My experience of towing 4,700lb travel trailer, which now weighs closer to 5,000lbs… maybe.

Lots to evaluate, for sure!

I have some heavy side steps + TRD Skid + Talon CAT + bed mat. I'd want a tonneau cover as well to have locking capability. The DiamondBack is desired but I may have to go with tri-fold.

**removing the side-steps would be my first step to reduce GVWR.**

Here's some particulars I just took from the decal on the driver's side door:

MFG 4/21
GVWR 5600LB/2450KG
GAWR
Front-2940
Rear-1490
Tires-P265/65R17

 

What does it say here…

 

It states: 450KGs // 990 lbs on my TRD Sport.

 

That’s good, mines an ORLB so a bit heavier.
So your payload is 990, subtract all the stuff I listed above and that tells you how much weight you have left for a tongue weight. Tongue weight should be approximately 12-15% of your trailer loaded weight.

You will run out of payload before you hit your tow capacity.

 

Thanks! Like I said in my PM, I will be in contact with you when the time comes and I have questions.

 

The payload rating has a full tank of fuel factored in.

 

@mosccat Great write up. Glad I stumbled onto it. I'll be going back and closely reading the back and forth but I just picked up our brand new NoBo 19.6 Rogue River Edition TT. I seriously thought I was done towing much when I bought this truck back in August! Something new everyday! Our TT specs are very similar. 4250# dry, 490# tongue, with an insane 7700 GVW thanks to the tandem axles but these run the no leaf spring, independent torsion sprung axles which should help with the off the beaten path tow performance. I also went with the Anderson WDH. I only have about 10 miles of towing so far as I have spent the last week completely going through the trailer, improving on, tightening, fixing, all the general BS with a brand new trailer fresh from the factory. Fixed 2 water leaks already! I also have a bad set screw thread on my Andersen left hand outside bracket so they're sending me a new bracket asap!

When I first set up, I couldn't get the sag out! I was concerned about tweaking the A-frame with so much tension to clear the sag. I think my issue was the dealer filled my fresh water tank to near full which is a shit ton of tongue weight that I would never drive with. Close to 240# lbs! I drained it and am waiting on my new bracket but in the meantime, I'm just dialing her in while she's in the front yard and making it mine!

Lots of questions to come!

 

Hey Tim, Congrats on the new TT, looks like a great rig.

We were lucky and have only had one real problem with our TT, bearing in mind we have been on the road and have spent every night in it since we picked it up just before thanksgiving, 5,000 miles ago. A wire rattled loose from the motherboard for the slide on the first 5 mile earthquake from the dealer, took about an hour to find it. Crimped it properly and haven’t had a problem since.

Yeah my dealer filled the 50gal fresh tank, I emptied it on the forecourt. That will make a big difference.

Since being on the road I’ve seen several people with the same hitch and lots of sag, through talking with them they were all missing the same step which meant the system wasn’t under enough tension.
When you drop the tt on to the hitch and lock the receiver the next step is to raise the tongue jack 1 to 2” (this will lift the back of the truck also), then you hand tighten the nuts, then tighten a further 3 to 4 turns. Then when you lower the jack the system is under lots of tension and distributing the weight properly. The bushings should be swollen and look something like this…
When you set the brackets trace a line with a sharpie on the back side of the bracket/frame (closest to the tt). Chances are the bottom edge of the bracket will slip forward 1/3 of an inch after the first real tow, after this initial slip they are properly seated and won’t budge anymore. I padded my bushings with washers to make up for the 1/3”. Carefull on tightening the brackets to the frame, one guy I met squashed his frame!

I highly recommend taking the truck over the scales, then take the truck/tt over a second time. Likely your truck weighs more than you think and your tt will definitely be more than you think

 

A definite "affirmative" on the Cat scales. Right MEOW! It'll be my first good tow as the closest to me is about 50 miles north so I'll make a special trip and see how she pulls up out infamous 101 Freeway's "Cuesta Grade" a 7% haul just north of us outside of San Luis Obispo, CA. It's always a test track when buying new cars or Motorcycles....and now a TT!

