The Tacoma Towing Bible

Awesome, thanks maverick!

 

Just perusing my owners manual prior to hauling a tandem travel trailer down to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for this weekend's MotoGP motorcycle race.

The manual says not to exceed 45 MPH while hauling a trailer!!! This seems to appy whether or not you have a tow package. Check your owners manual in the towing section!

I know this is probably a "cover your ass" statement by the manufacturer. But in reality, this has serious ramifications for owners. If something happens while hauling a trailer, Toyota will be able to wash its hands of any warranty or liability claims. If I had seen that prior to buying this truck, I probably would have bought something else. After all, I bought this truck with trailer towing in mind after fixing the tranny twice on my last vehicle, a Chev SUV.

 

I recently moved from NY to Denver, CO-have 2.7L Access cab 4x4-2005. Instead of renting a u haul or penske truck, we bought a 6'x12' enclosed trailer for our things. Its total weight was 3,700lbs loaded (which I know is over the limit for the 4cyl), but it towed the trailer w/o trouble. Was in 4th gear 95% of the time and had to downshift to 3rd on some hills. Got approx. 12 mpg for the trip. Highly recommend a trailer w/wedge nose to reduce wind resistance.

 

Nice going troutdoorsman. I feel a little better about hauling the tandem travel trailer down to Indy this weekend with my V6.

 

I just missed out on the activator 3 controller with the hand held remote at hitchestogo. I cant find them anywhere. I do see one made by reese. What are the thoughts on this controller. I really want to mount it under the seat like maverick shows in the towing bible. Also does anyone know a place that still has the activator 3 w/remote in stock.

 

Drawtite, and Reese are part of the same parent company. If you found the reese version with the hand held remote, then it is the same unit with a different name on it, go for it.

Regards

 

Newbie here(to Tacoma's,not towing).....by the way.....Hi everybody!!!

Very informative thread....thanks!!

 

Thank you for all the great info on installing a trailer hitch, wiring and brake controler. I have an X-Runner that I intend to tow with, the trailer is 2500lbs GVWR with electric brakes. Here is what I have done so far...purchased a used class IV hitch with some of the 7 pin wiring harness attached. Purchased a toyota wiring harness (

$150 08921-04960 Towing Wire Harness

08921-04960) for 4 pin, cut the flat 4 off and soldered it to the 7 pin connector. Installed the 8213-0C010 connector behind the kick pannel. I made a harness for the 3 remaining wires and ran it from the hitch 7 pic into the cab under the drivers seat. I have an electric brake controler Activator III that I would now like to hook up... any sugestions? Also I would like to make the other wires function, I think it's for accesories and back up lights? Thank you!!

 

I've covered the install of a brake controller in a non-tow package equipped truck in the towing bible, so you already have all the information on that that I have.

One of your remaining 3 wires is going to be your output from the controller. To get power, input, and ground to the controller under the seat you will have to follow the instructions in the towing bible for a non-tow package equiped truck as using the connector behind the kick pannel won't really help as the positive and negative wires running to it are not live, and when I did the research to write that up, I was un-able to find an easy way to make them live.

The Yellow wire, (Assuming the plug you got uses industry standard colors) is connected to the center pin on the plug. The center pin is most commonly used for back-up lights, the easiest way to make that a live pin would be to splice it into one of the back-up lights directly above the plug. Just make sure to heat-shrink and tape up the connection so that it doesn't short out from road spray.

The Black wire (Again assuming industry standard wiring) is connected to the top left pin, the one in the 11:00 position as you are looking at the connector from the trailer's prospective. The is the charging circuit, or where the RV battery taps into the alternator from to charge back up as you are running down the road. This is a pain in the ass to wire correctly, so if you are not towing an RV with Deep Cycle batteries installed I would not bother with this. Long story short you would run a line from the positive side of the truck battery to this line, but you would either have to put a switch in line, and remember to turn it on only when the truck was running and turn it off when the truck is off to prevent draining the truck's battery, or you would have to put a one-way relay in-line, that essentially only makes the circuit live when the engine is running. I do not have a part number for that relay off the top of my head, but any trailer supply place will know what it is and have what you need.

Hope this helps.

Adam

 

Once Again: You are the Towing Master!

 

I try.

Ok going to work now, later gang.

 

I'm buying a hitch so that when I find my next daysailer I'll be ready to bring it home. Maverick's link for the hidden hitch via etrailer.com has a good price and with a $150 purchase offers free shipping (savings of $30.06). On the purchase page they recommend this wiring adapter for 39.95. Has anyone bought it while ordering a hitch?

Figuring in the savings on shipping it ends up costing 10 bucks vs. 50 for the hoppy adapter. Opinions?

Thanks for all the towing info Maverick!

 

The Hoppy version looks like the wires are bundled and sealed a little nicer based on the pictures, not that that matters that much, but what does give me a little cause for concern is that the one you link for $39.95 says it is made of 16 gauge wire. Trailer industry standard is 14 guage, with brake and power wires being 12 gauge. (not that there are brake or power wires in a 4-flat adapter)

While I am not going to sit here and tell you that the drop on one wire gauge will cause you a huge number of problems, or cause damage, I will say that if it were my truck and my money I'd still buy the Hoppy, and add a hitch lock, drawbar, or ball to get my order to the $150 mark.

Just my $0.02 and your mileage may vary.

Regards,

Adam

 

Thanks Adam. I didn't catch the 16 gauge wire (and if I had didn't know about the 14 gauge standard). I'll be placing my orders tomorrow.

I'm planning on buying a Flying Scot when I find a good one for a fair price. I'm going to ask on the FS class forums for someone to give me a height measurement of the tongue with the trailer level. Then I'll be able to determine how much drop I'll need on the ball mount once I get the hitch installed.

 

get them to give you a tongue weight as well for the boat and trailer in question so that you can have kids, neighbors, dogs etc stand in the bed to approximate the amount of truck squat you'll have to account for as well, that is assuming we are talking about something that is big enough to make the truck squat, and not something the size of a sunfish. Sorry I am not up enough on my sailing to know the size of the boat in question.

 

Flying Scot is an open hull day sail boat that is mostly used in racing, but can be a fun boat to learn on. It isn't very heavy (I would guess ~1,600lbs). It really shouldn't be a big deal for towing. I towed one from New Orleans to Gulfport behind an 1989 Honda Accord.

 

Ok, so I was off by 400lbs...

 

Thank you Adam for the input!! I was really hoping you would tell me to install a relay and all would work well. I guess I outsmarted myself assuming the plug would be live. I'll wire it as per the bible...thanks again.
Gary

 

If anyone needs one of the wiring harnesses for brakes there is one on eBay for $0.99 and $5.00 shipping http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=300270260253
I went with a genuine trailer hitch with 7 pin connector used from eBay $129 it bolts up really nice. I also decided on the genuine Toyota harness it's $92 but it includes a relay and flasher and fits really slick. Also all the connections are made behind the kick panel...very important here in the frozen north with all the salt on the roads. Also the hitch and wiring harness say not for x-runner but they work perfectly?? Thanks again for your help.

 

Today I installed the hitch. It took me a couple hours but that was because the idiots at the body shop that replaced the bumper after I was tapped last year screwed things up. 'nuf said about that because the hitch is in place and my bumper is finally square and level.

I was going to install the Hoppy wiring harness but the connecters are not where I expected to find them from looking at Hoppy's install diagram. I was cold, tired and a bit irritated about the bumper issues so I stopped before screwing something up.
From poking around it looks like the connecters must be up behind the tail lights and I'll have to remove the lights to get at them. Is this correct?