Towing - What other upgrades?

I had air lift bags installed (removed and listed) but the ride when not towing even when 0 PST(which can cause pinch issue with the bags) really sucked. I was bottoming (Airbag fully collapsing and mounts touching) out on every little bump and crack in the road. Ended up removing them and installing the RXT Leaf pack stage 1. I fou nd that 12-15PSI worked best due to the Diamond back cover and bin with tools always loaded.

 

Yes, I my opinion. Also, a dedicated airbag compressor with remote is helpful if you drive at night, to keep your headlights pointed down by simply adding more air pressure.

 

Definitely

 

The cradles are a must IMO.

Another plus about airbags I’ve found are, if you have a bed tent, uneven ground under the rear wheels can be less of a pain when you can raise one side of the truck to level out the tent.

 

One thing I do want to add to actually contribute to the thread is that with a properly setup WDH, there is no need for airbags or sumo springs or any other load helpers. I use a WDH on my car trailer and when loaded it's 8,000 lbs. It took me a while to get the hitch set up correctly but once I did it dropped the front AND rear of the truck 1/2". It involved taking measurements of the truck front and rear, getting the load bars positioned correctly and the hitch clocked in the right position depending on how much "help" it needed to provide. With it unhooked, the rear end sagged a good few inches.

 

A great video on WDH and how effective they are compared to airbags.

tl;dr: WDH takes tongue weight from the rear axle and puts it on the front axle. Airbags actually increased tongue weight and reduced weight on the front axle, which is not great.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBZu39pQ8Gg&t

 

I’m running kdmax pro and have been very happy with it. It’s still a bit twitchy with takeoff and low rpm engagement, but I think they can customize for you identify want.

Nexus is recently (back) on the market. Mooseditty and a few others went quiet for a time while they developed their latest tune. I hear really good things about it and am tempted.

 

i have a dual weight distribution and dual sway setup for my Jayco jay flight Baja 184bh and even though you don’t technically need bags, the ride is night and day better. No highway bounce, just solid straight as an arrow ride.

Plus when you need to carry weight in the truck without the trailer you can because with the bags 800lbs in the bed sags 1/2”

bags are ultimate for adjustable ride and practicality. For a do it yourself 2-3 hr project for $330 you can’t go wrong

 

That is a great video. I had a friend whose parents towed a big Holiday Rambler tandem-axle trailer back in the day with a full sized early 70's Dodge Monaco Sedan (like the Blues Brothers had) with a weight distributing hitch. Once he had the chains and spring bars set correctly to level the car and trailer, his Dad just marked the correct links on the chains with a dab of yellow paint to return to that height setting everytime. If the trunk was loaded down, he would just use a lower link on the chains. It also had a friction sway-control set up and electric brakes with controller. He would fine-tune the controller to apply the trailer brakes slightly earlier than the Dodges'. You could also apply the trailer brakes manually if needed to control and stop swaying. You could feel those brakes working and slowing down the car when he did this. As said before, the trailer was a tandem axle with brakes I believe, on all four wheels.

The car towed beautifully: It had the 440 in it too: Cop Engine

 

There is no engineering based reason I can think of to increase the leaf spring rate to improve towing. The tongue weight of any trailer a Tacoma is capable of towing is likely below the max payload of the Tacoma (sans any other payload). If the truck is porpoise’ing more than you are comfortable with then I suggest a weight distributing hitch and/or higher damping shock absorbers.

 

true except when you're overloaded and even the wdh isnt enough which many here seem to think is ok for some reason

 

i disagree with that totally. get a WDH with anti sway built in and get the tongue weight distributed as even as possible between the front and rear of the truck for your safety.

 

Unless it's my eyes, in the video at approx 2:06, can someone explain the reason for the angle of that ball hitch mount piece attached to the ballmount? I get that the piece appears to provide the option of adjusting the ball height up and down by removing a couple of bolts rather than carrying or needing different drawbars, but why the angle? It doesn't appear to be adjustable. It's the first time I have ever seen this: normally the ball is pointing straight up, at least with my truck and my son's who tows a heavy boat and enclosed snowmobile trailer with his F150.

 

My personal experience towing my 2300lb boat is that a stock Tacoma can handle it just fine. Yes it porpoise’s a bit. Yes stopping distances are longer (even with trailer surge brakes). Yes acceleration is reduced. But all that it normal and expected and nothing to get all worried about and try to eliminate with modifications. None of the modifications change your legal GVWR or towing capacity anyway.

I did modify my truck for other reasons and noticed a reduction in porpoise’ing after upgrading to king 2.5 shocks and OME Dakar medium leaf packs, but I would not spend all the money to improve towing unless maybe I towed long distances daily.

 

edit: Oh you're talking about the video, it's likely for the same reason I've explained below.

If you're talking about the picture of my Tundra above, you would be correct that it's angled a wee bit. This is all part of the setup and is how this particular hitch is designed. This is what I was referencing above when I said "properly set up hitch" because I went through every option to find what worked best. I believe I landed on position 4, maybe position 3.

The hitch - https://www.curtmfg.com/part/17500

The instructions - https://assets.curtmfg.com/masterlibrary/17500/installsheet/17500_INS.pdf

 

Sorry for the confusion: Yes: Thank you! I noticed it on your Tundra as well, but I just edited my post to indeed clarify was speaking about the video with the Chevy view at approx, 2:06. Now I understand the setup: pretty slick! As an aside: I'm thinking/assuming those 2 (?) 3/4" bolts that tie it all together must be grade 8 or better? Or at least the same strength/hardness as a high quality hitch pin? They both perform a critical function to say the least. I noted the torque spec for those bolts. Yikes! Thanks again!

 

the angle is what distributes the weight towards the front of the tow vehicle...

the more angle the more the load bars or chains will transfer to the steering axle of the vehicle.. i know there are good videos of how they operate but i can't quickly find one right now..

 

i ran this hitch when i had a travel trailer.. worked very well. never experienced sway but it is heavy and can be loud at times. the bars distributes the weight and are your anti sway. https://www.huskytow.com/husky-towing-center-line-ts

always wanted to pick one of these up.. light weight, very quiet and lots of great reviews by people that use them. the chains distribute the weight and the ball has built in sway control.... https://shop.andersenhitches.com/pages/weight-distribution-hitch

 

Just throwing this out there in case not everyone is aware… a tow package equipped 3rd gen Tacoma has an electronic sway control system. The details are in the manual.

 

the more sway control the better. especially in an undersized truck like a tacoma. i'll take it in the hitch also.