behind a 4cyl like the OP is asking about. And put trailer Brakes on the thing. Easy to do and they really do make a big difference. Better overly cautious in my opinion.

 

Pretty much got the same opinion with my 2020 v6 tacoma after owning a tundra v8.

 

These treadmill demos show this concept really well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9Dgxe584Ss

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mW_gzdh6to

 

I don't share your feelings. My TT is the same weight and it tows fine while keeping the revs at 2500 rpm unless going up steep inclines then maybe 3500 rpm. It's also important that not all trailers are equal. Flatbed trailers, car haulers and utility trailers tow much easier than do travel trailers. I would much rather pull 6000 lbs on my flatbed then my 5000 lbs TT. Also, the only trailer I use my WDH on is the TT. It is not even considered when towing the flatbeds. I have done one modification to my truck to make it tow better. I've added two more leaf springs to each side. This makes it much more stable when towing, especially the TT. As far as ride quality goes, I don't find it too bad, even with 10 ply rate tires with 45 psi. Just an FYI, when I added the extra leaf springs... it lifted it quite a bit... to the point it looked funny. I ended up adding a 2 1/4" lift to the front to level it out again. In the end, I'm happy with the look and the performance of my Tacoma and feel no need to upgrade to a full size.

 

Well with a couple of Apex's in there that trailer had to weight 6k+ pounds.

 

You don't need to share my feelings but that was my real world experience. It was a nice truck and does ok for what it is , it has its quirks like anything else but it's not a good tow vehicle for 5000 pounds of travel trailer in my opinion.

in town a few miles Is fine but with 10 hour trips that have inclines and all, not so much. You really notice it once ya get in to a bigger more capable truck.

 

Come on its not that bad. I've pulled my triton 2 place enclosed on 10 plus hr. trips with my 500 lb polaris sled and an apex with my 01 4.7 tundra without any issues, but i had trailer brakes installed with a controller. I think is pulled as good or better than a buddies 5.3 chevy. Those tacoma's at the time trying to tow an even lighter load were scary in comparison especially with no trailer braking.