Trailer towing capacity

I have a 2015 TRD extended cab with a 5 ft bed. I am trying to figure out the towing capacity of this rig. The sticker on the door post has a GVWR of 5500LB. I have read a lot of reviews that say the truck has a GVWR of 6500. The trailer I am looking at has a hitch wt of 440 pounds, with a gvwr of 6500 pounds. Any thoughts on what wt trailer I can safely pull.
Thx for your ideas.

 

You ALWAYS go off the door sticker GVWR.
But don't get Truck and Trailer GVWR confused.
They are separate things.

You need to look up GCWR and do some reading.

FWIW, you can tow with the trailer you are asking about.
Just stay below the Towing capacity of the truck. IIRC it's about 6,300 lbs for a DC V6 truck.
And no more than 600 lbs on the hitch. (which is more than your trailer is rated for anyways.)

 

Not the one you are looking at sorry to say. Rule of thumb for safe towing, 60-70% of your towing capacity.

 

He didn't say what type of trailer. The trailer might only have a weight of 900-1,100 lbs.
It all depends on what he hauls on the trailer.

 

Your truck will PULL 6500 lbs but for most Tacoma's around 4500 lbs is a more realistic max number to TOW. Pulling and towing aren't the same. The 6500 lb number is calculated with a 150 lb driver in the cab with no other passengers nor cargo in the truck. On level ground and at sea level.

When you start adding weight from passengers and cargo in the truck you reduce how much you can TOW. When you start driving in mountains you reduce how much you can tow. And your engine produces 3% less power for each 1000' above sea level because there is less O2 in the air. At 5000' you have reduced power by 15%. At 10,000' you only have 70% of the trucks rated HP and torque.

Forget what it is rated to tow. The real limit is your payload. There is a statement on the door sticker that reads "The weight of occupants and cargo should never exceed XXXX lbs). That number varies depending on the individual truck but is usually somewhere between 900-1300 lbs.

Also, forget what the specs say the tongue weight is. Always calculate 13% of the actual trailer weight. A 6500 lb trailer will have 845 lbs of tongue weight, not 440. Also, any trailer over 5000 lbs requires a weight distribution hitch which adds about 75-100 lbs to the tongue weight.

A 6500 lb trailer will eat up about 950 lbs of your payload. Subtract 950 from YOUR trucks payload and that is how much weight you have left over for passengers and cargo in the truck. Assuming you have 1200 lbs of payload that leaves you with 250 lbs.

If you drop to a 4500 lb trailer you will have 585 lbs on the tongue and don't need a WDH. That would leave you with a bit over 600 lbs for passengers and cargo. But even that is cutting it close. My wife and I are 340 combined leaving me less than 300 lbs for other gear in the truck. I also have a 180 lb cap on my truck getting usable payload down closer to 100 lbs on my truck with a 4500 lb trailer.

And if you plan to tow at altitudes over about 5000' weight should be reduced even further.

You just have to do the math on YOUR truck with the listed payload. But somewhere around 4000-4500 is realistic.

 

Good stuff! I'm rethinking my new single axle 3600lbs enclosedtrailer. I know no brakes are not good and plan to upgrade. It was bought cheap for temporary storage. (Pre plandemic sale price)

 

Guys tow heavier trailers than yours all the time with Tacomas,these trucks are made for towing ,with their heavy duty frames.