One must take with a grain of salt, the published weights and measures from the manufacturer! I expect we'll over 500# on the tongue but we'll see on the scale. I have to wait till my new bracket gets here and as you mentioned regarding WDH set up, I'm on to that lifting trick thanks to a bazillion videos I viewed when shopping the hitch. I'm so relieved to be away from the typical trunnion bar style hitch I've used on my other TT's overhead years. Especially on this rig where weight is a factor. I hate hefting those hitches around, especially now after 3 back surgeries in as many years! I don't need that shit anymore!

I put a little wave in my frame from that set screw issue. It was hard to thread in and required a lot of torque to get it to tighten so I couldn't feel when it contacted the frame. I saw the frame pull away from the inside of the outer bracket just in time to stop before squeezing it! The other side was like butter so no issue there.

I ordered the Sumo's today. There's no doubt I need them. I'll be doing a trans cooler on my rig, too. Was planning that before even thinking of buying the trailer. I may have questions about the OBD Fusion. I have a Carista OBD already and I think I have downloaded Fusion, I need to check, though.

 

Yes I know that hill, came down that one back in January, a crazy little route coming off the hwy at the bottom towards Morro bay, loved that town though. We stayed at El Chorro.

If you make it up that hill with no worries you are good to go!

Is the trans cooler easy to install on the 21?

 

The info I garnered from the big thread on the subject plus some other details looks to be a pretty easy install. I've done them on previous trucks in the past, too. I just need to sit down and decide on the best cooler and get on with it.

Familiar with El Chorro Regional. Haven't been through that park for a long while. Need to go in and check it out soon. We have a whole lot of nice places close by we can do a few shakedown trials before we stretch out our distances. Can't wait to get it all together and make it happen!

 

This is fantastic write up being that I am extremely novice to trucks and towing. I have been a car guy my entire life so I have a few questions. I have Double Cab, 6-speed manual 2020 Sport with a 2 inch lift and 1 inch spacers in the back. What are some concerns/issues with this setup for towing a TT of similar weight?

 

I don’t have a lift but from what i understand it won’t help you. Typically for aerodynamics and stability you want to be lower.
Larger/heavier tyres are a big negative to towing performance too.

 

I'm pretty fresh into this venture still but one thing I experienced on my non-lifted OR was the squishy sag of the rear-end under the load. I considered going with new rear springs with a higher capacity but that just opens a significant Can O'Worms that I don't want to take on presently, especially on a near brand new truck with 10 years of warranty left. I installed the same Sumo Springs that @mosccat had installed (in addition to draining my "full" fresh water tank ) and that made a massive difference and made it incredibly easier to adjust the ride height with the Andersen WDH. Not sure how your 'Sport' will react since it tends to run a slightly stiffer suspension. Let us know how it plays out to keep the valuable info flowing!

 

I notice you have a LB too, I believe they have an extra leaf from factory compared to SB.
But I may be wrong… I just seem to remember something dealer said to me years ago.

 

Hey Alexfiggy how do you like the trailer (we’re thinking about getting one), and how does the Taco do pulling it? Do you have the truck fully loaded when pulling (like family and cargo) and does that exceed the 5,600 lb. GVWR?

 

The trailer is ok . there all cheaply made. It does the job . I haven’t weighed the truck or trailer . I make a effort to keep things lite . When we travel it’s me ,wife ,son ,and dog .No water in the tanks at all. The truck does fine , but I mixed the truck . Larger trans cooler heavy duty leaf springs air bags bilstein shocks front leveled out . Stock size tire 265/70 16. I only run about 10 psi in the airbags .keep at 65 mph and in 4th gear . We did have a blow out at 65 didn’t loose control sucked changing the tire .small bottle Jack was to tall to get under the axle . Had to lift from frame with wood blocks and jack. Trailer dry wight is 3200 loaded max 4200 .

 

My truck does ok pulling this thing I’m just not going to get there fast . I do about 11 mpg fully loaded .

 

My wife and I just purchased that exact camper. I will be pulling mine with a 2nd gen but would love to hear your experiences/tips!

 

Glad I found this thread. Lots of great info here. I'll definitely be referencing it. What's the deal with pinning something in the trans cooler.... or something?