Can my Taco tow it???

So I went and test drove a power wagon today.... oh boy I almost pulled the trigger but I’m going to wait and tow with my Tacoma for a year or two before buying one so I can keep my taco and get a power wagon. Hopefully my Tacoma doesn’t blow up in the meantime pulling 5k lol. Also, not sure if it makes a difference but usually we’re trailering 1-2 hours away only thing I’m worried about at this point is how stable the truck will be pulling it lol.

 

I towed my 5500 pound trailer 10 hours home then 10 hours to Maine and another 10 hours back home. Never felt unstable. WDH was set up correctly as were the trailer brakes. Thing was revevd high as hell is about it. Took way too long to get up to speed too.

When looking at bigger trucks check out the GMC with the 6.2 and Max tow package. Oh man it's awesome towing my trailer. I have to use cruise control when towing or else I look down and I'm doing 80mph and done even realize it.

 

I was wondering about checking out a GM. Was thinking of building a 1500 trail boss with the 6.2. It’s actually the least expensive of all the others in its class. I’ll definitely go look at one when I decide to add a tow pig. Focused on buying this boat right now. Lol.

 

Any suggestions on whether to go with Icon’s progressive add a leaf or Just replace the full leaf pack with their progressive pack?

 

why bother doing either? get the trailer and hitch set up properly and go from there. well unless you just like spending money to spend money.

 

I’m surprised that in 60+ replies, nobody mentioned or asked how far, how often, and in what conditions you’d be towing. Maybe I didn’t look hard enough. If this is something you’re going to tow frequently with the truck also loaded down in extra people/gear, I’d personally step up to a larger truck. No amount of mods are going to make it tow better than any 1/2 or 3/4 ton truck on the market.

 

How far are you going and how often? 3500lbs is well within what toyota says is safe. Unless you are towing this on a daily basis, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Hah well sometimes I do but I’ve already got a 1.5” lift on the front so it already has a very subtle Cali lean. Throw a boat on and it leans fairly hard.

 

The boat we are buying is about 4000-4200lbs with trailer. Let’s say loaded with gear and fuel were at 4500. Maybe on a weekend we’re camping the bed will have 200lbs of gear and we’ll have 4 people in the truck. I know it’s not going to pull like the diesels I’ve had or the power wagon I want but from everyone’s opinion it’ll do what I need it to till I recoup and can go buy the power wagon. Usual trips are an hour to 2 hours away and then back once per weekend during the summers. Longest trip we’ll take is 5 hours one way once or twice a year except for the haul back which will be 9.5 hours.

 

If you like your truck, I would just keep it. Take it easy drive a little slower if you need to. Trucks have gotten a LOT better over the years. It's easy to look at a full size truck and think your truck is sub par. If you look at the early 90s Diesel F-250s, they had just a little more torque than your truck does and half the horse power. Even the 5.8L V8 that I think you could get in the F250 and F350 until 1997 only had 210hp 325ft/lbs. Just take it easy for your 1 day a week, few months a year. Your truck is more than capable of keeping up with your demands.

 

only problem i see here is possibly going over payload.. everything else the truck should do easily.

 

Your truck should be able to pull it.

55mph is actual the ideal speed for towing.

 

Supercharger will increase heat and thus wear and tear especially during towing.

 

You’ll be fine. I have an 05 Tundra with the 4.0 and that truck is geared stock to turn stock at 3000rpms going 70+mph, this truck has 330K miles on it. As long you load your truck and trailer correctly and drive responsibly, there should be very little to worry about. The truck is rated by engineers for the advertised tow spec of up to 6800lbs in the correct configuration. I drive UPS trucks and those engines scream at 2600rpm on the freeway and 4000+rpms uphill in 3rd gear, and they have tens of thousands of miles.

