Towing a Travel Trailer

Hello All! I have been browsing this forum for several weeks now and decided to do my own post. I own a 2019 Viking 17BH (GVWR 3756), single axle travel trailer. I am looking into purchasing a 2019 Tacoma Off Road 4x4 for towing. I currently have a 08 Silverado 1500 5.3 V8, which is getting older and I want something 4x4 to use while out camping. I have read several threads about this topic, but wanted your opinions.

Thanks!

 

Welcome to TW! I always add 1000 lbs to the dry weight trailer to figure total tow weight. So you’re looking at around 4700 lbs or so total tow weight. That’s well within the Tacoma total tow capacity but still that’s a lot of weight for a Taco. I love Tacos but if I wanted something primarily as a tow vehicle I probably wouldn’t get a Tacoma. I’d probably look at a newer version of your Silverado. If you are planning to tow sometimes and also use the Taco for commuting, a little off road I’d be good with that. You are going to notice a power/torque difference between your current V8 and the v6 Tacoma. Bottom line if your taco is for multi use including towing I’d go with a Tacoma. Should you get a larger heavier trailer you won’t be happy with a Tacoma but you are ok at your current trailer weight.
One last thing pay careful attention to your gross vehicle weight rating. When you take the curb weight of your truck, add the weight of you and your passengers, full tank of gas, equipment in the back of the truck and tongue weight of the trailer you may likely exceed GVWR.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...l-toyotas-write-up-with-many-pictures.526283/

 

The Tacoma will do it but it's not the ideal tow vehicle for that size trailer. There's about 10,000 threads on this forum discussing the same thing. Tacomas are great trucks. But if you're buying a truck just to tow a trailer, buy something bigger.

 

He listed gross weight of 3756, not dry weight, which includes all supplies in the trailer. So he'll only be towing 3800 ish at most.

 

Correct, dry weight is 2900 lbs. It turns out I found a Tacoma to rent. I pick it up later today and will test it out tomorrow. I appreciate all the feedback so far

 

I’m not pulling a travel trailer, but pull a car trailer with a tractor on it that weighs 5800 lbs with out a problem. You will be fine but keep your weight balanced with the single axle.

 

I bought a Tacoma with the intent of pulling a small camper, staying under 4000 lbs loaded. I understood the limitations of the Tacoma when towing is involved but I also wanted a reliable long lasting truck that had real off-road capability. Plan is to pull the trailer to camp locations and explore in the Tacoma. I also couldn't spend 50k on a truck, bought a 30k 2020 V6 4x4 SR SX.

 

I am in the same boat, I want a 4x4 to explore once the trailer is parked. The full size trucks will get into that 50k range, which is out of my budget. I am excited to see how the rental does tomorrow, I plan on loading the trailer almost as I would for a trip and give it a good run here locally, and try and take it over a pretty large grade to see how it handles the hills. After reading other threads and even the comments above, its not the tow limit, but the load capacity that seems like it will max out quick with me, the wife, the dog, my generator and a few things in the bed....information overload!

 

Sorry I read the 3756 as dry weight. If your trailer weight dry is actually 2900 lbs and maybe around 3700 loaded you should be fine with a Taco. Go for it, you’ll love the Taco.

 

Ok, so I tried it out this morning. Overall the Tacoma pulled the trailer just ok. Going up hills not too bad. The part I didn't like was on the Freeway, for a lack of better terms I felt the truck walking a bit side to side, I was going about 50-55 mph. Based on today's test run, not loading up my generator, all my gear for camping, I've decided I need to look into a full size. If I didn't tow anything, the Tacoma would be a GREAT truck.

I appreciate all your input. Hopefully this experience will help others.

 

Were you using a weight distribution hitch with your trial towing?

 

Yes, I used my Fastway E2 hitch.
Although I probably should have dropped the ball one notch lower due to the difference from the Tacoma to my Silverado. I doubt it would have changed my mind though.

 

probably so unless you were tail heavy on the trailer, which could be a problem

 

Still a few unknowns here, and your comfort and safety is the foremost concern. But I think some further tuning may have yielded better results. I’ve pulled a 4K TT up and down hills and on Texas highways and it felt pretty darn solid back there despite the highway traffic. I definitely knew it was back there for acceleration and a bit on braking, but pretty solid.

Maybe a 5-8 year old Tundra would check your boxes if the Taco just doesn’t cut it.