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

I see you’re rocking a 2023, it doesn’t have an auxiliary transmission cooler, just the dual duty one built into the engine radiator so pinning the thermostat doesn’t relate to your vehicle. Toyota removed the aux cooler mid 2020.

However pinning the thermostat is this…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KB3Xbx97Emw

 

Two Zumas in the bed of the truck, two people in the truck, and a 4500 pound trailer behind it with water, a motorcyle and a heavy toolbox. 300+ miles each way on this trip.

No sway bars or leveling system. Just the truck and a hitch with a ball.

I’ve also towed a 6000lb trailer from Minneapolis to Road America and back with a scooter in the bed and 3 men in the truck. Again, no sway bars or leveling system

 

My truck has the Toyota extra spring from the the dealership. Gonna tow hard? Get it done.

 

Thanks for the info. I have a Hayden supplemental cooler that I can add if needed but I'll watch the trans temps when I begin towing. I gotta get to 500 miles before I two the camper.

 

The choice is yours, I have never felt that I’ve needed a bigger cooler although if you have it you could always install it for peace of mind. Easy to remove if needed for warranty work.

The pan temps have stayed pretty consistent with me, in 7k miles of towing it’s never gotten above 200, even when pulling up and over Wolf Creek pass in CO, 10,856ft.

The torque converter temps though will spike depending on how you are driving.

I have OBD fusion on my iPad mini and one of the most useful features is knowing when the torque converter is locked (or not). A small adjustment on the throttle or a different gear can get it into a locked state again and the temperature normalizes.

Here’s my dashboard. The red circle around the selected gear turns green when the TC is locked. This trip was from Puyallup, WA to Spokane WA. Some good hills were involved too and all the temps stayed well within safety margins and 12.4mpg with an uphill trip from sea level to 3k ft.

 

Yeah all long beds get an extra leaf. Doesn’t mean you should exceed the recommended towing weights etc though…
Just don’t tell your insurance company or post anything incriminating

 

Thanks for putting this thread together. I recently purchased a 23 TRD Sport DC SB. My goal is to use this to tow a small camper with my kids in the back. I'm learning quite a bit from this thread. Luckily me and the wife and kids are all pretty light! (Estimate 450 now and up to 500 in the coming years) I'm looking back at your original post and seeing what all things I may want to do and purchase before I buy a trailer. I just bought the truck so a TT is a ways a way still but I want to learn now! Would you change up your setup at all now if you were starting fresh?

 

Awesome info. I was about to ask how you know when the TC is locked so thanks for answering ahead of time. Based on your experience alone, I'll be fine without the aux cooler and I'd prefer to keep things as stock as possible. My dry camper weight is 3200 but likely closer to 3400-3500. My truck is stock but I do have 31.6" 115T rated SL tires. I have already purchased and installed the same TPMS sensors and have a ReCurve R3 set up that does a great job(has built in sway control).

I find your experiences motivating and I appreciate you sharing them.

 

Is this the app you use?

 

My baby taco can’t tug my trailer. I wish Toyota made something to tow the airstream.

 

Congrats on the new truck!

Would I do anything different… sure, buy a Tundra. Just kidding.

I’m not sold the sumo springs are necessary but I have not towed without them so I can’t give an opposing opinion. The ride whilst towing is great so I guess see how you do and install them if you feel necessary.

In a way I’m glad I did not upgrade tires after I bought my truck, sure it be nice to have some great looking tires but a heavier tire affects the mpg and performance of the truck on its own, even more so when towing.

I’ve just installed a Meso Stealth shift knob. Wish I had done this earlier so it’s easier to hit the ECT when needed instead of fumbling and trying to hit it instead of one of the other switches. I rarely use ECT but probably will use it more now.

When buying a TT I would pay more attention to the width and slope of the nose. Aerodynamics play a bigger factor to power management compared to weight.

https://mesocustoms.com/collections/toyota-tacoma-3rd-gen/products/stealth-pro-shift-knob

 

Yes. I also use the carista dongle for the Bluetooth connectivity. You get 1 month free trial of all the features but you don’t need the subscription to use it thereafter. With the full features you can adjust various options within the truck and remove the seatbelt chime.

You need to buy the ‘Toyota pack’ for full functionality. I Can share my most recent dashboard if you end up getting it. In fact check out these threads…
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/obd-fusion-dashboard-swappin-thread.683932/page-8#post-28105393

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/obd-fusion-tips-and-tricks.590248/page-20#post-27510132

https://caristaapp.com/adapter

 

I've already purchase the Carista and turned off the seatbelt chime(Wife's Corolla and a co-worker too). LOL. I should have another 3 weeks of free usage. I'll check out the info you just posted above later. I appreciate the info and will look into it.

 

Awesome info! Thank you very much!

 

I agree 100%. I would have loved to get a 7' wide but we settled on a 7.5' because it had a full width queen that can be accessed from both sides of bed(wife and I don't have to crawl over the other in middle of night). I was also drawn to the aerodynamic advantages of the tear dropped shape front of camper and glad we purchased one that has this feature.

I recommend going to look at a bunch of different campers and visualize how you think you will realistically use it. We purchased a Gulf Stream Vista Cruiser 19RBS that has a 3400lb UVW. But with two kids in tow, I'd get bunks..... good news is there seems to be a lot out there with bunks. We also remind ourselves that we purchased this to spend time outdoors... not in the TT.

 

We almost got a vista cruiser 23RSS but ended up with the unit we’re in because it came in sooner and didn’t involve a 800 mile drive. I like the one piece roof on the VC and the aerodynamics.

A walk around bed was a must for us too.

 

Ah, thst's cool. I too was drawn to the once piece roof. It's been great so far with a few things to fix
.... even on a brand new TT(normal from what I'm told). Went out 3 times since purchased it in Aug 2022 and looking forward to more this year. Well expand our travel distance now that I have a better tow vehicle.

I know it's not important but your Nano matches your truck so nicely.... very slick combo.

 

The fact that the TT had heritage stripes had no bearing on my decision to buy it

 

Most recent pic a week ago, 10’f… currently in Bend OR and considering heading over to FL to check Destin and some other places out.

 

I am not sure about these stickers.
This was taken with a stock 2020 Tacoma TRD OF with my small Off Road trailer attached to it. The truck had some small items, weighting less than 100lbs.
As you can see by the one reading, where the truck was on one scale and the trailer was on the other, the trailer weight was 480lbs.
As you can see by the second picture, the total weight is the same, and the front axle is 2840lbs, the rear is 2880lbs, then subtract the 480lbs you get 2400lbs for the rear axle. the weight on both tickets is 5720lbs and subtract the trailer 480lbs, gives me 5240lbs.

I cant get close to the load rating on the door.