 

No it is not. Stopping this much SAFELY is the issue. (Insert here the "deer in the headlights look" from all of you...didn't consider stopping, huh?) I have pulled a 4600lb 21-foot Skeeter Bay Pro center console with my 1993 4Runner. Not regularly, but when my 1/2 ton truck wasn't available. Back when I was young, 10-foot tall and bullet-proof. Yes, it can be done, but that doesn't mean it SHOULD BE DONE. (Ask me how I know). How about frt/rear weight distribution? How will it stop if your load is tongue-heavy? Gonna lift those front brakes and make them much less effective. Gonna' watch as your brake's programming searches for an algorithm to deal with this weight distribution the engineers didn't consider and didn't include. Let us know how it turns out. Panic stop: how bad is that badly distributed weight load going to take charge and take control during the stop? Will it stop you in time? Serviced that trailer's surge brakes lately? (I've been in the pleasure marine business twice, and I already know that there is about an 80% chance you haven't.) Or worse, have you just disconnected the electrical brakes and defeated their fail-closed feature "until you get time to have them worked on"? Try defending that in court when you have an at-fault accident! Will a weigh distributing hitch cure your problem? It might help, but what if you are not braking, just driving, and a sway develops? How's our little truck going to manage it? Is the tail going to wag the dog? I hope you never get the chance to find out. (Yeah it is, like a fat woman who wants to lead dancing. EXACTLY like that!) A vehicle in front of you panic stops: You are going to have stopping issues and sway issues ALL AT ONCE, and your need for adequate room to manage them will INSTANTLY expand to include the need for that lane to your left if you are to prevail, because you knew intrinsically, in nano-seconds, that you couldn't let it get off the side of the road or you were fucked, so you first corrected left instinctly, and suddenly you are now trying to brake, manage a death sway, and get back in your lane before it is too late, and you don't know how you got in the middle of the oncoming lane so quickly in the first place. Again, ask. me. how. I. know. Guys, if it will pull it is the least of your worries.

I'm here to tell you that yes, we can tow a large boat or trailer with our trucks, but just because we can doesn't mean that we should. Gears, forced-induction? Analogy: I can raise the ports and change the reeds in my weedeater and make it turn 19,000 rpm, but is it then still appropriate for its intended purpose, or just better for pumping the aroma of bean-oil over into my neighbor's yard?

If you have big boy toys, go get you a big boy truck to pull them. Don't be a spud. The bigger the toys, the longer the towing wheel base, the larger the towing brakes. It's the reason my '97 C1500 long wheel base still sits out there in the driveway.

You can buy a 10-15 year old 3/4 ton truck cheaper and easier than gears or FI.

 

I’m sure the ability to brake with heavy loads was used to calculate the tow spec. The truck does after all come with trailer sway control, trailer brake controller plug in and does state in the manual to ensure trailer has brakes if more than 1000lbs.

 

The taco will tow this like a champ. That whole setup is nice with trailers being light weight too

 

To all those complaining that they can feel the trailer when towing, if I could not feel the trailer I would think I was under utilizing the gigantic truck I paid way too much for. I have towed the same boat with a 2001 Subaru Forester and a 2020 Tacoma and the taco is glorious.

 

Just got pack from a 10 hour trip to Georgia to pick up the boat. The Taco handled it like a champ. Stability wasn't an issue at all really. I wouldn't want to pull too much heavier with the worry that it would over strain the engine but kept it in 4th gear like some of you mentioned and through the mountains it downshifted to 3rd gear regularly however, it never redlined just would stay around 4500-5000 rpms. The motor would scream but I realized that it seems these motors show their true power in the higher rpm range. Only modification that I think is needed and mainly since I have the front leveled is I will be adding the Icon RXT leaf springs and doing stage 3 on those which will lift the rear 2.6 inches and allows for 600lb bed weight which would squat it to 1.5 inches. I may have them crank up my front coils another half an inch too so it doesn't rake too much when not towing. The lift in the rear should help tremendously though because it was riding pretty low in the rear which got bouncy over bridge joints. Other than that and longer shocks though I think it will be good. Probably not going to re-gear since 4WP is quoting me around $4k installed and at that point I'd just get a bigger truck. Plus I want to keep my mileage when daily driving. Im pretty sold on Icon leaf pack but anyone have any feedback on those vs. the Deaver spring kit? Sounds like Icon provides an extra inch of down travel which would be nice when off roading however not sure if the Deaver's would be better for towing...

 

Surely a next of kin posted this for you. Based on comments in the towing threads on TW, you would have died pulling this. My condolences. LOL. Make sure you are under the max, drive defensively, take your time (not 70+ mph), give yourself plenty of room, NEVER be in a hurry (get thereitis).

this is another option.

Roadmaster Active Suspension Custom Leaf Spring Enhancement Kit
https://www.etrailer.com/Vehicle-Su...cleID=20184042886#exp-productdetails=.reviews