1st Gen towing questions...

I have a '98 3.4L TRD offroad MT with upgraded OME HD springs w/extra leaf. I'm about to by a 7x14ft or 16ft v-nose trailer; Curb weight ≈2200 lbs., but am apprehensive about whether my truck will pull the load.

My question is, will my truck pull the load good enough for me to go get the trailer in Georgia, and tow it back to Virginia to stay parked in my yard for occasional use?

All i've towed to date is a utility trailer loaded to the hilt, Virginia to Michigan; And the same ute loaded with a 600 lb. lawnmower, very short distances.

 

I know gas mileage will suck. Literally.

 

4 pin or 7 pin harness?

You're good either way.

 

The v6 has a towing capacity of 5,500 pounds.

You're fine.

 

7 pin

 

I was reading something somewhere's about needing a sway bar, is this a thing i should do?

 

You've got one bud, look under your front axle haha.

A trailer sway control system is really only for huge and/or heavy campers/trailers IMO, you don't need that kind of thing for a simple cargo trailer. Although it won't hurt.

 

You'd need to install a trailer brake system if your trailer is equipped with electronic trailer brakes. The

$178 Tekonsha 90195 P3 Electronic Brake Control , silver, Single

Tekonsha P3 is one of the best.

 

I'm really new here and my 1st Tacoma but years of experience towing.
1st find the "Towing Bible " in this site it's got great info . In fact I should edit this and post there.

I just finished setting up my 01 exactly same truck except 4dr. 4x4 automatic.
Check my brake controller location in the photo.
I like to have the controller accessible for easy manual operation and imo this was the best spot. Spent a lot of time fabricating the mount to clear the Parking Brake. I wear a large size glove but not a thick hand and works for me .
2nd photo is my 2ft , 3700lb trailer on a test drive over Donner Pass in Calif.
I have 4.10 rear end gears and 265 tires.
I pulled the grade in 2nd gear 50 - 55 mph right around 4000 rpm passing most of the 18 wheelers .
I have no Toyota experience but the specs list max torque @ 3800 rpm and max HP @ 4800 rpm. The tach and owners manual indicates you're OK up into 5000 plus so I felt comfortable with that. You may have noticed I have transmission temperature monitoring and stayed below 200 deg f @ 75 oa temp.
Engine temp climbed a couple degrees 163.
Hopefully someone with Tacoma experience will jump in and say "Yeah, you can run em all day @ 4000".
Avg. MPG up and down and flat back home @ 55 - 60 mph was 12mpg.

 

Oh! I really am a novice @ this forum stuff.
My post automatically went here?
Why? Just because I talked about towing?
Well, if so that's a great feature!

 

I towed a 3500lb boat yesterday with a 2.7 4wd and I had it rocking 65mph pretty easily.You’ll be fine

 

Any history on the trailer has it been used or has it been sitting .

Never fails if it has brakes they along with wheel bearings and lights need attention99.0 % of the time.

Drive your own game take your time it is not a timed event .

Coming up the coast or over Fancy Gap??

 

It's a brand new trailer that i'm getting custom made, so most likely it hasn't been sitting. As far as the direction i'm taking to get there and back, I dunno... I was just going to punch in the directions in GPS and let google take me there. I guess I could just take detours the entire way and confuse Google, that would be fun. Really my plan is to find as much shore access fresh water along the way and catch some bass en route and the return trip. Also, I'll take whatever is the flattest, which i'll assume is the coast.

 

The 3.4 with a manual makes up for towing a heavy load. I work construction and towed about 2-3k lbs of thinset with ease once. It’s another story with auto but the manual is almost like it’s not there.

have you done the tundra brake upgrade yet?
It really does make a big difference with towing in this small truck.

 

I have not... unfortunately just three months ago I had a full brake job done... it think telling my wife I need a brake upgrade after her conniption with the full brake job would likely brake her. I’ll have to save that for at least a year down the road, unless I can find parts for cheap. Is it just calipers, or a full brake job including master and slave cylinders, lines, drums, rotors, calipers, etc?

 

I used the LCE kit on mine, (don’t recommend it as it was kinda expensive and I should’ve just sourced the parts) but it was only calipers, rotors, and lines.
I believe you could just upgrade the calipers, not 100% sure if it would be the same size rotor or not, it’s been about 2 years since doing mine so can’t remember if the rotors are bigger as well.
Also there are two different tundra calipers to upgrade to. One is slightly larger but requires 17” rims to fit while I believe the other can still fit with 16”. I don’t remember all the details but I believe it could be done for probably about $300-$400 possibly.
check out @BartMaster1234 thread for more info https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/13wl-tundra-big-brake-upgrade-everything-you-need.520418/

 

Truth, I did the EXACT same thing 2 years ago. Only difference is that my truck is a 2001 auto trans with tow pkg.

My friend bought a brand-new 7' x 14' from a trailer mfr in Pearson, Georgia (probably where you are getting yours - & what a dump!), and I was "drafted" to pick it up at the factory and deliver it to him in Granby, CO.....what a trip THAT was! I added a Tekonsha P3 trailer brake controller before the trip, (mounted just in front of my left knee-cap, & angled it up so I could see it when I looked down). Took off on a Monday morning from where I live in Lansing, Michigan.

Towed the empty trailer from Pearson, GA to Granby, CO (interesting in the mountains). I got as low as 7mpg on the leg across Kansas since I was going into a 28mph headwind with gusts to 40mph, and it was 95 degrees! It towed it fine, but you certainly weren't going to go anywhere fast, and I frequently turned off the OD (not a problem with a manual) to keep the truck from shifting constantly.

 

Great!, the trailer itself is coming from Renown Trailers. They get *excellent* google reviews, and sell a brand called "Rock Solid." They do not appear to be trash, like much of the trailers that I've looked into. Not all the ones of looked at have been trash: Haulmark, Continental, Bravo, Freedom (Trash), Look, Victory, Leonard (Local), Etc. Mostly it's been finding one that's in my price range that isn't junk...